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For other uses, see OK (disambiguation).

"Okay" redirects here. For other uses, see Okay (disambiguation).

"Okee" redirects here. For the community, see Okee, Wisconsin.

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OK button on a remote control

"OK" (also spelled "okay", "ok", or "O.K.") is a word denoting approval, acceptance, agreement,

assent, or acknowledgment. "OK", as anadjective, can also express acknowledgment without

approval.[1] "OK" has frequently turned up as a loanword in many other languages.

As an adjective, "OK" means "adequate", "acceptable" ("this is OK to send out"), "mediocre" often in

contrast to "good" ("the food was OK"); it also functions as an adverb in this sense. As

an interjection, it can denote compliance ("OK, I will do that"), or agreement ("OK, that is fine"). As

a verb and noun it means "assent" ("the boss OKed the purchase" and "the boss gave his OK to the

purchase"). As a versatile discourse marker (or back-channeling item), it can also be used with

appropriate voice tone to show doubt or to seek confirmation ("OK?" or "Is that OK?").[2]

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Proposed etymologieso 1.1 Boston abbreviation fado 1.2 Choctawo 1.3 West Africano 1.4 Alternative etymologies

2 Early history 3 Spelling variations 4 Usage

o 4.1 International usage 5 Gesture 6 Computers 7 Notes 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links

Proposed etymologies[edit]

See also: List of proposed etymologies of OK

Numerous explanations for the origin of the expression have been suggested, but few have been

discussed seriously by linguists. The following proposals have found mainstream recognition.

Boston abbreviation fad[edit]

The etymology that most reference works provide today is based on a survey of the word's early

history in print: a series of six articles by Allen Walker Read,[3] in the journalAmerican Speech in 1963

and 1964.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] He tracked the spread and evolution of the word in American newspapers and

other written documents, and later throughout the rest of the world. He also documented controversy

surrounding OK and the history of its folk etymologies, both of which are intertwined with the history

of the word itself. Read's work has nevertheless been called in for closer scrutiny by scholars of both

Choctaw and West African languages.[11] Read argues that, at the time of the expression's first

appearance in print, a broader fad existed in the United States of "comical misspellings" and of

forming and employing acronyms, themselves based on colloquial speech patterns:

The abbreviation fad began in Boston in the summer of 1838 … OFM, "our first men," and used

expressions like NG, "no go," GT, "gone to Texas," and SP, "small potatoes." Many of the

abbreviated expressions were exaggerated misspellings, a stock in trade of the humorists of the day.

One predecessor of OK was OW, "oll wright."[12]

The general fad is speculated to have existed in spoken or informal written U.S. English for a decade

or more before its appearance in newspapers. OK's original presentation as "all correct" was later

varied with spellings such as "Oll Korrect" or even "Ole Kurreck".

The term appears to have achieved national prominence in 1840, when supporters of the American

Democratic political party claimed during the 1840 United States presidential election that it stood for

"Old Kinderhook," a nickname for a Democratic presidential candidate, Martin Van Buren, a native

of Kinderhook, New York, who was Andrew Jackson's protégé. "'Vote for OK' was snappier than

using his Dutch name."[13] In response, Whig opponents attributed OK, in the sense of "Oll Korrect,"

to Andrew Jackson's bad spelling. The country-wide publicity surrounding the election appears to

have been a critical event in OK's history, widely and suddenly popularizing it across the United

States.

Read had originally proposed an etymology of "OK" in "Old Kinderhook" in 1941.[14] The evidence

presented in that article was somewhat sparse, and the connection to "Oll Korrect" not properly

elucidated. Various challenges to the

to OK may not be the earliest. Some are attracted to the claim that it is of American-Indian origin.

There is an