"How a cheesy joke from the 1830s became the most widely spoken word in the world.
...
OK is thought to be the most widely recognized word on the planet. We use it to communicate with each other, as well as our technology. But it actually started out as a language fad in the 1830’s of abbreviating words incorrectly.
Young intellectuals in Boston came up with several of these abbreviations, including 'KC' for 'knuff ced,' 'OW' for 'oll wright,' and KY for 'know yuse.' But thanks to its appearance in Martin Van Buren’s 1840 presidential re-election campaign as the incumbents new nickname, Old Kinderhook, OK outlived its abbreviated comrades.
Later, widespread use by early telegraph operators caused OK to go mainstream, and its original purpose as a neutral affirmative is still how we use it today..."
6 Comments
MilkmanDansays...Great sift, I find that kind of stuff massively interesting.
Reminds me of Cockney rhyming slang, which seems like a completely counterproductive layer of complexity impeding the basic intent of communication. But I imagine that given the right circumstances, some Cockney rhyming slang phrase could take off and go global...
antOK
Great sift, I find that kind of stuff massively interesting.
Reminds me of Cockney rhyming slang, which seems like a completely counterproductive layer of complexity impeding the basic intent of communication. But I imagine that given the right circumstances, some Cockney rhyming slang phrase could take off and go global...
ChaosEngineFrom my understanding the whole point of rhyming slang was obfuscation.
The idea was to be able to communicate in plain sight while "outsiders" (police, upper class, etc) missed the true intent, although this mostly speculation.
Great sift, I find that kind of stuff massively interesting.
Reminds me of Cockney rhyming slang, which seems like a completely counterproductive layer of complexity impeding the basic intent of communication. But I imagine that given the right circumstances, some Cockney rhyming slang phrase could take off and go global...
MilkmanDansays...I think that's correct, or at least I've heard that explanation also. I probably heard it discussed on the BBC show QI?
I guess that would make it sort of like Pig Latin, although at least to me it seems like the barrier to entry into the "in" group of Cockney rhyming slang is massively higher than the one for Pig Latin.
From my understanding the whole point of rhyming slang was obfuscation.
The idea was to be able to communicate in plain sight while "outsiders" (police, upper class, etc) missed the true intent, although this mostly speculation.
KrazyKat42says...My user name shows that I am guilty of this abuse.
antOK
My user name shows that I am guilty of this abuse.
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