Ok.
This is how the story goes.
America's 8th President and key player in the founding of the Democratic party, Martin Van Buren was nicknamed "Old Kinderhook."* Whenever it came to signing forms and documents he would sign them with the "OK" initials.
The rest is, as the skinny lady once wrote, heestirry.
Ok? Happy now?
Ok. Maybe not. His name was also referenced in Seinfeld when a gang calling themselves the 'Van Buren's' were seeking revenge against. George Costanza.
Ok?
*Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, New York.
There is another version on that. When the Us bought Louisiana, the people sent in by Washington heard the planters supervising cotton bails ready for shipment. When satisfied they would tell the slave "au quai" meaning "to the wharf". Most plantations were up rivers and shipped their cotton on goats, they had wharfs to accommodate those boats. That is one version of the origin of OK.
ReplyDeleteIsn't there usually more than one meaning to word origins? Word origins are tough to trace.
ReplyDeleteIndeed they are and most have multiple origins and even most circuitous ones.
ReplyDeleteDo some research, Guys. Here is settled history. Do I have to re-invent the wheel for you?
ReplyDeleteHm. It didn't seem to settle anything instead it played into what we were saying that word origins are sometimes hard to trace back.
ReplyDeleteAs your link to wikie says:
The origins of 'okay' are not known with certainty, and have been the subject of much discussion over the years.
By all means. Reinvent.
Paul has provided a 'French origin'. What about the Greek one Paul? ["Ola Kala" meaning "everything's good" or "all good" used by Greek railroad workers in America; wiki).
ReplyDeleteThe misspelled 'oll korrect' is also interesting, since some people in the new lands where originally Dutch.
MoR, I repeat:"I don't speak Greek".
ReplyDeleteWell, Paul, 'ola kala', even the kids know it lol
ReplyDeletePS
ReplyDeleteBesides, I only took it from the Wikipedia, I'm not that cultivated.
Original settlers Dutch?
ReplyDeleteCommish, are you on Face Book?
ReplyDeleteNope.
ReplyDeleteDon't intend to. Haftadrauh the line sumwear.
Gearing up for the Dodgers playoff run?
Amazing, with no real number one pitcher they manage to have the best staff in the NL - ERA and WHIP.
Commentator, MoR is refering, without a doubt to New Amsterdam, now New York. It was Dutch before becoming British. Another treaty thing.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was referring to that. The 'K' of Korrect could be Dutch, but the 'oll' puzzles me, since in German, which is very close to Dutch (=Deutsch), they write 'All', not 'oll'.
ReplyDeleteWatching the Dodgers turns my stomach. I posted this around last Monday:
ReplyDeleteWe are not playing optimal ball. I know I shouldn't quarrel with results, but it's increasingly difficult to watch Torre micro-manage the offense. Wall to wall, this is a good hitting (BA) team. It just roasts my nuts to see Torre play small ball with bunting. Like yesterday: In the ninth, he's bunting a man to 2nd when he's ready with Ramirez to pinch hit? Everyone in the park knows that if the bunt is successful, Manny's going to be walked. And what's up with this superannuated thug named Thome??? If he wasn't as slow as Old Mary down the street we would have a avoided that extra out. What's old man Thome doing on the roster anyway? He's taking up valuable-priceless pinch-hitting at bats at this time that Torre could be using to select his post-season bench. If Torre's head is on straight.
I can't wait until Torre leaves.
Wow. Never one to hold back.
ReplyDeleteImagine if Tony LaRussa was managing the team how mad you'd be!
Still, the guy has the Dodgers winning.