SEMANTIC ENIGMAS



What is the derivation of the expression 'ok'? And is ok short for okay or okay long for ok? Carol Rapley, Twickenham, England This is generally assumed to be an acronym for 'orl korrect'. Like SNAFU ('Situation normal - all f***ed up'), it's believed to be a bantering term of military origin, signifying that things are supposedly all in order when they clearly are not. Strictly speaking, 'okay' is the American phonicisation of the acronym 'OK', which tends to be borne out when comparing the use of the term in British and American English. Roger Thomas, Amersham, UK Roger Thomas is correct in that OK is short for oll korrect, but it is not of military origin. It started as a comical abbreviation during a fad in New England in the 1830s. Others were OW (oll wright), KY (know yuse, or no use), and NS ('nuff said). OK caught on permanently when political supporters of Martin Van Buren - whose nickname was Old Kinderhook - turned it into a pun and popularised it in his successful 1840 presidential campaign. After the origin of the phrase had puzzled people for years, Professor Allen Walker Read pulled off one of the great coups of etymology when he tracked this down in the 1960s. See his obituary in The Guardian, 8 November 2002, for more detail. Bill Dunlap, Hamden, Connecticut, USA Another theory which I find attractive is that "okay" derives from the Scottish "auch aye", meaning "ah yes". John Ellen, Brisbane, Australia I once heard that 'OK' was derived from the initials of a Swedish production worker, Olaf Knutssen (or something similar). He would check each item that came to him, and, being a conscientious kind of guy, would stamp his initials on it if it was... erm... ok. Jocelyn Newmarch, Johannesburg, South Africa I saw this question in a quiz a few years ago. The answer indicated that OK were the intials of a Quality Controller for General Motors in the States by the name of Oscar Kirby. Whenever he inspected a component, and it passed, he approved it with his "stamp" - OK! Jon Graham, Worcester, England I heard that in the American Civil War when going back from fighting the soldiers would read on a large blackboard "0k" for zero killed. Susan, Los Angeles, USA I've no idea where OK came from. I'm trying to contact Carol Rapley - are you the Carol Rapley I sat next to at Ealing Grammar? I'd love to get in touch again. Sylvia Doherty, Carlanstown, Kells Ireland OK is NOT an acronym; it is an initialism. Acronyms are sets of initials that can be pronounced as if they were words (Nato, Unicef, Seato, snafu) and which have come into use.'UN' is not one, nor are USA, UK or EEC. To describe initialisms as acronyms is plain ignorance. The simple test is to try to say it as a 'word' rather than simply spelling it. Anna, Huntly, NZ I have never been happy with the dozen or so touted derivations for OK. Recently while researching some Scottish communion tokens, I stumbled on tokens that had the initials "OK" on them. The "K" stands for Kirk, and the "O" stands for a particular parish in Scotland (Ochiltree-1762, Oldhamstocks, Ormiston-1733). There were also several tokens with a stand alone "K" on a circular token (These stand for Kilmorack, Kilmuir, Kingussie, Kintail, and Knockbain.)This all comes from "Communion Tokens of the Established Church of Scotland, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries" by Alexander J.S. Frook, FSA,in the "Proceedings of the Established Church of Scotland, May 13, 1907. The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Tokens shows an "OK" token for Ormstown but says the "OK" stands in this later 1841 token for "O(ld) K(irk)." I like this as it seems akin to our use of "old school" as an approved way of doing things. Communion tokens in the Scottish Church were orginally dispensed four times a year (Knox) and only after the parishioner had submitted to examination and been found worthy. In effect, the conferring of a communion token meant that you were OK in the church's eyes. Now the vast, vast majority of communion tokens do not have "OK" on them or a "K" on a circular token, but if "OK" did come to mean "Old Kirk" as the Charlton Catalogue claims, I could see how it could enter the Scottish settler's vocabulary as just what it came to mean. I have absolutely no evidence of OK either in speech or writing in this sense, but there is no doubt that there were chunks of metal (round and square) with "OK" stamped on them floating around in the 18th and 19th centuries, and that these chunks of metal literally meant that the possessor had been found OK in our understanding of the term and should be accepted for communion in any kirk he or she enters. Worth considering. Karl Felsen, New York, US



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