Where does the expression 'OK' come from

...asks J Arnold. OK, here we go... The origin of this expression is one of the most hotly debated in the sort of circles that debate such things.

What's the hot favourite
One of the most widely accepted origins is that OK stands for oll (or orl) korrect - 'a factitious early 19th century American phonetic spelling of all correct,' according to the Encarta Dictionary. It was favoured by President Andrew Jackson, who used it when he was a court clerk in Tennessee to mark up legal documents. This use was first printed in 1939, in the Boston Morning Post.

That's a very small way to start - how did it become so popular
A year later, 'OK' was endorsed as an expression when it was used as a slogan in a presidential election, where it stood for Old Kinderhook, the nickname of US president Martin van Buren, who was born in Kinderhook, New York State.

Any other explanations
It comes from other languages: the Greek ola kala, which means everything is fine; the Finnish oikea, which means correct; the Choctaw word okeh, which means 'it is'; even the English word hoacky, which means the last load of the harvest.

So this is a word which could have evolved in any language to mean something good
Possibly. Or OK could be someone's initials...

Such as...
The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable offers these suggestions... Obadiah Kelly, a railroad freight agent who used his initials on bills of lading; Old Keokuk, an Amerindian chief who used his initials on treaties; or from Orrins-Kendall crackers, which were popular during the American Civil War.

Could it be short for something else
Yes, other suggestions include: '0 killed', as used by soldiers in World War I to report deaths each evening; or Aux Cayes, a Haitian port famous for its rum.

In other words, nobody knows..
That's right. But wherever it came from, this little word can now be understood in almost every country in the world.

By Hermione Gray