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Dinesh

Dinesh club

Posted: 01 Aug 2022

Taken: 01 Aug 2022

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Excerpt •
The Adventure of English •
Author •
Melvyn Bragg •
Origin •
Possible Origins •
Of the word OK •

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OK / Okay

OK / Okay

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 Dinesh
Dinesh club
The derivation of OK, okay, allegedly the most used work in the world, is a casebook study in the origin of a word. The theories are so many and so various, so many groups wish to claim it. At one point I thought that it depended entirely on who you were, and different ethnic political and academic groups fight for the ownership of the number one word.

Here are jew a few of the more respectable theories, brought together by Mike Todd. There are hundreds more. . . . .

The Choctaw Indians had the word “Okeh,” which means “it is so.” There is a report after Andrew Jackson, during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, learned this Choctaw word, liked it and used. It. Woodrow Wilson also used it when he approved official papers.

. . . . In the ‘Boston Morning Post,” Mrch 1839, OK was claimed as short for “all correct,” which the young bucks spelled as “orl Korrekt.” Which brings it out of Native American hands and back to the descendants of the English.

“The Times” (London) in 1939 claimed it was Cockney origin -- “Orl Korrec.” The French claimed it came from their sailors who made appointments with American girls “aux quais” (at the quaryside). The Finns have “oikea,” which means correct. ‘The Times’ proposed another theory, that bills going through the House of Lords had to be approved by Lords Onslow and Kilbracken and each initialled them -- O.K. Linguists pointed out that for generations schoolmaster would mark examination papers “Omnis Korecta,” sometimes abbreviated. Shipbuilders marked timber for the outer keel as “OK Number 1,” meaning Outer Keel Number 1. The Scotts draw our attention to “Och aye,” to which OK may be an adaptation. The Prussian propose that one of their generals fighting for the American colonies in the war of Independence would sign his order O.K --his initials. The Greeks came up with a magical incantation from the past, “Omega, Khi.” When repeated twice it drives away fleas. The American army suggests that in the Civil War the U.S. War Department brought supplies of crackers from a company called Orrins-Kendall: OK appeared on these bosxs and came to stand for good quality. . . . etc.

It can get exhausting. Wise linguistics now speak of “coincidental coinage,” which covers all eventualities. OK by me. ~ Page 170/171
21 months ago.
 Dinesh
Dinesh club
The Adventure of English
21 months ago.

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