Ok Day

Guess what day it was Friday? It was the annual OK Day in the U.S. I think we are supposed to celebrate OK by saying OK allot. But everyone already says it too much. The whole subject of an OK day is not OK for me, I am confused. I am, not even sure where the work OK came from. I was a taught in school that OK came from a U.S. Presidential campaign in 1840 in which political supporters of a candidate, Martin Van Buren, formed OK from Van Buren's nickname "Old Kinderhook But that's just one theory. Here are some more claims for the start of our overuse of OK.

-It's an Old English acronym for 'Orl Korrect'.

- That in the American Civil War large blackboards would list the number killed each day. If none were killed the blackboard would read OK (zero killed)

- Another theory is that OK (or "Okay" as Americans say it) comes from the Scottish "auch aye", which means "ah yes

- That OK was born 172 years ago in the Boston Post newspaper of March 23, 1839, when the editor created humorous abbreviations. He wrote in the middle of a paragraph, "o.k. - all correct (Thus, why we celebrate OK on the March date)

- That ok comes from when the ships would return from sea. The French would say "au quai" which translates to "at the dock". The French!!! I refuse to believe the French contributed anything that significant to the world.

-That OK came from a Swedish production line worker named Olaf Knutssen. Every time he checked an assembly line product that was good he would stamp his OK initials on it.

There are more theories, but I will spare you the torture if it is OK with you. I think OK is probably the most spoken word, worldwide. It's universally understood and that may make it the most important word in any language. Ergo, we have a OK day to honor it. We are supposed to say OK even more than we normally do (but I hope not more than a teenager says "you know") It's all OK with me, and I am using OK often here in the spirit. You'll have to wait until March 23rd of next year since you missed OK day this year.

OK is good for us because it is a non offense word. People write OK on documents to mark their approval and we nod our heads or speak OK to express assent to something or just to say we're listening. It's also a great way to shorten or end a conversation. Just say OK and walk away. No one ever thinks anything of it when you do that. I bet you are hoping right about now that I say OK and shut up. That's OK with me....