Show who wh P OK I 1 y in in our ur language d n ud k e Sma aw S 3 IN J A a W u U am n W M 44 aw k P V i i ert 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON OU hear it everywhere ever ft hero you ou goi go for americans have almost forgotten how to say yes 1 instead they say odayl kayl it lias has become an almost universally accepted symbol simbol of assent it lias has also become a similarly a accepted c symbol simbol of approval when we say anything Is ig okay O 0 kay or 0 K X 11 or okeh we mean that it Is good or satisfactory not only has tills this triple spelling double meaning expression already become common currency in our language or sla ngung e if you pre prefer ferl but it has also already undergone both abbreviation and inversion without apparently changing its meaning if you dont want to take the time to say okay O 0 kay lay I 1 or alieh I 1 just cut it down to otte okel I 1 accent on the 0 o and any american will understand at once what you mean so much for the abbreviation of an expression pr eslon so short that a further shortening seems impossible As for the inversion consider now the hypothetical thed e at case of an englishman coming to an american with tills this inquiry 1 I say old fellow what do you americans mean when you ou say K 0 oil oh thail replies the helpful american I 1 ca no Is an expression from the prize ring when a boxer Is knocked out we say the other fellow wins by a K 0 11 nut says sas the with a puzzled look on his face tills was a litt little le boy I 1 heard answering a playmate who had find asked him to come across the street and play with him I 1 heard him shout ak K 0 V 1 very plainly 91 oh replies the american lie ile meant all rigl right 1 you know we ne use the term 10 0 K 1 to mean all right or yes ies its pronounced okay well some of the boys bos just turn it around and use K 0 which Is pronounced kayo and it means the same thin thing clear e enough no u gh it and the baffled Br murmurs 11 Str ordinary I 1 but the briton Is no more moie baffled by tills this illon 7 leal at example of our illogical everyday every eer day american speech than Is the etymologist who ho tries to run down the origin of the expression and to determine who put it into our language lap guage here are a few of the theories 1 olga K X Nevi was wag a fascinating russian woman who to Is believed to bave had an important influence on english history as a friend of the flim famous flamous ous premier rifer 11 1 1 gladstone it Is slid said that Glad gladstone Gli tone used to submit many important matters to tier her for tier opinion and these pipers papers were generally returned to him with her initials 0 K X penned upon them 2 in sinto santo domingo Is the town ton of aux C cies ayes pronounced okay o oki kay from which in colonial times the best tobacco and ruin rain were imported clerks it Is sold said in billing goods to retailers pis made use of the lie letters 0 K for the sake of brevity in indicating that these goods came from aux cayes cases and were ere therefore of the best quality 3 keokuk was a famous cliplef of thedac the sic and anil foxe indians in iowa lie he was affectionately referred to by tit the whites its as ole keokuk ile he cause lie he was wag a good indian 11 liping unable to spell apell ills his name naine lie he axle anade ills his signature hv by using ills its initials 0 K N and tin any paper which ind had hiso hl 10 0 O K wits was all right 4 hack back in civil war dis days orrin kendill kendall wits was a member of a battery raised among tile board I 1 0 of trade in chicago ITO he wits was also bend of the flip baking inn firm of 0 kendill and sons chieh fur dished bread and crackers crac krs for the aminy on the crackers were the initials of 0 K for orrin Nen kendall dall these ern ekers are still said to haip been the only ones tit the soldiers rel relished shed and tapir ex pres slon these crackers are 0 k K soon deve aped in into to meaning 1 er ariu tickers kars tire are till nil right 6 5 in aw 1 dur during lill HIP flip famous hard elder lder tind find log cabin presidential campaign of flan pit henry there wits was it a whig alg rally at ur bana ohio which wits was addressed by a nurnie r of prominent whigs Inc including ludina general Ilar 11 riso r himself the ohp farmers were largely represented tit nl the gatherings and one of then had brought his hl farm wagon tin on whirl which wits was a 11 pint form for tile the atlon of ills his neighbor the former wits as tin an ardent whig hk anil and wishing to li convey it th impression that the getter ally were whigs lip bung it a banner above tit hi plot platform form on banti inner vir were arp alir e words ill farmers Is oil III wits was also it a hoaf fotr atquit at ingfield ohio oberah d hj by tin nn ardent will ahl who placed the letters 0 K R liver the ent entrant ranc explaining that it meant ilia film lintel wits till nil rl ellif ail or oil 01 ko ard taking those worda from tit hi banner on tile migon in this saia simir calapa ign made much i his alleged illiteracy and they tl ti story that hit ll arrison while it 11 in it t enaw pol ill h 14 r thi flip Z A t 0 woo A WE on kart K art 9 ji X aw n I 1 wv j 1 I I 1 i il i X ai it A william henru aj harrison