This has come up before, and there's occasionally a dispute on whether it's OK, ok, o.k., okay, or whatever. Modern usage has a lot of variants, but I thought I'd share the origins of this little phrase. My opinion is that regardless of how you spell it, keep it consistent.

Here's the history of it...

OK
1839, only survivor of a slang fad in Boston and New York c.1838-9 for abbreviations of common phrases with deliberate, jocular misspellings (cf. K.G. for "no go," as if spelled "know go"); in this case, "oll korrect." Further popularized by use as an election slogan by the O.K. Club, New York boosters of Democratic president Martin Van Buren's 1840 re-election bid, in allusion to his nickname Old Kinderhook, from his birth in the N.Y. village of Kinderhook. Van Buren lost, the word stuck, in part because it filled a need for a quick way to write an approval on a document, bill, etc. The noun is first attested 1841; the verb 1888. Spelled out as okeh, 1919, by Woodrow Wilson, on assumption that it represented Choctaw okeh "it is so" (a theory which lacks historical documentation); this was ousted quickly by okay after the appearance of that form in 1929. Okey-doke is student slang first attested 1932. Greek immigrants to America who returned home early 20c. having picked up U.S. speech mannerisms were known in Greece as okay-boys, among other things.

That, I feel, is crazy.

I wonder if in the future there will be words like Jaykay, or beeyarbie, and no one will know the abbreviations that they originated from.

Wow you must have been bored to actually go over this.  

Quoted from Higgonaitor That, I feel, is crazy. I wonder if in the future there will be words like Jaykay, or beeyarbie, and no one will know the abbreviations that they originated from.

Too late. It's already happened.

Sean

I agree. It doesn't matter what you do, just keep it consistant.

Quoted from George Willson This has come up before, and there's occasionally a dispute on whether it's OK, ok, o.k., okay, or whatever. Modern usage has a lot of variants, but I thought I'd share the origins of this little phrase. My opinion is that regardless of how you spell it, keep it consistent. Here's the history of it... OK 1839, only survivor of a slang fad in Boston and New York c.1838-9 for abbreviations of common phrases with deliberate, jocular misspellings (cf. K.G. for "no go," as if spelled "know go"); in this case, "oll korrect." Further popularized by use as an election slogan by the O.K. Club, New York boosters of Democratic president Martin Van Buren's 1840 re-election bid, in allusion to his nickname Old Kinderhook, from his birth in the N.Y. village of Kinderhook. Van Buren lost, the word stuck, in part because it filled a need for a quick way to write an approval on a document, bill, etc. The noun is first attested 1841; the verb 1888. Spelled out as okeh, 1919, by Woodrow Wilson, on assumption that it represented Choctaw okeh "it is so" (a theory which lacks historical documentation); this was ousted quickly by okay after the appearance of that form in 1929. Okey-doke is student slang first attested 1932. Greek immigrants to America who returned home early 20c. having picked up U.S. speech mannerisms were known in Greece as okay-boys, among other things.

OK.

George,

That was really interesting.  Thanks for posting that.  On a side, but similar note, I was on a call today and I asked of the presenter, "Could you send the information to John and me." (which is grammatically correct).  Some punk on the call 'corrected' me saying, "it should be 'John and I.'", to which I grammatically ripped him a new asshole regarding 'I' being an subjective pronoun and 'me' being an objective pronoun.  His response was "using 'I' was more 'formal'.  To which I replied, in this case, 'I' isn't formal it is pretentious and wrong.

I suspect that "I" as an objective pronoun is the wave of the future.  

Don

Would it be proper to say, ". . .John and myself."?

Quoted from steven8 My last post was removed?  I didn't think it was bad.  Just joking.  One more variation of OK.  Sorry.

Check out Rule #9

Make jokes all you want but live by that rule as I am going to delete violations 99.9% of the time.

Quoted from Old Time Wesley Check out Rule #9 Make jokes all you want but live by that rule as I am going to delete violations 99.9% of the time.

The rules: http://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b=News,m=1080786748

Quoted from steven8 Would it be proper to say, ". . .John and myself."?

Steven,

No, it wouldn't be proper to say "...John and myself. unless "I" is the subject. 'Myself' is only used in objective form when 'I' is the subject. e.g.,

I can only speak for John and myself...
I would never give a gift to myself...
I can only speak for myself...

versus

John would never give a gift to me...
John (the rat bastard) can not speak for me...
Only Fred can speak for John and me...

Anyone who uses "I" as a subjective pronoun and claims it to be "formal" is an ignorant fuck.  


Don

I know the rules.  I just got caught up in the excitement of the moment.  I PM'd Mr. Python with a short explanation and a solemn promise that it will never happen again.

Now. . .Would it be proper to say, ". . .John and myself."?  

Oops, posted at the same time.  Thanks, that makes total sense!

Quoted from steven8 Now. . .Would it be proper to say, ". . .John and myself."?

Depends on who is the subject.  If "you" are the subject, "I gave this to John and myself" then you are ok.  However, if anyone else, even GOD is the subject then it would be, "God gave this to John and me."

Don

Quoted from Don Depends on who is the subject.  If "you" are the subject, "I gave this to John and myself" then you are ok.  However, if anyone else, even GOD is the subject then it would be, "God gave this to John and me." Don

You know, I have a friend who would be just the kind of guy to argue with you that 'I' would be the proper formal, etc.  He falls into that 'ignorant f***' category.

I don't even know what yo people are talking about!!


Ignorance is bliss!  

From the thread of my old simply-scripter script:

Quoted from Don   Funny, the whole "'I' is a 'subjective pronoun', 'me' is an 'objective pronoun'" is one of my freakish pet peeves that sets me off and leaves everyone around me saying, "What got into him?"

From just now:

Quoted from Don Anyone who uses "I" as a subjective pronoun and claims it to be "formal" is an ignorant f***.   Don

What got into him?

John and I need grammar classes.

Quoted from Xavier Wow you must have been bored to actually go over this.

I have a story that happens in the late 1700's, and I have spent a lot of time at etymonline.com to ensure that every word they speak existed in that time period. Granted, I use modern syntax, but at the very least, I'm not using modern words. OK is one of those words that I cannot use anywhere in the dialogue because it didn't exist at the time.

As Manuel would say....K?

Has anyone how of Fortean Times?

They do a section on dead words, how the word came into existence, how and when it was used and why people stopped speaking it.

I thought this maybe of some interest to people here.