"All Correct"? - The History and Uses of "OK"
"OK" is a special word because of how universal it is. If you go to almost any nation in the world, the people there will probably understand it even if their own language is very different from English.
But do you know where OK comes from? This article will introduce the origin, hidden meaning and uses of one of the most useful words in the English language.
The basic meaning of OK
You probably know that OK is used to mean things like “I agree,” “Good,” “I understand,” etc. It is a convenient way to express approval in a variety of situations, such as accepting a request (“I’ll do it") or an invitation (“I will join you").
It can also refer to someone’s physical or mental condition, and in this case, the meaning is “fair” or “not bad” rather than “good.” The same is true if it is used to comment on quality ("The food at that restaurant is OK").
As a question, OK can confirm that someone accepts a task or to ask if someone understands. That’s quite a lot of different uses!
However, the story behind how these two letters came to mean all of these things was a mystery for a long time.
The history of OK
In the past, experts thought that OK may have come from Greek, Scottish, Choctaw (a Native American language) or perhaps a West African language. This is because these languages all share words with similar pronunciations and meanings to OK.
However, in the 1960s, Allen Walker Read, a Columbia University professor studying language, finally helped to solve this mystery when he found the source of OK. This discovery became one of the biggest achievements of his career.
The first use of OK
Allen Walker Read found that OK first appeared in print on March 23, 1839, in the Boston Morning Post, a newspaper in the US state of Massachusetts. Also written there were the original words OK is short for.
o.k. -all correct-
It turns out that OK was originally the shortened form of "Oll Korrect," which is a playful way of spelling “All Correct!”
You may be wondering about the strange spelling of Oll Korrect, but this is not rare in English. For example, have you heard of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, the American doughnut chain with stores around the world? The regular spelling would actually be “Crispy Cream.”
And since we’ve mentioned doughnuts, one of Krispy Kreme's rivals in the US is the chain Dunkin’ Donuts (now just called "Dunkin'") — notice how “doughnuts” is spelled differently.
Additionally, there are brands like the American powdered drink Kool-Aid ("cool") and the ride-sharing service Lyft ("lift"). Unusual spelling like this is easy to notice and easy to remember!
Other things to know about OK
One thing that helps make OK such a special word is that it can be represented with a hand gesture. In the US and other English-speaking countries, forming an "O" with the index finger and thumb while raising the other fingers represents "OK."
Just like the word, the gesture can be used to express that you are in good condition or to check someone else's condition. In this way, it is similar to the "thumbs-up" gesture.
However, in some cultures, this same gesture has different — and sometimes negative — meanings, so be careful where you use it.
Additionally, OK has more than one spelling and a few different versions. Depending on where you read it, it may be spelled as "okay." Also, it can be extended to "A-OK," which is more casual and was originally an astronaut term for "All systems OK."
But there is still one more version of it: "Okey dokey." This version is the most informal of them all.
Mystery solved!
Learning the history of even the most common words and expressions can result in fun and surprising information. Similar to OK, abbreviations like OMG (Oh My God) and LOL (Laugh Out Loud) have histories you may not have expected.
It’s not necessary to learn the origins of language in order to speak it. However, knowing the history does help you to get a deeper understanding of the language as well as the culture it comes from.
But no matter what you think about its history, be sure to remember the variety of ways to use OK — then try them out in your own English conversations!
This article is an adaptation of an original written by Tamaki Saito.
