The Meaning Behind 'OK'

Connor Kissack
Mr. Roddy
IHSS
11 September 2019
The Meaning Behind ‘OK’
The word “Okay” began to be used in the year 1839. It was considered a play on words. The origins of the so-called acknowledgement word, okay, aren’t too clear. People believe that the word used to be an abbreviation of ‘KG’, or know go. Linguists believe that this was a misspelling for ‘no go’ and was a play on words which most likely meant that something was impossible. Experts also believe that it came out of an abbreviation of ‘oll korrect’ - which was so say ‘all correct’ in a hysterical matter. Yet, a few others believe that it emerged from a nickname of a former president, Martin Van Buren as well as it might of been a word from Choctaw, a Native American language. However, a year to a few years ago, the abbreviation had just been accepted as a word in the English language. 

 The article was interesting as it taught me how the word ‘OK’ came into existence. It also talked about a few other words that are similar, in a way, to the word ‘okay’. I sometimes just blank out and think about the way things are so I kind of have been wondering why we use the word ‘okay’ in the human language. The story about it is pretty odd. Before reading the article, I imagined that the word was probably a play on words in the British language. In the end, my guess was sort of correct. I never imagined it to start as the words know go. I’m also surprised that the abbreviation was started and used in the 1840’s.

https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-we-say-ok-122528

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