the secret of ok?

Question

From where did it come the word OK ?

Answer 1

There are many explanations still bouncing around (some of them guesses, some of them were simply made up), but as a matter of fact, the question was decisively answered by Columbia University professor Allen Walker Read over 40 years ago.

"OK" was invented as a humorous abbreviation for "oll korrect" in the midst of a popular fad for such abbreviations, which began to appear in Boston newspapers ca. 1838 (then spread across the nation). "OK" first appeared in newsprint in 1839 and was, like many other expressions of the time, very popular.

But this one outlived them all BECAUSE of "Old Kinderhook", the nickname for U.S. Vice President Martin VanBuren, who was running for President in 1840.

(The name comes from the fact that his hometown was Kinderhook, New York. I don't have the documentation, but I believe "OLD Kinderhook" may have been coined by analogy with then President Andrew Jackson's nickname "Old Hickory." Compare other popular nicknames of that era -- "Young Hickory" [for James K Polk who, like Jackson, came from Tennessee], "Young Hickory of the Granite Hills" [coined for Franklin Pierce's presidential campaign], "Old Rough and Ready" [Zachary Taylor], "Old Fuss and Feathers" [Winfield Scott.. who did not like the name!], "Old Buck" [James Buchanan], and "Old Man Eloquent" [a nickname John Quincy Adams received while serving in the House of Representatives AFTER his Presidency]. As for VanBuren, the standard nicknames for this undersized, masterful politician were"the Little Magician" and "the Red Fox of Kinderhook".)

At any rate, supporters of "Old Kinderhook" decided to play off the newly popular expression, and formed "OK Clubs" to support him. The widespread use in the political campaign across the country established this abbreviation, which people discovered was rather handy, so it stuck.

So, two of the common explanations for the term are... 'OK'. The third most common explanation offered -- that Andrew Jackson, not the best of spellers, actually wrote the notation "OK" on papers, intending to mark them as "all correct". This explanation (and others) was the invention of Jackson critics, their response to the VanBuren campaign.

Answer 2

OK

English is a beautiful and matchless language. With minimum letters (26 only) the meanings and the usage of English words are innumerable. The word OK can be used to express several things.

But the best possible meanings are :

all right; proceeding normally; satisfactory or under control

The Origin of OK is : initials of a facetious folk phonetic spelling, e.g., oll or orl korrect representing all correct, first attested in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1839, then used in 1840 by Democrat partisans of Martin Van Buren during his election campaign, who allegedly named their organization, the O.K. Club, in allusion to the initials of Old Kinderhook, Van Buren's nickname, derived from his birthplace Kinderhook, New York.

Usage Note : Few Americanisms have been more successful than ok, which survived the political campaign of 1840 that fostered it, quickly lost its political significance, and went on to develop use as a verb, adverb, noun, and interjection. The expression was well known in England by the 1880s. Today ok has achieved worldwide recognition and use. It occurs in all but the most formal speech and writing.

Answer 3

Check the Wikipedia site below. It lists *ALL* of the information given previously, plus an additional 5 or six others not covered, as shown by this list:

1 Suggested origins
1.1 Choctaw Language
1.2 "Oll Korrekt"
1.3 Greek Language
1.4 African Origins
1.5 Occitan language
1.6 World war II
1.7 All of the above
2 Legendary origins
2.1 Initials
2.2 Martin Van Buren
2.3 Andrew Jackson
2.4 French Fisherman Origins
2.5 Fourteenth Century Oak Wood?
2.6 Typesetters, Harvests, the Finns, the Scots or the French?
2.7 0 Killed

It makes great reading and only goes to show that some things just don't have a definitive answer!! Enjoy knowledge for its own sake!

Answer 4

Some believe it came from the abbreviation of Orrin Kendall biscuits, which soldiers ate during the civil war.

Others say OK is short for Aux Cayes, a Haitian port that American sailors praised for its rum.

Another legend suggests the word comes from Old Keokuk, a Native American tribal chief who was said to have signed treaties with his initials.

But none of those versions have been proven.

Van Buren, a native of Kinderhook, N.Y., was popularly referred to as "Old Kinderhook" ... OK for short. Van Buren's 1840 reelection campaign became so heated that the word OK was widely used and abused by both sides.

In fact, to hurt the Democratic Party, an opponent started a rumor that it was former president Andrew Jackson who created OK, as an abbreviation of "all correct." The rumor implied that the rustic Jackson was a poor speller. That explanation for OK wasn't true, either, but it did have staying power. And it helped propel the use of OK even further. So much, in fact, that it's used all around the world today.

There are words like OK in many other languages. In the West African language of Wolof, "waw kay" means "yes." In Choctaw, "okeh" means "indeed."

While there isn't any proof that any of the words gave birth to the American OK

The influence of Choctaw, African American speech, political speech ... all of that came together in a kind of melting pot.

Answer 5

Probably no one knows for sure. One theory I like is that "okay" derives from the Scottish "auch aye", meaning "ah yes".

Here are a number of links with possible origins. I hope this helps.

Answer 6

Its short for okay.

Answer 7

from Oklahoma, ok!

Answer 8

old kinderdijk