Obama warns of the "old okey-doke"

[Wilson Gray]

The one that is basically just a variation on "okay," Scot.

How "the (old) okey-doke" (never with the final -y) as "scam," sucker
play," etc. came about I have no idea.

-Wilson

On 1/24/08, Scot LaFaive <scotlafaive at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Scot LaFaive <scotlafaive at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Obama warns of the "old okey-doke"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >My goodness, Amy! How old are you? I first heard "okey-doke(y)" used by my
> mother, now 96, >and her friends in the late 'Thirties!
>
> Which "okey-dokey" sense do you mean here? Like Amy, I've never heard of the
> sense used by Obama. But then again, I'm just a Yankee boy and it might not
> have made it up here except to mean "OK."
>
> Scot
>
> On Jan 24, 2008 11:34 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Obama warns of the "old okey-doke"
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > My goodness, Amy! How old are you? I first heard "okey-doke(y)" used
> > by my mother, now 96, and her friends in the late 'Thirties!
> >
> > The expression was so popular that, in the "Forties, there was even an
> > in-the-days-of-knights comic-book character named "Sir Oakey Doakes."
> > Before that, Edgar Bergen's hick dummy, Mortimer Snerd, used
> > "Okey-dokey!" as a catch-phrase.
> >
> > Mortimer:
> > "How can you tell the difference between a Cadillac and a Cadiddlac?"
> >
> > Edgar:
> > "How?"
> >
> > Mortimer:
> > "By the "diddle" in the middle!
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
> > On 1/24/08, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: Obama warns of the "old okey-doke"
> > >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > That sense is new to me, but that ain't saying much. I use
> > > "okey-dokey" for "OK", and get some giggles when I do. I always learn
> > > stuff here.
> > >
> > > ---Amy West
> > >
> > > And any work by Arnold that is dismissed by others as "merely
> > > descriptive" is still tons more illuminating to me than analytical
> > > works by others.
> > >
> > > >Date:    Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:20:55 -0500
> > > >From:    Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> > > >Subject: Obama warns of the "old okey-doke"
> > > >
> > > >From Sumter, SC...
> > > >
> > > >---
> > > >
> > http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/when_obama_call.html
> > > >  Obama used the friendly setting to urge voters not to be fooled by
> > > >what he said were untruths coming from Hillary Clinton's campaign.
> > > >"They're trying to bamboozle you. It's the same old okey-doke," he
> > > >said, using a slang phrase for a con. "Y'all know about okey-doke,
> > > >right? It's the same old stuff."
> > > >---
> > > >
> > > >--Ben Zimmer
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -----
> >                                              -Sam'l Clemens
> >
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> >
>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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