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Monday, January 6, 2020

Okay, Okay, Okay

I just finished reading Mother Tongue, English & How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. This book is jam-packed with information about English, from its origins to the development of profanity to the language's future. It must have taken the author years to do the research, and what an outstanding job he did!

One topic I found particularly interesting was the mostly American English word O.K., or however you choose to spell it. This word, thankfully a positive one, has been picked up and used to some degree by speakers of many languages around the world.  It is also possibly the most versatile word in English.

Here are a few examples:

"Just O.K." (an action done minimally well-adverb)
"is not O.K." (description of the action's outcome-adjective)
"I need Management's O.K. before I can publish this." (noun)
"Will you O.K. my request?" (verb)
"O.K., I've had about enough of this nonsense." (interjection)

It's also a word that can be delivered both positively ("O.K!") and negatively ("O.K., if I have to.")

The word's first appearance in print was in 1839 in the Boston Morning Post. The author suggests O.K. may have stemmed from a fad that developed in 1838 among New York and Boston writers who poked fun at the language by using O.W. for "oll wright" and O.K. for "oll korrect." Also in 1839, Martin Van Buren ran for reelection. His nickname was Old Kinderhook (based on the small New York town he came from). A group of Democrats who worked on his campaign gave themselves the name Democratic O.K. Club. "Club O.K." became a widespread slogan used throughout the campaign, and though Van Buren lost, O.K. won the hearts of the American people.

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