LL-L "Etymology" 2002.10.16 (03) [E]

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From: Marco Evenhuis <evenhuis at zeelandnet.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2002.10.16 (08) [E]

Thomas Byro wrote:

> Anyway, during the
> course of the election he was decribed as being "Old Kinderhook."  As the
> election progressed further he was described as simply "he is OK."

Kevin Browne replied:

> I'm pretty sure that "Old Kinderhook" was Martin van Buren.

I remember reading somewhere that not
only Martin van Buren was indeed "Old
Kinderhook", the word OK actually came
from the fact that he signed most docu-
ments with the abreveation of his nick
name, O.K.

Regards,

Marco

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From: Ed Alexander edsells at cogeco.ca
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2002.10.16 (08) [E]

At 12:14 PM 10/16/02 -0700, Thomas Byro wrote:
>The word OK originated in one of the early 19th century American
>presidential elections.

Actually, this is only one hypothesis among many, and should be presented
that way, unless, of course, you have some information which substantiates
this.  Frankly, I think it's quite a leap from an abbreviation of an
election moniker to a universally used particle of confirmation.  Why, for
example, didn't something like this happen with Abraham Lincoln, who was
known as "Old Abe".  I don't think anyone ever started saying, "he is A.B."

>I think it was that between Harrison and Tyler.
>Anyway, one of them was described in the election propaganda as being a
>rough frontiersman, a native of the upstate village of Old Kinderhook,
which
>was a frontier village in his youth.  Actually he was no such thing, but
was
>a member of the Dutch patroon class of upstate New York.  Anyway, during
the
>course of the election he was decribed as being "Old Kinderhook."  As the
>election progressed further he was described as simply "he is OK."  It
>amazes me how the word OK has gained acceptance among speakers of so many
>languages and at how few people actually know what it means.

I'm not going to look this up, but I think that Tyler was Harrison's Vice
Presidential running mate.  Harrison was a great treaty breaker and scourge
of the Midwestern Indians, and fought a battle with them on the Tippecanoe
River in present day Indiana just before the War of 1812 broke out.  Even
though Harrison technically lost the battle, it was spun otherwise in the
white press and he became known as Tippecanoe, hence their election
slogan:  Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too.  Hard to picture a man with the last
name of Harrison as being a member of the upstate New York patroons, too.

Ed Alexander

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From: erek gass <egass at caribline.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language survival" 2002.10.16 (06) [E]

I'm astonished that this "OK" business resurfaces SO often.  There are two
possible (and both plausible) explanations for the rise of "OK" (or "okay",
if you prefer).

One is that cited below (except it should be noted that it refers to James
Van Buren, who lived at, Kinderhook NY and was sometimes called "Old
Kinderhook" (abbreviated "OK").

The explanation is that Germans immigrants working in factories checked the
merchandise, and if were acceptable marked it "All Correct", but, "being
immigrants", and thus not knowing the language well used "OK" because "all
correct" sounded to them like "oll korrect".  I personally doubt this latter
explanation because the German equivalent of "all" is spelt pretty much like
its English cousin.

Perhaps somewhere some old document will be found that reallyh attests to
the origin of the word.  Till then, it really remains very speculative.

Erek

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