FW: "OK" cites in 1839

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Barry Popik sent me the message below on early cites for "O.K.", and with his permission I now share it with ads-l.

Gerald Cohen                                                                                                                                         gcohen at mst.edu


[Message from Barry Popik, bapopik at aol.com , Sat 7/5/2008; Subject: "OK" cites in 1839]


OED revised "OK" in June 2008. I just did a re-check on Genealogybank.com.
...
The April 15, 1839 cite is close to the oldest "OK." The cite mentions "grape brand" and "long necked Frenchman."
...
The second cite on September 28, 1839 (for some reason, this comes up on Genealogybank.com and not my free Westbank library subscription to the same service) is perhaps the first "oll korrect." The cite mentions "swallows."
...
Is there a connection with French wine?
...
Barry Popik
...
...
15 April 1839, Baltimore (MD) Sun, pg. 2:
The newly married couple who sent us an assortment of cake and a bottle of wine, have our best wishes for their full proportion of the sweets of this world. May they flourish, prosper and multiply.
...
The gentleman who sent us a couple of the "long necked Frenchman," will be proud to know that we though of their delicate healths in a bumper, and pronounced the "grape brand" to be O. K. -- all correct.
...
...
28 September 1839, Norfolk (MA) Democrat:
Not so, in the "Hornet's nest," for it is there written that it is "o. k. -- oll korrect." What large _swallows_ some people have!
...
...
(OED)

OK, adj., int.1, n.2, and adv.


colloq. (orig. U.S.).
  A. adj.

    1. All correct, all right; satisfactory, good; well, in good health or order. In early use, occas. more intensively: outstanding, excellent. Now freq. in somewhat weakened sense: adequate, acceptable. OK by (someone): fine by (a person), acceptable to (a person). Chiefly predicative.
{alpha} 1839 C. G. GREENE in Boston Morning Post 23 Mar. 2/2 He..would have the 'contribution box', et ceteras, o.k.{em}all correct{em}and cause the corks to fly, like sparks, upward. 1839 Salem Gaz. 12 Apr. 2/3 The house was O.K. at the last concert, and did credit to the musical taste of the young ladies and gents. 1839 Boston Evening Transcript 11 Oct. 2/3 Our Bank Directors have not thought it worth their while to call a meeting, even for consultation, on the subject. It is O.K. (all correct) in this quarter. 1840 Atlas (Boston) 19 Aug. 2/4 These initials, according to Jack Downing, were first used by Gen. Jackson. 'Those papers, Amos [Kendall], are all correct. I have marked them O.K.' (oll korrect). The Gen. was never good at spelling.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org