What is the origin of the word OK?

Answer 1

According to Wikipedia:

"Allen Wlker 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...... 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. 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."

Answer 2

Origin Of The Word Ok

Answer 3

Wow, what a great question, something i've wondered often myself.

There are three really believable answers here, the greek ola kala, the oll korrect and the 0 killed.

I guess this is just one of those ones that you'll never get a 100% definitive answer on because nobody really knows.

I think i would like it to be the greek one, just because the greeks have a fantastic word etzigetzi (sorry for my spelling) with a hand gesture that means 'so so' and is an answer to the question 'how are you?'

However i'd like to know how the greeks mean by 'okay', i think thats a nice answer but its more likely to be one of the others both seems pretty good.

I really hope you get a answer beyond all doubt but i think we'll just have to be satisfied with a number of cool bits of trivia to tell our friends!

Answer 4

[Origin: 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] 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 5

The origin of OK
There was an election to be a president in the USA The supporter ofa certani candidate came from the town of Old Kinhook and they formed a club called OK club and it became a catch phrase till now

Answer 6

Another unlikely origin which I don't believe for a moment as told to me by a German workmate is that in the early years of Ford they had German inspector named Otto Krueger who used to put his initials on the car windscreen if the car passed inspection hence OK ! LOL

Answer 7

Well I heard that it originated during World War I and whenever no-one was killed they would write on the board O.K standing for 0 Kills just something I heard from a friend can't be sure of it though

Answer 8

From what I dug up many years ago it was to do with French Canadians and the hunters or whatever in the mountains. The several races there used Orl korrect from the army terminology but could not get the spelling right. A Canadian Sauce manufacturer picked up on it so you now have OK and OK sauce.
From what I dug up the US never had a thing to do with it. It was English, French and Dutch / German.

Answer 9

it is greek
ive read it
and have been told it from smart people
i know its for a fact it means
ola kala
and they shortened it to ok
''even though its an english word '' some may argue but the truth is

in america a while back obviously
they voted between greek and english to be spoken in america
english just won (and i cant remember the precise statistics)

believe it or not greek language is involved a lot with the english
the chances are if you know greek fluently you reckognise them big words such as

pentegon-5 sided shape (pente means five)
paediatrician -kids doctor (paidia means kids)
x

Answer 10

Mr Allen Walker Read used the word OK meaning all is well.OK was first used in the USA .