The most successful word in history...

It started as a joke...

• The photo depicts Claes Oldenburg’s Clothes pin sculpture in the Dia park in northern New York state; I present it as evidence of the strength of “joking” in art…

• This entry is about the origin of “OK,” the most successful word ever to have been invented…

• The story begins in 1960, when Colombia University English prof. Allen Read undertook to research the source of the word “OK”

• He found that an 1839 editorial in the Boston Globe abbreviated the phrase oll korrect as “OK”—the phrase was a comic spelling of the speech of recent German immigrants

• The nickname of the then-presidential candidate Martin van Buren was “Old Kinderhook,” so his campaign adopted the abbreviation in its advertising, giving it national exposure

• So it soon began to appear as a substitute for “I agree” or “I approve

• “OK” is easily pronounced worldwide, since the sounds “O” and “K” occur in many languages

• “OK” is not only easily pronounced, it’s also an exceptionally brief expression of agreement or understanding

• Thus what originated by chance abbreviation in early 19th c. America has become the most recognizable & understandable word all over the planet

• Teaches ya, no?