Thread: Ok
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Old 07-18-2007, 07:52 PM   #7
emilyb
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I decided to look this up and I read that the most credible story is the boston newspaper story, allthough there are many:

"What is known is that one of the first instances of OK appearing in print was in the spring of 1839 by the Boston Morning Post:

It is hardly necessary to say to those who know Mr. Hughes, that his establishment will be found to be 'A. No. One' -- that is, O.K. -- all correct.

So if OK stands for "all correct," wouldn't it be "AC"? Not exactly, says linguist Erin McKean, who points out that the word was intentionally misspelled. Much like the way people on the Internet shorten or abbreviate words when typing, OK was misspelled on purpose.

It was cool in certain East Coast cities in the mid-19th century to substitute OK for "all correct." McKean says it was common for people of that day to use inside lingo -- shorthand full of puns, purposeful misspellings and abbreviations. For example, they'd use "SP" for "small potatoes," or "TBFTB" for "too big for their britches."

Who knew!
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