2007-09-01 00:13:13 · 6 answers · asked by Bapboy 4 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okay
2007-09-01 00:19:51 · answer #1 · answered by Polo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This word is used in different forms: OK, Ok, Okay and O.K, being the form with periods the way it started.
I have found three different explanations of its origin:
-It was used in the 1830s in a Boston newspaper as a joke. There was an humoristic fashion to reduce a phrase to initials, and sometimes the abbreviations were mispelled to add more humor. Someone used O.K. for "all correct" (oll korrect).
-The previous explanation is connected with my favorite one, that says that during the Civil War, when batallions returned from the front, the first man in line carried a sign with the number of soldiers killed in action in that group. So the signs stated "9 Killed", "5 killed" and so on. If the number was zero, they stated "O K", a perfect mark.
-The last one (somehow connected too), tells that during the glorious days of the telegraph, there was a man named Oscar Kent, who never commited mistakes in his transmissions. Then, if the telegraph message was signed "O.K." all was correct.
Additionally, in German the expression "Ohne Korrekten" means "without correction" and in Greek "Ola Kala" means "everything's fine".
2007-09-01 07:20:21 · answer #2 · answered by prabhjyot 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What is it with Americans?
The German expression "Ohne Korrekten" and Greek "Ola Kala" meaning "everything's fine" have been around long before any white American had a hole in their bums.
Why do people from the US think that they invented the language we speak?
2007-09-01 07:27:18 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
One of the kings of Brit an who is less educated, pronounced it for All Correct and shortformed it as OK. (A Tale in India)
2007-09-01 07:21:42 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it came from the foundational word
OFFICIAL OKIE DOKIE and OK is the abbreviation! lol
2007-09-04 20:13:05 · answer #5 · answered by autumlovr 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
O.K is a form of war-time slang that means '0 (zero/none) Killed.'
2007-09-01 13:03:35 · answer #6 · answered by zuper_buu 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