OK — these two letters take up a lot of space in our everyday conversations and serve a variety of uses. “How are you?” “OK” (for small talk and pleasantries). “Can you pick up the kids after work?” “OK” (for quick agreement). “How was the movie?” “OK” (implying ambivalence or even distaste). What started off as an initialism — an abbreviation in which the letters are pronounced individually — has evolved into one of the most widely used words in American English, and the subject of entire books (Allan Metcalf’s The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word).

In a similar fashion to how 21st-century text speak plays with punny spellings (LOLZ), mid-1800s newspaper editors would often write with misspellings and then create acronyms from those “mistakes.” The Boston Morning Post, for example, used “OW” to stand in for “oll wright” (meaning “all right”). Not all of these alternate spellings took hold, but an 1839 satirical article about grammar included an intentional misspelling of “oll korrect,” and the course of American English was changed.

The Presidential Roots of “OK”

Around the same time, President Martin Van Buren was on his 1840 reelection tour with the campaign nickname of “Old Kinderhook,” which referred to his New York hometown. Campaign organizers picked up on the Boston newspaper’s use of “OK,” and turned it into a slogan — “OK is OK.” Around the country, “OK clubs” sprung up to promote the President’s reelection. Unfortunately, the slogan was easily co-opted by the opposition, with nicknames such as “Orful Konspiracy” and “Orful Katastrophe.” After incumbent Van Buren lost the election, the connection to his campaign faded away, but the usage for “oll korrect” continued to expand.

The Kraze for K

Since the mid-1800s, “OK” has been through many edits as writers have dropped and added periods, elongated it to “okay,” and explored other spelling variations. President Woodrow Wilson used the spelling “okeh” to sign off on documents — this version comes from the spelling of a Choctaw word that sounds similar to “OK” and means “it is so.”

The popularity of the smacky and final “k” sound represents a greater trend in advertising to prioritize “k” over “c” whenever possible, even at the expense of changing actual spellings. It was called “the kraze for K,” outlined in 1925 by Louise Pound, who pointed to President Andrew Jackson’s advisers referring to the cabinet as the “Kitchen Kabinet.”

While it seems to be primarily American English in origin, the term has variations in many languages, most with a sense of confirmation. The Scots say och aye for “yes, indeed,” the Greeks have ola kala for “everything is well,” and the Finnish use oikea for “correct, exact.”

Confirming Receipt as Quickly as Possible

In 1844, the telegraph was invented, and the two-letter “OK” strengthened as a fast and easy way to communicate via the new technology. The letters became a standard response to confirm a transmission was received. Its punchiness gave folks the ability to quickly convey that everything was “all right” or “good to go,” but in fewer characters.

Not everyone loved the fun, catchy word, though. Many 19th-century writers, including Mark Twain and Bret Harte, steered away from its use, and Little Women author Louisa May Alcott used it once in the original 1868 draft of the book, but switched from “I’m OK with that” to “I’m cozy with that” in the next version.

Losing a Letter, and Gaining Some Attitude

“OK,” in recent use, isn’t always innocent and agreeable. In texting, messaging, and on social media, it’s often shortened to “k” and can be interpreted in a variety of ways, thereby increasing its allure. A brisk and solo “k” can indicate some irritation, or an abrupt end to a conversation where there’s perhaps more to be said later. It also easily conveys sarcasm, in place of “sure” or “yeah, right,” such as when a teenager says they cleaned their room and the parent says “k” in a highly doubtful tone. In fact, ending a text conversation with just a “k” and not a “sounds good” and a friendly emoji can be disconcerting for the recipient. In recent years, tone-aware texters have doubled up with “kk” to show that they are, in fact, saying “OK” without any hint of sarcasm. Think of it as “OK’s” friendlier little cousin.

6 LIKES

Share

Share to email Share to X Share to Pinterest Share link

Jennifer A. Freeman

Senior Editor, Word Smarts

Jennifer A. Freeman is the Senior Editor of Word Smarts and Word Daily. When she's not searching for a perfect synonym or reaching "Genius" level on Spelling Bee, she's playing with her Welsh Terrier in Greenville, SC.

