OK is a quintessentially American term that has spread from
English to many other languages. Its origin was the subject of
scholarly debate for many years until Allen Walker Read showed that
OK is based on a joke of sorts. OK is first recorded in 1839 but
was probably in circulation before that date. During the 1830s
there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a
phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses.
Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK
was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation for all correct, the joke
being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled
with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing
to its use in President Martin Van Buren's 1840 campaign for
reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren
was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently
suitable for political slogans. That same year, an editorial
referring to the receipt of a pin with the slogan O.K. had this
comment: frightful letters...
significant of the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, old Kinderhook,
as also the rallying word of the Democracy of the late election,
all correct.... Those who wear them should bear in mind that it
will require their most strenuous exertions... to make all things
O.K."
