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  • Category: Improve Your English

    Interesting: Origin of the most common English word, 'OK'

    If someone asks us: "What is the English word which is universally understood"? The answer would be: 'OK'. Yes, OK is most common English word which is understood all over the world, even by such people whose stock of English is less than five words!

    But the word 'OK' has entered the English dictionary relatively much later. It would be interesting to know the origin of this most commonly used English word.

    The story of OK began in the mid-19th century in the United States of America. At that time in the USA, spelling a word incorrectly was considered top level intellectual humour or sarcasm. On 23rd March 1839, the Boston Morning Post included an insignificant article full of sarcasm towards another newspaper. In this article, the abbreviation "o.k." was first used to denote "all (oll) correct (korrect)." This was a sarcastic misspelling of "all correct" as "oll korrect".

    The word OK became popular after a year or so thanks to the then US President Martin Van Buren. During his 1840 re-election campaign, his supporters used to address him by his nickname, Old Kinderhook, from his birthplace in Kinderhook near New York. They coined the phrase "Vote for OK" and formed the "OK Club".

    Van Buren's opponent, William Henry Harrison, then linked OK with "oll korrect" to mock Van Buren and former President Andrew Jackson for their supposed lack of education. Eventually, Van Buren lost the Presidential election, but the word "OK" found a permanent and prominent place in English vocabulary.
  • #775983
    The thread is very interesting. The author brought out the origin of the word OK. He presented the total information in a very nice way.
    I read somewhere that OK is a word used to convey our acceptance, agreement, approval, or acknowledgement. The full form of OK is Olla Kalla. It is a Greek word. The meaning of this word is All correct. These days the usage of this word increased and many of us use this word in online chatting too.
    Such threads will help members like me to improve our understanding of various words which are in common usage.

    drrao
    always confident

  • #775998
    Thanks for the interesting information on the origin of the world OK. This is so common in our day to day use but we never bothered to find out what was its origin and how such a strange combination came into use in English all around the globe.
    I read somewhere that every language has sound of O and also of K and that is probably the reason of universal acceptance of OK.

    Knowledge is power.

  • #775999
    We are thankful to the author providing us valuable information time to time regarding the origin of the words and his pain never goes in vain. I read his knowledgeable texts with a great attention to keep myself updated.
    Regarding the word O.K, I was only aware of the fact that the same is used to denote the all correct and the same is even used in our acceptance of a response. We never tried to go in depth regarding its origin.
    I hope he would try his best to add more such series for the benefits of the members. It is really a nice attempt on his part.

  • #776002
    Yes, Jha Sir. OK stands for 'oll korrect' (all correct). But who used this for the first time and who popularized it? That was the question I wanted to discuss in this post.
    (a) Those who have forgotten Noakhali, how can they protest Sandeshkhali?
    (b) Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. ---------- Salvador Dali

  • #776006
    Agreed Partha Sir.

  • #776009
    Is it okay or OK as per dictionary? Please clarify.
    'Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all'.
    -Aristotle

  • #776010
    #776009: "There's no difference between OK and okay. The older term, OK, (possibly) derived from an abbreviation for an intentional misspelling of "all correct." The terms are both standard English. For extremely formal writing, always consult the relevant style guide. "-------Copied from grammarly.com
    (a) Those who have forgotten Noakhali, how can they protest Sandeshkhali?
    (b) Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. ---------- Salvador Dali

  • #776017
    That is a very interesting post by the author, indeed. These days, in the modern lingo of chatting used by millennials and Zillenial, it is very common to use abbreviations and new inventions to be different from the rest of people and be cool as well, so it is not written here but when one finishes a chat with "OK" it is in general considered kind of rude so it is better to end the chat with and emoticons.
    "It is hardest thing in the world to be good thinker without being a good self examiner"


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