How many languages say o.k.?

Question

Why is it that so many languages say o.k.? Where did it originate and what does it stand for? What languages don't have it?

You don't have to answer all these questions. lol

Answer 1

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 O.K."

Answer 2

I speak 6 non-English languages, and know how to communicated in about another 4 or 5, and in every single one of them "ok" is a common term (used the exact same way as it is in English). From my experience it is an American term than has found its way into virtually every lexicon in the modern world.

Answer 3

all I know is that English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese have a definition for "ok" in their dictionaries;
In Gaelic we don't say "ok", because it has to be translated as "ceart gu leòr" which means "all right".

Answer 4

In Russian and Hebrew we say OK.

Answer 5

my language too, OK for baiklah(malay)