Prompt Cast
The History and Versatility of the Word "OK"
TLDR The word "OK" originated in the early 19th century as part of an abbreviation craze and a trend of purposefully misspelling things. It has since evolved to be a neutral, affirmative reply that affirms something without any enthusiasm.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The hosts discuss the versatility of the word "okay" and its various uses as an adjective, interjection, verb, and noun.
02:35
Alan Walker Reed traced back the origin of the word "okay" to the early 19th century when printing became cheaper and there was an explosion of printing, coinciding with a trend of using abbreviations for everything.
05:05
The abbreviation craze in the early 19th century, which spread from Boston to New York and elsewhere, is part one of where the word "OK" came from.
07:33
The word "OK" stuck around because it coincided with the trend of purposefully misspelling things, which was considered funny at the time.
10:01
The origins of "OK" started to blossom when the misspelling trend of purposefully misspelling things began, and it was officially born when Charles Gordon Green abbreviated "all correct" as "O-K" in a trash-talking exchange.
12:36
The phrase "O-K" originated from Martin Van Buren's campaign slogan "Old Kinderhook is O-K" during the 1840 presidential election, and it has evolved to be a neutral, affirmative reply that affirms something without any enthusiasm.
15:03
Different style guides have different rules for capitalizing and punctuating "OK," with AP style using uppercase without periods, the Chicago Manual of Style capitalizing and allowing periods, and Grammarly suggesting uppercase at the beginning of a sentence and lowercase otherwise.
Categories:
Society & Culture
