N A S A Have A New Astronaut..........
ChatterBank0 min ago
OK
27 Answers
We all say it don't we? probably several times a day and hundreds in a lifetime but where did those letters OK come from? are they short for something? Is it short for some Latin phrase?
Anyone know?
jem
Anyone know?
jem
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No-one knows for sure...
Apocryphally, it was how Abraham Lincoln used to designated approval of official documents. He was, essentially, illiterate (imagine that - a think US president!) and thought that the letters "OK" were initials for "all correct".
Others say that it was something that Martin van Buren used to say to refer to himself in his presidential campaign. He was from Kinderhook and his supporters were known as "Old Kinderhooks"...
Apocryphally, it was how Abraham Lincoln used to designated approval of official documents. He was, essentially, illiterate (imagine that - a think US president!) and thought that the letters "OK" were initials for "all correct".
Others say that it was something that Martin van Buren used to say to refer to himself in his presidential campaign. He was from Kinderhook and his supporters were known as "Old Kinderhooks"...
I understood that it was a dock worker loading cotton in the States - and yes it is an abbreviation but that he couldn't spell and OK stands for ORL KORREKT, this is borne out as one origin in this explanation http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/190
It's a bit of both Old Kinderhook and Orl Korrect.There was a fad for jokey spellings. Orl Korrect for 'all correct' was one,abbreviated to OK. This fashion was current when' Old Kinderhook' himself, van Buren, was running for office. His supporters caught on to the punning coincidence of OK being both Old Kinderhook and Orl Korrect and applied it in their campaigning.
Bill Bryson goes into this in his book on American English (a great read) called Made in America. His conclusion is: we don't know. All the above theories are possible (though I never heard the Lincoln one before, nor the suggestion that he was illiterate). Fredpuli is probably as close to korrect as you'll get.
Apologies for the typo, and thanks for pointing it out - you were absolutely right to do so.
Abraham Lincoln is one of those figures from (American) history whose icon vastly eclipses their person. He was born into an illiterate family and had less than two years of formal education. Yet he was a hugely powerful and charismatic speaker, and the Gettsyburg address is rightly feted as a masterpiece of rhetoric; but he was essentially illiterate. If he were alive today, he'd probably be considered as dyslexic. Not ignorant, not stupid - just illiterate. It's not the same thing...
Abraham Lincoln is one of those figures from (American) history whose icon vastly eclipses their person. He was born into an illiterate family and had less than two years of formal education. Yet he was a hugely powerful and charismatic speaker, and the Gettsyburg address is rightly feted as a masterpiece of rhetoric; but he was essentially illiterate. If he were alive today, he'd probably be considered as dyslexic. Not ignorant, not stupid - just illiterate. It's not the same thing...
