| Show u n Who Pu r lOK LAN i In n nOU SOur OU Language a r att s Ap w f P 70 J r y peA e t yam v t a to I I I I 6 t x i Pushmataha Andrew By ELMO SCOTT WATSON OU hoar hear It here everywhere you jou OU gov go for Americans ha lime have e almost forgotten how to a say Yes Instead they thy say sayO IOU O Okay kay It has hns become nn an almost universally accepted symbol of as as- c sent It has ul also aKo o become a n similarly similar ly Iy accepted symbol of approval I. I When we say anything is 19 Okay kay or O 0 K or Ok OKeh ph we Wt mean tint that It I li Is good or tory Not ot has hns this double double- only triple triple spelling spelling meaning expression become common currency currency cur cur- rency In our language or lan If you prefer but It has also already undergone both abbreviation without apparently ch changing ln II Its meaning If you jou dont don't want to take the time to say siy O kay O kay or OKeh I Ju Just t cut It down to tike accent on the o 0 and any American will understand at nt once what you mean So much for fur the of nn expression expression ex so se short hort that n a further shortening seems hn Impossible hip As for the Inversion Consider the now hypothetical hypo hypo- case casp of an 1111 coming to an American nn with this Inquiry I 1 say 01 old 1 fellow what do you jou Americans m mean un when you jou say siy K K 0 O. O Oh Oh that replies the helpful Amer American Icon ican Is an expression from the prize ring When hen a boxer Is Knocked out we WP SU say the other fellow wins by a n I. I K K 0 O. O lint Hut says the with witha a puzzled look on his face This was a little littleboy littleboy littleboy boy I J heard answering a n playmate who had asked him to come across the till street and play with him hint I heard him shout hout K 0 O I Iery ery cry plain ly Iy Oh that I replies the American lie He meant All rights right I You Ton Know we use IIse the term termO O 0 0 K Fr to mean all right or yes Its It's pronounced O kny 0 Kay Well 11 some ollie of the boys Just turn It around and use I. I 0 O which Is pronounced Kayo and It means the same thing That's Tints clear clrar enough Isn't It And the baffled murmurs murmurs mur murs I Hut But the Briton Is no more baffled by this Illogical illogIcal ical teal example of our Illogical day every day American speech than Is the he etymologist who tries to run rundown rundown rundown down the orl origin ln of the expression and to determine determine determine deter deter- mine who put It Into our language Here lItre are a n afew afew few of the theories I 1 1 Olga K Ne r e was a n fascinating Hussian Hus- Hus Blan sian woman who Is 18 belle believed to have hate had an Important Important important Im Im- Influence on history as a n friend of the famous premier William I U IL Gladstone ItIs It ItIs Itis Is said that Gladstone used to submit many Important Important important Im Im- matters to her hr for her hr opinion and anel these papers were generally returned to him with wish her Initials 0 O. 1 K penned upon them 2 In Santo Domingo Is the town of ot Aux Cayes Cars pronounced o-kny o from which In Colonial times the best tobacco and rum ruin were Imported ClerKs It Is said lIld In billing goods to retailers made use of the phonetic letters 0 O. K I Ifor for the sake of brevity bre In Indicating that these goods gools came from Aux Cayes Cays and wt were re therefore of the best quality 3 KeoKuk was ns a famous chief of the Sac and Foxe oxe Indians In Iowa lie He was affectionately referred referred re re- erred to by the whites as Ole Keokuk because because be be- cause he was a n good goOl Indian Being unable to spell his name narie he hp made malle his signature by using his Initials O 0 K I. I K and nd any paper which had hael his hisO O O. O K was all ull right 4 4 Hack Back In Civil II war days das Orrin Kendall was wasa a member of a battery raised among the Hoard Bonn of Trade In Chicago o. o lie He was also head hall of the baking firm of 0 O. O Kendall 1 and ond Sons Hons which fur bread and und crackers for the army On the crackers were the Initials of O 0 0 K for Orrin Kt Kendall These crackers are said to ha e been hlen the only ones the soldiers relished and their expression ex ex- ex These crackers are O. O K K soon level devel developed oiled Into meaning These cracKers are all right r 5 i. i In 1840 1810 during the famous hard older elder and log cabin Presidential campaign of Gen fen William Henry Harrison there was a R WhIg rally roily at Urbana Ur Urbana Urbana bana Ohio which was addressed by a number of prominent Whigs Including General Harrison himself The farmers were largely represented at Rt atthe atthe the gatherings and one of them had hall brought hi his farm wagon on which was wall constructed a 1 plat platform platform form for the th accommodation of his neighbors The farmer was an ardent Whig and wishing t to convey con the Impression that the farmers gener generally generally ally wt were re Whigs he hI hung a banner above tin the platform On the banner were pre these words The Thi farmers Is U Oil Ki There was WitS al also lo a II hotel at Springfield Ohio thin operated by an ardent who Will placed the letters O tl 0 I. I K over the entrance explaining that It meant his hotel was Willi all right those words from the or Oil correct I taking banner on the till farmers farmer's wagon In this same much of rf made campaign lI d his hU Hilled ged Illiteracy and they circulated the In th Mm stry tint that II Harrison II while a commander OK 0 0 K K under the tho In It r. rI o. o end cad d re his papers cwt Woodrow on p pA A I vassa r era r n ri v R d v x Surf William Henru Harrison that It 1111 was 1 