Suggested Reads

Grammar

Good Tidings and Feliz Navidad: The Origins of Holiday Phrases

Language

Why Is “OK” a Presidential Abbreviation?

Vocabulary

Beyond “Dickensian”: 7 Quirky Words Created by Charles Dickens

Language

What’s the Difference Between “Famous” and “Infamous”?

Vocabulary

What’s a Tannenbaum? A Guide to Puzzling Christmas Carol Terms

Language

What’s the Plural of “Octopus”?

There’s a school of thought in linguistics called the poverty of vocabulary (POV) hypothesis. The assumption is that if a person is lacking in their vocabulary, they might fill in with curse words. This perspective has led people to view cursing as a sign of poor education, bad manners, or even being lower on the socio-economic ladder. However, recent linguistic research has shown that the exact opposite might be true. Greater fluency with curse words might be a sign of general verbal fluency, and those who are exceptionally vulgar might also be exceptionally eloquent in other ways. Additional research shows that swearing can boost pain tolerance, make people more emotionally resilient, and be a signal for positive personality traits such as honesty and directness.

Legendary stand-up comedian George Carlin had a famous act called “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” which was based on his premise that everyone has a different list of curse words, and the lists can change over time (and by context). In fact, linguists trace the concept of profanity back to ancient Rome, but in general, it’s connected to religion. In Judeo-Christian and Muslim traditions, a word becomes profane when it’s stripped of its intent and used outside of religious contexts.

Other curse words were created as euphemisms for lewd or provocative terms, but became vulgar terms themselves. The most modern iteration of curse words comes from social media apps: As a way of getting around community standards that ban certain words or topics, users create new words, which then become profanity on their own.

Bejabbers

This English word, primarily used in Ireland, appeared in 1821. The interjection is a corruption of the blasphemous “by Jesus.”

Consarn it

Oxford traces this regional expression to the early 1800s, used “in the optative” (expressing a wish) to indicate annoyance, hatred, or dismissal. It’s a mild version of “damn.”

Great horn spoon

This charming phrase is a less blasphemous alternative to “by God!” or any of its variants. Linguists believe it comes from sailor slang and may refer to the Big Dipper.

’Snails

The OED tracks the earliest usage of this word to the late 1500s. It’s an example of linguistic clipping, or shortening a word — it’s an abbreviated form of the expression “God’s nails.” This is also how we get the curses “zounds” (“God’s wounds”), “strewth” (“God’s truth”), and “ods bodikins” (“God’s little body”).

Gosh-all-Potomac

Rather than clip the word, some folks prefer to replace “God” with “gosh,” as evidenced by the range of “gosh” options. But of all the expressions in the “gosh all” category — “Goshalmighty,” “gosh-all-hemlock,” “gosh all fish-hooks” — “gosh-all-Potomac” is the earliest one tracked in the Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles, a reference book that defines the usages of words and phrases in American English versus British English (published from 1936 to 1944).

Gadzooks!

“Gadzooks” appeared in English in the mid-1600s, used to express surprise, alarm, or to affirm the truth of a statement. Like “’snails,” it’s an example of clipping: It’s an abbreviated form of the expression “God’s hooks.”

Zooterkins

This is less of an insult, and more something you’d yell after someone insults you. It’s related to the expression “zounds” and dates back to the 1600s.

27 LIKES

Share

Share to email Share to X Share to Pinterest Share link

Jennifer A. Freeman

Senior Editor, Word Smarts

Jennifer A. Freeman is the Senior Editor of Word Smarts and Word Daily. When she's not searching for a perfect synonym or reaching "Genius" level on Spelling Bee, she's playing with her Welsh Terrier in Greenville, SC.

Suggested Reads

Grammar

Good Tidings and Feliz Navidad: The Origins of Holiday Phrases

Language

Why Is “OK” a Presidential Abbreviation?

