Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!csn!news-1.csn.net!ub!dsinc!cpp!aawest
From: aawest@CritPath.Org (Anthony West)
Subject: Re: Etymology of OK
Message-ID: <Dnwx2I.LEp@CritPath.Org>
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1996 19:35:06 GMT
References: <4hbvvd$ovk@ugress.uib.no> <4heql7$ad3@bone.think.com> <4hhp4s$8im@ugress.uib.no>
Organization: Critical Path Project
Lines: 45

In article <4hhp4s$8im@ugress.uib.no> Einar.Hogseth@kj.uib.no (Einar Hgseth) writes:
>sandee@think.com (Daan Sandee) wrote:
>
>>In article <4hbvvd$ovk@ugress.uib.no> Einar.Hogseth@kj.uib.no (Einar Hgseth) writes:
>>>Does anyone know when and where OK first appeared
>>>and the meaning behind the letters?
>>>
>>No! NO!  NONONONONO ! Please ! Don't start a thread on this !  We're still
>>suffering from an endless, circular, and repetitive thread on the hash
>>mark and now you want to start on "OK" ?  Please read the FAQ for 
>>alt.folklore.urban.
>
>>P.S.  The short answer is "nobody knows".  The long answer will be provided
>>by the dimwits who will present mutually contradictory theories.
>
>>Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
>
>Well. I sort of liked the dimwits explanations better than yours.
>Much better. They were nice and interesting - thank you dimwits.
>
>Einar Hgseth
>
I would take exception to Daan's comments. The latest short answer
is "we're pretty sure."

Recent research has demonstrated that a kind of written humor
became popular among educated young men in the northern U.S.A.
around 1835. It involved "silly acronyms": phrases of misspelled
words, which the writer would then explain to his readers, yuck
yuck yuck. Newspapers of this period are filled with examples of
this genre of joke. At a time when many people were illiterate
and most people were poorly literate, parodying uneducated
writers was thought quite comical.

OK (oll korrekt) is one of many such phrases. Most of them died
a quick death, and if you have seen any of these jokes you will
be grateful for that. OK stuck -- perhaps because it was spread
by the Van Buren (Old Kinderhook) presidential campaign in 1836.

Sorry, alt.urban.folklore. The origin of OK _was_ up in the air
for 150 years, but it does seem to be finding a sound scholarly
ground at last.

Tony West

