where does the saying OK come from???

Answer 1

HI

there are a number of claims to this, mostly are from the US.

the first one is during the US 1840 elections one of the candidates was called Martin Van Buren of Kinderhook, New York, he was known as 'Old Kinderhook, or Ok for short..

Another theory is during the US civil war the soldiers were fed on rations of biscuits called Orrin Kendall, OK for short.

But my fav is there is a port in Haiti called Aux Cayes where the sailors docked for Rum etc (you know yourself), and they called it OK as a direct translation.

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.

Answer 3

Allen Walker Read conclusively documented the early history of the abbreviation O.K., now also spelled okay, in a series of six articles in the journal American Speech in 1963 and 1964. He tracked the spread and evolution of the word in American newspapers and other written documents, and later its spread to the rest of the world. He also documented controversy surrounding O.K. and the history of its folk etymologies, both of which are intertwined with the history of the word itself.

The first printed examples of O.K. can be found in the Boston newspapers of 1839 as part of a broader fad of forming and employing acronyms and initialisms, many of them barbarous. Other examples at the time included G.T.T. for "gone to Texas" and K.Y. for "know yuse". The general fad may have existed in spoken or informal written American English for a decade or more before its appearance in newspapers. O.K. was intended as a misspelling of "all correct"; in the first few years it was often published with this gloss. (Note that gloss indicates the spread of a new word.) The gloss was sometimes varied with degraded spelling such as "Oll Korrect" or even "Ole Kurreck". Deliberate word play was associated with the acronym fad and was a yet broader contemporary American fad. In this first phase, O.K. was spread with the acronym fad from Boston to other American cities.

The first recorded appearance in the first phase was in the Boston Morning Post on March 23, 1839, in the following passage (presumably written by editor Charles Gordon Greene):

The above is from the Providence Journal, the editor of which is a little too quick on the trigger, on this occasion. We said not a word about our deputation passing "through the city" of Providence.—We said our brethren were going to New York in the Richmond, and they did go, as per Post of Thursday. The "Chairman of the Committee on Charity Lecture Bells", is one of the deputation, and perhaps if he should return to Boston, via Providence, he of the Journal, and his train-band, would have his "contribution box," et ceteras, o.k.—all correct—and cause the corks to fly, like sparks, upward.
In a second phase, O.K. was boosted by the 1840 presidential election, and thus marked to outlast the acronym fad from which it came. Democratic supporters of candidate Martin Van Buren equated "Oll Korrect" with "Old Kinderhook", which was a nickname for Van Buren, a native of Kinderhook, NY. In response, Whig opponents attributed O.K., in the sense of "Oll Korrect", to Andrew Jackson's bad spelling. Thus, the election popularized both O.K. and a folk etymology that the acronym came from Andrew Jackson.

O.K. spread across the United States over the next two decades, and probably as far as Jamaica by 1848. The Civil War cemented its use, as much by confirming to American speakers that it was widely understood as by spreading it yet further. In the second half of the 19th century it spread to England and many other countries. In England it was first viewed as an improper Americanism, but it became widely accepted between the first and second World Wars.

Answer 4

I was led to believe it originated from the Greek post sorters who, upon sorting and tying bundles of letters, would write, "Olla Kalla" meaning all well, all correct, all fine upon them.

Upon being received by overseas postal workers, notably American, the 'Olla Kalla' was abbreviated and adopted as OK to mean everything is fine/well/correct

However, I'm certain there are other equally reasonable explanations..

Answer 5

I like the sound of "Ola Kalla". For years I used to assume it was US for "och aye"...

Answer 6

My husband is Greek and he thinks it comes from the Greek for every thing is good Ola Kala. saying that, he thinks that ALL words come from Greek.............

Answer 7

oll korrekt

Answer 8

from the facetious misspelling of"oll korrekt" ??????(this is one theory)

Answer 9

dont know , but the opposite of o.k..... is k.o !! which is far from o.k.!