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Ok, November 2010
Hardcover
The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word
Oxford University Press
November 2010
On Sale: November 9, 2010
224 pages
ISBN: 0195377931
EAN: 9780195377934
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
It is said to be the most frequently spoken (or typed) word
on the planet, more common than an infant's first word ma or
the ever-present beverage Coke. It was even the first word
spoken on the moon. It is "OK"-- the most ubiquitous and
invisible of American expressions, one used countless times
every day. Yet few of us know the secret history of OK--how
it was coined, what it stood for, and the amazing extent of
its influence. Allan Metcalf, a renowned popular writer on language, here
traces the evolution of America's most popular word, writing
with brevity and wit, and ranging across American history
with colorful portraits of the nooks and crannies in which
OK survived and prospered. He describes how OK was born as a
lame joke in a newspaper article in 1839--used as a
supposedly humorous abbreviation for "oll korrect" (ie, "all
correct")--but should have died a quick death, as most
clever coinages do. But OK was swept along in a
nineteenth-century fad for abbreviations, was appropriated
by a presidential campaign (one of the candidates being
called "Old Kinderhook"), and finally was picked up by
operators of the telegraph. Over the next century and a
half, it established a firm toehold in the American lexicon,
and eventually became embedded in pop culture, from the "I'm
OK, You're OK" of 1970's transactional analysis, to Ned
Flanders' absurd "Okeley Dokeley!" Indeed, OK became
emblematic of a uniquely American attitude, and is one of
our most successful global exports. Anyone who loves the life of words or the quirky corners of
American culture will find this delightful book more than
just OK.
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