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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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

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