what does OK stand for?

Answer 1

Okay

Meaning

Satisfactory - all correct.

Origin

Such a short word and the source of so much dispute. It is possibly the phrase with more alternative suggested derivations than any other. The contenders include:

Terms from various languages that sound similar to 'okay' in English. For example:

from the Scots - 'och aye' (yes, indeed)
from Choctaw-Chickasaw, 'okah' (it is indeed)
from Greek, 'ola kala' ( everything is well)
from Finnish, 'oikea' (correct, exact)
from Mandingo, 'O ke', (certainly)


A shortened version of 'Oll Korrect', used by President Andrew Jackson when initialing papers
'Old Kinderhook' - nickname of President Martin van Buren.
'Aux quais' - the mark put on bales of cotton in Mississippi river ports.
'0 killed' - the report of the night's death toll during the First World War.
'Orl Korrect' - military reporting indicating troops were in good order.
etc, etc.

Despite there being many rival suggested origins there is actually a well-researched and reliable source for the phrase. In 1963, in American Speech, the celebrated etymologist Professor Allen Walker Read published his extensive research into this phrase. To put his findings into context he explains the craze for the use of abbreviations that flourished in Boston, beginning in summer 1838. He found the earliest recorded use of OK (as opposed to okay, which came slightly later) in the Boston Morning Post, 23rd March 1839, in a story about an odd group known as the Anti-Bell Ringing Society (ABRS). Their reason to be was to have the law relating to the ringing of dinner bells changed. In that article it appears that OK was used as a shortened form of "oll korrect", a comic version of "all correct".

We don't really have to look further for the origin, but people still do.

Sadly, there doesn't seem to be much hope of Read's work being accepted as definitive. Even as early as 1840, which by Read's account is but a few months after the term was coined, there was a dispute about its origin and meaning. In the Lexington Intelligencer, 9th October 1840, we have:

"Perhaps no two letters have ever been made the initials of as many words as O.K... When first used they were said to mean Out of Kash, (cash;) more recently they have been made to stand for Oll Korrect, Oll Koming, Oll Konfirmed, &c. &c."

-----------------------------------------

Okey-dokey

Meaning

Okay. There are some late 20th century alternative meanings, limited to the USA, e.g. 'absurd or ridiculous' and 'to swindle of deceive'.

Origin

This little phrase is a variant of okay. It is 20th century American and first appears in print in a 1932 edition of American Speech.

There are several alternative spellings - okay-doke, okey-doke, okee-doke, etc. In addition to these is the comic version that has brought the phrase back to popular attention in recent years - The Simpson's Ned Flanders' 'okely-dokely'.

All of them are just a perky reduplicated variants of okay, utilizing that favourite device of two-word phrases - rhyming. As a reduplication it is properly spelled with a hyphen, although it is often given without.

Like okay, 'okey-doke' is used to indicate that all is well, e.g. 'everything is okay here', but may be used when responding positively to a request. That is exemplified in this piece from Colin MacInnes' book City of Spades, 1957:

"One Guinness stout, right, I thank you, okey-doke, here it is."

Answer 2

"OK is a quintessentially American term that has spread from English to many other languages. Its origin was the subject of scholarly debate for many years until Allen Walker Read showed that OK is based on a joke of sorts. OK is first recorded in 1839 but was probably in circulation before that date. During the 1830s there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses. Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation for all correct, the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren's 1840 campaign for reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently suitable for political slogans. That same year, an editorial referring to the receipt of a pin with the slogan O.K. had this comment: “frightful letters … significant of the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, old Kinderhook, as also the rallying word of the Democracy of the late election, ‘all correct’ .... Those who wear them should bear in mind that it will require their most strenuous exertions … to make all things OK."

Answer 3

Oklahoma and
Okay is a term of approval or assent, often written as OK, O.K., ok, okay, okee, okie, or more informally as simply kay, k or kk. Sometimes used with other words, as in "okey, dokey". When used to describe the quality of a thing, it denotes acceptability. However, its usage can also be strongly approving; as with most slang, its usage is determined by context. It could be one of the most widely used words on Earth, since it has spread from English to many other languages.

The historical record shows that O.K. appeared as an abbreviation for oll korrect (a conscious misspelling of "all correct") in Boston newspapers in 1839, and was reinterpreted as "Old Kinderhook" in the 1840 United States presidential election. Because it is a recent word born of word play, and because it is so widely used, O.K. has also invited many folk etymologies. These competing theories are not supported by the historical written record, except in that folk and joke etymologies influenced the true history of the word. Since the 19th century, the word has spread around the world, the okay spelling of it first appearing in British writing in the 1860s. Spelled out in full in the 20th century, 'okay' has come to be in everyday use among English speakers, and borrowed by non-English speakers. Occasionally a humorous form okey dokey (or okey doke) is used, as well as A-ok. Wikipedia

Answer 4

Origins of OK are the 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

Answer 5

Oklahoma

Answer 6

Its very debatable outside the abbreviation for Oklahoma. Most people agree it stands for Okay.
Read on:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_250

Answer 7

My vote goes to bero575. Most of the definitions she came up with, I totally forgot about.

Answer 8

Okie. Dokie.

ss

Answer 9

OK. Oh baby, Kan you dig it.

Answer 10

either okay or oklahoma.