Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
\nPath: dog.ee.lbl.gov!tennyson.lbl.gov!twcaps
\n>From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
\nSubject: Sheesh! Okay Already!
\nOrganization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley
\nReferences:
\nMessage-ID:
\nX-Local-Date: Mon, 15 Jul 91 16:48:13 PDT
\nReply-To: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
\nDate: Mon, 15 Jul 91 23:48:12 GMT<\/p>\n
Well folks, Cecil does a fairly decent job on the origins of “okay” in
\nthe second book. He notes that Eric Partridge in _Origins_ (pub. 1983)
\nsays “OK” derives from the OK Club, which supported Martin “Old Kinderhook”
\nvan Buren in 1840. But this is only 0.5 of the story.<\/p>\n
William and Mary Morris in the _Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase
\nOrigins_ (1977) mentions the OK Club and also several other theories
\n(there’s a good one about Haiti). But, Allen Walker Read wrote a series
\nof articles in the journal _American Speech_ in 1963 and 1964 which he
\ncites as best delineated. The letters of OK stand for “oll korrect” and
\nare the result of a fad for comical abbreviations that fluorished in the
\n1830s and 1840s (Cece mentions that Read cited “hundreds of citations”
\nto support his argument). <\/p>\n
Cecil goes on to mention some interesting abbreviations in passing
\n(e.g., NG, “no go”) and that exaggerated misspellings were a basic
\ntool of humorists in those days (vestiges of this practice are still
\nfound in certain, esoteric areas, such as USENET). He notes that OK
\nwas first found in print in Boston in 1839, but really took off when
\nvan Buren was running for President. Other folks have mentioned Andrew
\nJackson in connection (or connexion) with this thread. Cecil notes
\nthat van Burens’ opponents tried to use OK against van Buren by saying
\nthat it originated with VG’s allegedly illegitimate predecessor, Jackson,
\n“a story that still survives to this day”. His enemies also went to
\nderive other interpretations (e.g., “Out of Kash”, “Out of Kredit”, and
\n[my favorite], “Out of Klothes”). Other folks came up with “Oll Killed”,
\n“Often Kontradicts”, etc.<\/p>\n
It was a catchy slogan and after it got so popular, people began to forget
\nits origins and came up with other etymologies. Cecils mentions some of
\nthem including:<\/p>\n
1. \tDerivative of the Choctaw Indian affirmative “okeh”. Jackson was
\n\tsaid to have introduced it into white american talk.<\/p>\n
2.\tIt was a telegraphic signal for “open key” (i.e., “ready to
\n\treceive”). Problem was, first telegraph message was sent in 1844.<\/p>\n
3.\t“OK” stands for O. Kendall & Sons, a supplier of biscuits to the
\n\tarmy that stamped its initials on its products.<\/p>\n
4.\tFrom the name of a Haitian port “Aux Cayes” (noted for its rum). A
\n\tvariation is that it came from the French “au quai” or “to the dock”,
\n\twhich referred to cotton approved for loading.<\/p>\n
5.\tStands for Obediah Kelly, a RR freight agent who used to stamp his
\n\tinitials on shipping documents.<\/p>\n
6.\tFrom the Greek “Olla Kalla” or “all good”.<\/p>\n
7.\tA German general who fought on the American side (you know, the good
\n\tguys) in the Revolutionary War who used to stamp his documents for
\n\t“Ober Kommando”.<\/p>\n
and, of course, others. So, if you like and have faith in Cecil, that’s
\nit (subject to any of my own errors in input of course). If you don’t,
\ntoo bad. It does cover a number of proposed etymologies (including the
\nvan Buren\/Jackson one).<\/p>\n
Terry “I hope I won’t FAQ this one up” Chan
\n—
\n================================================================================
\nINTERNET: twchan@lbl.gov\tBITNET: twchan@lbl.bitnet
\n“I realize that I’m generalizing here, but as is often the case when I
\n generalize, I don’t care.” — Dave Barry<\/p>\n
