Obama warns of the "old okey-doke"

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Original message from Wilson Gray, Fri 1/25/2008 1:40 PM

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

* * * * * * 

I have an idea.  Some years ago I watched a news program (might have been 60 Minutes) reporting in some detail on some dishonest business practice.  A smooth-talking salesman gets gullible to people to sign up for things they don't really need and can't really afford.  He closes the deal by handing the buyer a contract and a pen, saying: "Just okey-doke it here."

If enough people were bamboozled this way in earlier years, it's understandable how they might come to associate "okey-doke" with a scam.

Gerald Cohen

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