the for Oil Oll Korrect I his way of spelling All 1 Correct 0 0 The origin of O 0 I K K meaning all right I is traced to Andrew Jackson In three different ways US One of them Is this this- In the court of or records records rec rec- of Sumner count county Tennessee for October r rII II 0 il appears the fact fatt that on that date Andrew Jackson pro ed a bill hili of sale from lIu Hugh h M Idary to Jasper Casper MansKer Iun for u a negro negroman negroman man which was wal 0 O 1 K K It Is said sold that thai whit what ap op appeared penned to tn be Ie O 0 I I. I ic K In the record may really have been hen a poorly penned O 0 0 It U. which was the ah ab bre u used for Ordered Recorded That such Mich a mistake due Ihle to 10 had bad hl ought might hl easily have hll been n made Is further proved pro by the fact luu that thai 1 lIu Hugh 1 lull h not nol High and Caspar not nut Gasper Casper were two well known frontier characters of or the time and both bolh names f are tire misspelled In the entry During Durin the campaign of Jacksons Jackson's allege illiteracy as In the ease case of Harrison later Inter wa sine one of the chief butts bulls of f his opponents Sebu I Smith In a series of letters written to a Maine Main paper under the name of Major Jack Jak Downing IF is hahl said ahl to have originated the till story slur that Jackson l his paper payer O 0 K K under the hut hat It was the for Oil correct Korrect t tAs As previously stated this canard was wan n A revived and used hoed t Harrison Hit 1441 The third way In which w the origin of or the i s Is traced to Jackson Involves III his nl fr hip with the famous Choctaw Indian In chief lacKson and han had fought fO together against the Creeks In 1812 1 find and JacKson Jalkson frequently heard the Indian chief nee iise an expression sl 51 HoKa a to end all ull state lIt rents or to 10 tolna wins lna up a II conversation It ft was Will a u Caw C M r rt Y t colloquialism meaning me no or what I said said ani and as liS pronounced It It sounded II lIKe Okay or Okeh In rendering It Into In Il li h and In using It as ns a symbol of al approval Jackson Is III said to have l translated It Into the literal O 0 K K Similar evidence e to support the Indian origin of the term Is contained In Byington's Grammar Gram Cram mar of the Choctaw Language n which gives o koh as liS meaning It Is so BO and In no other way If as It seems most highly probable the expression expression ex cx ex- ex did dill originate In the Choctaw Chocta language and hn was principally responsible for Its gift to the white man mun he Is worthy of more than passing comment In fact he li is worthy of being remembered much longer for other things than for th the were mere accident of his using an expression ex ei- which became a n common Amt Americanism Andrew Jackson frequently expressed the opinion that he was the greatest and bravest Indian he be had h ever known and John Randolph of In III pronouncing a n eulogy ulo y on him In Inthe Inthe Inthe the United States sonata uttered the words regarding regarding re re- re- re garding his wisdom his eloquence and his Ills friendship friendship friend friend- ship hip for the whites white's that were afterward Inscribed on his monument Indian prune name was taha tuho which ml means n the sapling Is ready or finished fin shed for him According to the biography of him In the Handbook of American Indians Issued Issued Is Is- sued sUld by hy the of ot American ethnology he was born horn In Noxubee county In Mississippi In I. Before he be wn was twenty years jears of or age he distinguished dis dis- himself In nn an expedition against the ls l's Young disappeared early In the conflict that lusted all nil day diy and on rejoining the Choctaw warriors he was Jeered at and accused of ot being a coward whereupon he lie replied J Let t those tho laugh lauch who can lIn show how more scalps than I J Iman man an nn Saying this he threw down the scalps of Ive die of the enemy whom he had slain by himself Inter Luter he became head hlad of the time or six Towns district of the Choctaws Choctaw and exerted his powerful Influence In promoting friendly rela rela- relations with the whit whites Ill I'll In 1811 when Tecumseh the great Shawnee leader visited the Choctaw to persuade t them to Join In his conspiracy u against the Americans opposed d him himI I HO so strongly that the Choctaws rt maln loyal to the United States During the War of 1812 It was I ush ma tubas tuba's Influence w which held them loyal to the Americans when the Creeks tried to 10 persuade them to 10 ra moat I their fortunes with the theIn i irl rl sh In a II council hell held to decide what course the tile would pursue made an aa eloquent speech In which he said The rhe Creeks were re once our friends They have Joined the and we must now follow different trails When our fathers took the hand hanl of Washington they told him the Choctaw Choctow would always be befriends befriends friends of or his hIli nation and cannot be false to their promises I am now ready to fight both f the he i and the Creeks And Mil fight he hI did At the head hlad of or 00 roo warriors he lie served ser under Jackson In the Pensacola cam taking purl purt In 24 2 battles and In 1811 with about liO warriors he Joined Onera On- On era oral and distinguished himself In the attack and defeat of the th reeks Creeks under the famous at the Battle Hattle of Holy Irot nd in to While aiding the American troops be he u is 1 wild said to have Instituted such a rigid system lit i f discipline among his hla warriors that tiey hey made it a fine record as s soldiers and won for the title of the th Indian General r Q b N. N Newt r r Union |
