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OKAY!

Posted by James Briggs on April 09, 2000

In Reply to: OKAY! posted by Joey on April 09, 2000

:
: : OKAY! Or O.K., or ok comes from a while back. Many years ago, someone(forget which office), ran for political office. His last name was Kinderhook. No one could seem to remember his name, so he thought... his campaign slogan then became "Vote for Old Kinderhook... He's OK!" hence, Ok...!

: Yeah, the "He's OK" obvioulsy came after the phrase OK (Okay) was already in use. Okay is just a word, doesn't make sense when people try and serch for origins to words. It's not a phrase or anything.

OK:
There have been numerous suggestions as to the origin of this one, including the use initials of the nickname (Old Kinderhook, Kinderhook being his birthplace) of US Senator, and later President, Martin Van Buren. The truth I am certain originates in the USA, but not from the Senate. It belongs to the native American Red Indians; in one of
their languages (?Chocktaw?) there is a word which translates as "May it be so"; that word is
Okeh.

The earliest known use of the expression was, I believe, in a Boston (US) newspaper in the 1830s.

This one must have been discussed before - I bet ESC will know!!

  • OK ESC 04/09/00

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