Saturday, February 19, 2011

It Started in BOSTON. . . . . ;-)

Sat, February 19, 2011 12:47:41 AM
The origin of OK
...Thanks, Gary.  Id heard this but never saw anything in print about it . . ;-)  This is the version I heard. .. . 
<< My French teacher of 40 years ago reckoned the term was a mishearing of 'au quai' (literally 'on the quay'). So "vos baggages sont au quai" (your luggage is ready for loading) would be a reassurance that there was no problem.

<< The item that Mysturji recalls may have been a 'colouring up' of this (unconvincing) story – a cargo of trouble-free sugar would be 'au quai' in any French Caribbean port. >>





G'day JustinO,
Here's an interesting article about the origin of the expression OK. It started in Boston back in the early 19th century and has since become universal.
Gary

9 comments:

Jim said...

Thanks for this Justin via Gary. Love this stuff.....right 'up my alley'. Spent 12 years trying to explain similar thing to LD students. This probably would make total sense to them......'make words easier to 'sound out'......thenagain....

J said...

The footnoted article in Wikipedia notes two earlier written uses of "OK", the eariest being a Sumner County, Tennessee court record in which Andrew Jackson sanctioned the sale of a slave as "OK". It appears that the notation had been in some use as an abbreviation for "all correct", but the first widespread and public useage of OK was in the presidential campaign of Martin Van Buren, who had been called "Old Kinderhook" in reference to his home town of Kinderhook, NY. I've always considered the Van Buren campaign as the beginning of the expression's widespread popularity, but it appears this is just one of those usages whose origin is destined to be shrouded in mystery. One thing can be sure: The expression "OK" is American to its core.

JustinO'Shea said...

THERE !!! That settles that! Ipse dixit. hahahaaa

Leaving Bean-town aside, I go for the "au quai" from the Caribbean as the more logical of the various presentations, in my not humble opinion. Mirabile dictu, it is all a matter of opinion anyway!ho ho ho

JustinO'Shea said...

p.s. could it be this originated among the Republicans? Was van Buren GOP? If so, it is unfortunate they have not been known to use it since. . . .

J said...

Van Buren was a Democrat.

JustinO'Shea said...

OK, Thanks. Was there a Republican party then?

Gary Kelly said...

A mate in North Carolina reckons the recession has gotten so bad that if the bank returns your check marked "insufficient funds" you call and ask if they mean you or them. He reckons it won't be long before truckloads of Americans will be caught sneaking into Mexico. And he says when Bill and Hillary travel together now they have to share the same room.

J said...

Since you asked,the Republicans weren't founded until 1854. Prior to that the Democrats' opposition came from the Whigs. Lincoln was a Whig until he switched to the new Republican Party, which was formed primarily to oppose the institution of slavery.

JustinO'Shea said...

Thanks, J. . .I know so little about political history. Interesting. . .esp the slavery abolition of the GOP.