OK: The 1830s Joke That Outlived Presidents and Prevailed
A two-letter word that quietly commands attention: “OK.” Often utilized without deliberate consideration, it is time to unveil the nuanced narrative concealed behind this seemingly commonplace expression.
Picture this: 1830s Boston, a time when young intellectuals were the cool cats in town, impressing one another with intentionally butchered abbreviations. KC for “knuff ced,” KY for “know yuse,” and OW for “oll wright.” Haha indeed! However, one abbreviation soared above the rest — OK, the hilarious twist on “oll korrect.”
Fast forward to March 23, 1839, when OK made its debut in the Boston Morning Post. Like a wildfire, this quirky abbreviation spread across the nation, becoming the darling of not just a few insiders but the entire country. Even the flailing U.S. President from Kinderhook, New York, jumped on the OK bandwagon during his 1840 reelection campaign.
Old Kinderhook was “oll korrect,” or so his supporters declared in OK Clubs popping up nationwide. The campaign got nasty, opponents flipping the abbreviation on its head, suggesting “Orful Konspiracy” or “Orful Katastrophe.” Ah, politics.
Though Van Buren’s presidency didn’t survive the storm, OK emerged victorious, firmly planting itself in the American lexicon. Its popularity soared further thanks to a groundbreaking invention — the telegraph.
Now, let’s talk telegraphs. Picture this: currents flowing, electromagnets energizing, armatures clicking — messages zipping across the wires. And what better way to acknowledge a received transmission than with those two easy-to-tap-out letters — O and K. No message was deemed transmitted until the office gave the O K. Suddenly, OK was serious business.
But there’s more to the story. The visual appeal of the letter K played a crucial role. In a “Kraze for K,” advertisers replaced Cs with Ks to Katch your eye. This visual strategy persists in modern corporate logos — think Krispy-Kreme and Kool-Aid. It’s that memorable K that sticks with us.
By the 1890s, OK’s Bostonian roots faded, and myths began to circulate. Some claimed it came from the Choctaw word ‘okeh,’ meaning ‘so it is.’ Choctaw gave us the word OK? Well, that’s a stretch.
OK’s origins might be murky, but who cares? It’s embedded in our language, serving as the ultimate “neutral affirmative.” It affirms without evaluating, a reflex we hardly notice anymore. If you “got home OK,” you were unharmed. If your “food was OK,” it was acceptable. And “OK” simply confirms a change of plans.
So, there you have it — the wild ride of how two mischievous letters transformed into the word we say without a second thought. The next time you utter an “OK,” remember, it’s not just a casual affirmation; it’s a linguistic odyssey that began with a cheeky joke in 1830s Boston.