Vocabulary

Beyond “Dickensian”: 7 Quirky Words Created by Charles Dickens

Language

What’s the Difference Between “Famous” and “Infamous”?

Vocabulary

What’s a Tannenbaum? A Guide to Puzzling Christmas Carol Terms

Language

What’s the Plural of “Octopus”?

There’s a common axiom that we all have same 24 hours in a day. Some days seem to pass by faster than others, but whether we’re stopping to smell the roses on a summer day or watching the clock race by on a deadline, those 24 hours are the same. Each hour can be counted, from the first one (hour 0) to the last one (hour 23). That said, how people count and describe those hours around the world can vary. Let’s take a closer look at how to tell time around the world, with a particular focus on what different time abbreviations mean.

The 24-hour clock simply counts how many hours have been completed that day. The first two digits are the hours, followed by a colon and then two digits for minutes. More precise timekeeping (for sports, countdowns, etc.) can add colons and digits to track seconds and milliseconds, too.

When a digital clock reads 00:00, it is midnight; 12:00 is noon; and 23:59 is the last minute of the day. Midnight could also be 24:00, but many timekeepers argue that the millisecond past 24:00 flips to the next day, and the time should be documented as 00:00. In places that use 24-hour time, the mechanical clocks will often have two rings of hour markings, o to 12 and 13 to 24.

Although 24-hour-time is widely used in Britain, the U.S. military, and many other places around the world, North Americans and Australians are far more accustomed to the simpler 12-hour clock.

You might also enjoy

Vocabulary

16 of the Most Common Emoji — and How They've Changed

Language

How "OK" Became a Presidential Abbreviation

According to the 12-hour clock, the calendar day starts at 12, midnight, then ticks up to 1 a.m. The clock then pivots at 12, noon, around the time the sun is at its highest point in the sky. Everything in the day is either before noon (morning), or after noon (aptly named afternoon, and also evening and night).

Splitting the 24-hour clock in half creates two counts: how many hours have elapsed since midnight, and how many hours have passed since noon.

The abbreviations “a.m.” and “p.m.” differentiate between these counts. Since these times revolve around noon, we might expect to see “n” in the abbreviations, but 17th-century Englishmen opted to use Latin instead.

In Latin, “a.m.” stands for ante meridiem. Translated, this means “before midday.” The counterpart, “p.m.,” stands for post meridiem, which, naturally, translates to “after midday.” In establishing the timekeeping standards, midday was set to be 12, noon.

To further clarify, it was decided that 00:00, the start of the new day, would be known as 12, midnight. And 12, high noon, would be the transition to the p.m. hours. (Technically there is no 12 p.m. because it is not “post,” but there is a 12:01 p.m.) To avoid confusion, many say simply “midnight” or “noon” instead of the 12 o’clock times. While context (setting doctors appointments, requesting work meetings) usually clarifies whether someone is referring to 3 a.m. or 3 p.m., it’s always helpful to add a quick “in the morning” if the time is a bit more ambiguous. For example, a night owl may have no problem showing up for 10 p.m. plans, but their friends will be sitting at 10 a.m. brunch wondering why they got stood up.

320 LIKES

Share

Share to email Share to X Share to Pinterest Share link

Jennifer A. Freeman

Senior Editor, Word Smarts

Jennifer A. Freeman is the Senior Editor of Word Smarts and Word Daily. When she's not searching for a perfect synonym or reaching "Genius" level on Spelling Bee, she's playing with her Welsh Terrier in Greenville, SC.

Suggested Reads

Grammar

Good Tidings and Feliz Navidad: The Origins of Holiday Phrases

Language

Why Is “OK” a Presidential Abbreviation?

Vocabulary

Beyond “Dickensian”: 7 Quirky Words Created by Charles Dickens

Language

What’s the Difference Between “Famous” and “Infamous”?

Vocabulary

What’s a Tannenbaum? A Guide to Puzzling Christmas Carol Terms

Language

What’s the Plural of “Octopus”?