Has 'OK' reversed it's meaning in a generation?

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1962: "Say, Dad, I just won the pine wood derby at the Jamboree!"

"Well, Jimmy, that's OK! That's just fine! I'm proud of you, boy!"

2006: "How was 'The Shaggy Dog'?"

"Eh, it was OK. There was a couple good lines."

― andy --, Friday, 31 March 2006 20:20 (twenty years ago)

Not quite reversed, but you're right.

― Robocock (noodle vague), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:21 (twenty years ago)

blame the astronauts

― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:21 (twenty years ago)

OK this thread.

― allyzaymc (jaymc), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:21 (twenty years ago)

http://spanish.engadget.com/images/2005/09/lil%20jon.jpg

"Ohhkay!"

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:21 (twenty years ago)

i'm guessing that even in 1962, there needed to be an "a" in front of "ok" in order for it to be a ringing endorsement.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:22 (twenty years ago)

I feel alright.

― Washable School Paste (sexyDancer), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:22 (twenty years ago)

(Typing OK in google image produces the most random collection of shit I've ever seen. It's like chaos theory.)

― andy --, Friday, 31 March 2006 20:23 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://www.dos.state.ny.us/images/ok.gif

― andy --, Friday, 31 March 2006 20:24 (twenty years ago)

My favorite example of transatlantic miscommunication came when I lived in the UK, and Britishes would always be asking me, "Are you all right?" Or "Are you OK?" And I'd be like, "Uhh, yeah, I'm fine -- why, do I look sick or something?"

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:25 (twenty years ago)

What were they actually asking? And...you lived in the UK?

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:26 (twenty years ago)

OK reversed

http://www.thaivisa.com/albums/LadyBoxing1/ParrotHead11.jpg
http://www.boxing.jp/news03/image03/niida%20ko%20parantchai%20031208.JPG
http://www.pointedmagazine.com/boxing%20ali%20knockout%20punch%201%20edited.JPg
http://images.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/_photos/2002-06-10-tyson-ko.jpg

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:28 (twenty years ago)

http://www.entertainment-news.org/images/full_size/randy-jackson-on-the-road-to-stardom.jpg
"I mean, you did your thing, but for me, dog,
it was just OK tonight. Just OK."

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:30 (twenty years ago)

I think it's just superlative inflation -- an OK doesn't quite buy what it used to. (Neither does a "damn" or a "go to hell!")

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:30 (twenty years ago)

What were they actually asking? And...you lived in the UK?

It was just a polite way of saying "Hey, what's up? Doin' good?"

Studied in the UK for six months, Sept. '98-March '99.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:31 (twenty years ago)

This is shaping up to be a fine thread already. It's better than OK - it's alright!

― ratty, Friday, 31 March 2006 20:33 (twenty years ago)

don't you americaners say "how's it hangin'?" all the time

are you actually asking how it's...hangin'?

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:36 (twenty years ago)

"Hanging loose and full of juice!" is the correct response.

― andy --, Friday, 31 March 2006 20:37 (twenty years ago)

NO IT IS NOT

― Dan (Ack) Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:38 (twenty years ago)

Haha, this girl I used to work with and I had a running joke where she'd ask me "How's it hangin'?" and I'd pause and say "A little to the left."

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:38 (twenty years ago)

yes, that's a joke

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:39 (twenty years ago)

I imagine her tittering exactly the same way each time.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:41 (twenty years ago)

I imagine her tit[...] exactly the same way each time.

― Dan (You CAD) Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:50 (twenty years ago)

I think she had a thing for white boys, too.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:50 (twenty years ago)

i'm sure she wasn't the only one.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:52 (twenty years ago)

Can we make this thread a TS: OK vs. okay?

Nine times out of ten, I use the lowercase, spelled-out variant.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:52 (twenty years ago)

(Just in case anyone's curious) Technically I think the uppercase is (more) correct, since it was first widely used to stand for "Old Kinderhook," the nickname of Martin Van Buren, and used in his election campaign I think? (Sorry, my source isn't handy)

― sgs (sgs), Friday, 31 March 2006 21:17 (twenty years ago)

"hangin' fine & cherry wine"

― kingfish ubermensch dishwasher sundae (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 31 March 2006 21:18 (twenty years ago)

No, I remember reading that, too, sgs. "OK" definitely predates "okay" -- but I'm not as concerned about correctness in this case, it's more of an aesthetic choice. "OK" always looks stiff to me, as if the two letters should be given equal emphasis.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 31 March 2006 21:21 (twenty years ago)

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_250

The etymology is really interesting...from oll korrect

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 31 March 2006 21:21 (twenty years ago)

xposts OK I went to look it up. I was right about the Van Buren, and "perhaps abbr of oll korrect, humorous alteration of all correct." Oh the humor.

Okay then. I think OK looks stiffer too, I like the -ay on the end.

― sgs (sgs), Friday, 31 March 2006 21:23 (twenty years ago)

But the stiffness is what I like about Ally's "OK this thread." "Okay this thread" wouldn't be nearly as funny -- it would lose some of the sense of "I am at a complete loss here."

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 31 March 2006 21:25 (twenty years ago)

Oh the humor.
I think I'd have a hard time chatting with people at parties in the 1830s. Like David Lowenthal said, the past is a foreign country....

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 31 March 2006 21:33 (twenty years ago)

Jay, I think people were actually concerned about you!

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 31 March 2006 23:21 (twenty years ago)

http://www.ok-magazine.com/magazines/current/45.jpg

PARIS WILL BE OK WON'T SHE

― andy --, Saturday, 1 April 2006 00:00 (twenty years ago)

what about just "k"?

also, instead of "a" in front of "ok", shouldn't it be "an"?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 1 April 2006 00:05 (twenty years ago)

How the fuck does one get a rad nickname like Old Kinderhook? That rules.

― andy --, Saturday, 1 April 2006 00:09 (twenty years ago)

http://www.thestalwart.com/the_stalwart/images/20010627ok_cola.jpg

― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 1 April 2006 00:14 (twenty years ago)

also, instead of "a" in front of "ok", shouldn't it be "an"?

If you're writing or speaking about an OK, like someone's approval of something, then yes, but in this case it's supposed to be A-OK, as in everything's hunky dory. I guess the A lends the OK some real clout.

― jim wentworth (wench), Saturday, 1 April 2006 00:40 (twenty years ago)

this is bad news for oklahoma and our slogan
oklahoma is OK

― former gov frank keating, Saturday, 1 April 2006 00:45 (twenty years ago)

that second knockout pic whoa!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Saturday, 1 April 2006 02:29 (twenty years ago)

I tend to think of "okay" strictly as a verb meaning "to approve," as in, "Can you okay this paragraph for me?" Don't know why.

Anyway, TS: "OK" vs. "m'kay"

― phil d. (Phil D.), Saturday, 1 April 2006 10:45 (twenty years ago)

How the fuck does one get a rad nickname like Old Kinderhook? That rules.

there possibly has to also be a Young Kinderhook.

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Saturday, 1 April 2006 12:52 (twenty years ago)

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