OK Full Form Name: OK Meaning
Full Form of OK :
All Right (or) Correct (or)
Agreed
OK Full Form refers to ‘All
Right (or) Correct (or) Agreed’. It is believed that during 1838, in
Boston, people used various short form expressions like ‘GT-gone to Texas’;
NG-no go; SP-small potatoes; etc. One of the expressions includes OW, which was
Oll Wright, which eventually turned out to be OK. The next theory is that OK
originated to represent ‘Orl Korrect’, which is a misspelling of ‘all correct’
during the 1830s.
There are people who believe OK
to be an Indian word, which refers to the affirmative reply ‘okeh’ to a
question. Various origins have been proposed for the origin of OK. However,
irrespective of its origin, the usage, and the meaning convey the same.
Ok! This is something about OK. Yes, we shall explore various facets of this
commonly used catchphrase that has become so tightly and deeply embodied in our
daily colloquial language that we barely care to explore about its origin,
different meanings, and other related things.
OK Full Form – Additional
Information
There are many facts about the
use of OK as a catchphrase or otherwise. Many of the readers will probably have
never thought about this phrase as anything important but an outcome of casual
developments in English. However, this is not the case. Historically as well as
contemporarily, the phrase has more to it than inherent brevity. Here are some
facts about OK that you probably would not have heard of:
General Information about OK
OK is used as an adjective,
indicating acceptance, approval, acknowledgment. It is an express form of
assent and is generally understood in this fashion only. It is popular as a
loanword, which basically means adoption of a word or phrase from one
particular language and use of it in different languages, without any need of
translating it.
Apart from indicating acceptance,
it is often used to mean average or mediocrity. We often say “That item is Okay
or OK”. Sometimes, the catchphrase is used in the form of an adverb. It can be
used to obtain confirmation and other similar ways.
History behind the development of
OK
The catchphrase OK has a rich
history that can be traced back to the 19th century. The predecessor
of OK was OW, which meant Oll Wright. Eventually, it was transformed into OK
with early meanings being All Correct, Oll Korrect, and sometimes, Ole Kurreck.
In the year 1840, the word became a nationwide phenomenon when Presidential
campaign was happening. The word OK was used in reference to the abridged form
of the nickname of the presidential candidate, Martin Van Buren, which was Old
Kinderhook.
Following thing, OK became
prominent when Pete Seeger, a folk singer, sang that the word OK derives its
origin from Choctaw Indian culture. The language Choctaw was prominent in a
certain tribe that lived in the South-east United States. There are still
arguments as to the claims made in respect of the origin of the phrase.
A joke?
This needs a separate discussion
as many consider this story as the most acceptable one as far as the origin of
the word OK is concerned. In the year 1839, the Boston Morning Post made a
publication of a hilarious article about an organization, which called itself
the Anti-Bell-Ringing Society. The article made a hilarious use of the word OK.
The term was used as an abridged form of All Correct. Nobody could imagine back
then a word like OK would be such a big hit.
Spelling variants of OK
With time, the use and popularity
of the catchphrase grew rapidly, with many variants emerging in different
countries and in different languages. There is no agreement as to what the
proper form of OK is, that is, whether it is Okay, or OK, or Okayee! It all
depends on upon the region and language. Under this head, we shall discuss some
of the popularly known variants of OK.
§ Octl: It is a
modern variation of the Mayan catchphrase. It is prominently used in the
Yucatan Peninsula.
§ Okeh: This word
comes from Choctaw. It was once very famously used but has become less and less
prominent.
§ K or kk: This
form of OK is extensively used in instant messaging or in general texting. It
was also used in Morse code indicating “Go ahead”.
§ Kay: The word
became famous after finding mention in The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk. In the
book, the word was used by Captain Queeg.
§ Okie: The term
was popularly used in the movie The Little Rascals as Oki doki, which can be
stretched to Okie dokie
§ Oukej: It is
popularly used in Slovak and Czech.
§ Ookoo: The
phrase is prominently used in Finland and it is pronounced as OK.
Gesture OK
OK can be depicted in the form of
gesture. The gesture is depicted when the thumb is touched by the index finger,
creating a round circle. There is a confusion as to whether the gesture
origins from the phrase or the phrase origins from the gesture. There are,
however, usages of same gesture in a different manner in different countries.
Language counterparts of OK
Although OK is a loanword and it
been unanimously and rather inadvertently incorporated in other languages, it
is important to note about the counterparts of the word OK in different
countries. It will be a fun exercise, apart from being an informative course of
information. The term OK is used as a substitute for the regional term “ii”,
which means good, and daijobou, which means all right.
In the Chinese language, the word
hao is the linguistic counterpart of OK. In Taiwan, the term OK is used with
linguistic modifications, by incorporating certain Taiwanese expressions: OK
le, when people communicate with foreigners; OK ma, which means “Is it OK?”; OK
la, which is a powerful word that is used in the sense as “Is it OK or not?” It
is more of an intimidating expression.
In the Philippines, the phrase OK
lang is used, which means just OK. In Malay, the word OK is suffixed with
“lah”. In Singapore, the prominence of Singlish has led to different
conjunctions of the term OK such as OK lor, OK leh, OK meh; each of these
expressions is used in different contexts.
Use of the term OK in the digital
world
The word OK has been incorporated
as popular terms used on buttons such as acceptance messages, error messages,
and other forms where some sort of approval is needed. Generally, where there
is one button, the label is most likely to be OK or Okay. It is used as OK, not
as O.K. or Okay! by default. Now we know that OK is not just a mere term but
has many connotations, uses, historical facts, and whatnot.