presh press lun luil that it was is lie hie abbreviation for oil OH Nor korrect his film way of spelling tit all correct 0 ahe the origin of 0 K in caning nil all right 1 traced to tn andrew jackson lit in three oliree different ways otte one of thein Is tills in the curt court of rec of Sti simmer niner county count tennessee for october 0 5 1700 17 appears tile the fact tint that on that late andrew andiew jackson andson esq proved a hill bill of sale from to casper per Sl ansker for it negm iliin aa 0 K N it Is that lint ehlt ant lip feared to tn lie be 0 K lit in the record may really re ill lino have lieen been a pimply penned 0 1 it which was hie tit of nh used for ordered recorded blint such slid it 11 ull stake title due to hid had penmanship might easily lime have been mado Is 14 further proved hv by the met tint that hiigli not zilph and till caspar not gilper Nil per mansker were arti two weli all known frontier characters of the time imp ind and both namire misspelled in the entry anti diming the hip n of 1432 jacksons alki alleged ll Ki us its in the rne case rn e of ion later warne of the clafer hutts butts of nf him opponents spin selm smith lit in it series of nf letters written to it a maint paper under the HIP name of major jack dow n I 1 ng 1 ald mid to have originated tile the story that hint Jacl jaclson sor endorsed ill ills paper 0 K under the lint bill it wast MIS flip abbreviation for oil nil korrect As previously stated tills samp canari was no n ardently revived tin nancil t 00 rin third way lit in aich the hie origin or of the 4 Is draped to jackson ani akson involves linn lies ills irlene fill witt the famous 1100 aw trillion calef u baa ta fill jackson ind hn ought together against the in 1912 11 no nd ain larn heard lot lio indian limpf i sp tin nn sl lloyn to end ill all ante state ants tit i in nil up tip a it was r p I 1 J u colloquialism meaning tints me or v what hat I 1 said and as pronounced it it sounded like 0 okay lay or okeh in rendering render ln it into english and in using it as a symbol of approval jackson Is said to have translated it into the literal 0 0 K 11 SI similar milar evidence to su support doport the indian origin of the term Is contained in Byingt ons grammar m ar of the choctaw language Lang inge which gives 0 ach as meaning it Is so and in no other way it if as it seems most highly probable the expression pres slon did originate in the choctaw language and was principally responsible for its gift to the white man he Is worthy of more than passing comm comment ent in fact he Is worthy of being remembered much longer tor for other things than for the mere inere neel accident dent of his using tin an expression p which became a common americanism for andrew jackson frequently expressed the opinion that he was the greatest and bravest indian he hid had ever known and jolin john randolph of roanoke Ro inoke in pronouncing a eulogy on him bin to in the united states senate uttered the words re girding garding his 1118 wisdom ills his eloquence and ills his friend ship for tile the whites that wore were afterward inscribed on his monument s indian name was ach talia which moans means the sapling Is ready or tin fin islieb for him according to the biography of him in the Il handbook of american indians Is sued by the bureau of american ethnology he was vis horn born in county in mississippi in l lie he was twenty years sears of age he dis himself in tin an expedition against the osage young disappeared early in the conflict that listed lasted all day and on rejoining the choctaw warriors lie was jeered at and accused of being biln it a coward whereupon lie he replied let those I 1 iuli who enn can show more scalps than I 1 inn can saying tills this lie threw down the scalps of live of the hie enemy whom lie had slain shin by himself I 1 later liter lie he hoc became line head of the or six towns lowns district flis triet of the choctaws and exerted ills powerful influence in promoting m friendly rela dons with the whites in 1811 when tecumseh the gervat shawnee lender leader visited the he choctow to persuade per inide saade thern to join in his conspiracy against the americans Ainer linns opposed him so strongly san tint that the choctaws remal remained ned loyal to tit alie united states during the war ar of 1812 1811 it wits vs 1 ina tit has s influence which held them lul to the americans when the creeks tried to thom to tn cast t clr fortunes with the Iri tish lit in 11 co corriell held tu to deelbe ilant ewt course tile lie would pursue made an I 1 eloquent olo quent speech in which he sold the hie creeks were KIP olive our friends they have haie joined the en I 1 9 list and we must now follow different N lien hn fiur routers tat lifis took the hand hall of washington ahey told t 0 it I 1 him it 11 n the CI 1 getaw would always he be friends of ills nation and cannot he alse to tn their promises I 1 nin am now ready to light bobb tile english and tile the creeks rr and light ali hl lie illda if I 1 at the head of fia warriors le ie served tinder lackson in the pensacola cam laign til icing part art lit in 24 2 bottles anti and skirmishes in lall with about warriors he joined own an pral i nil cla lhorne and distinguished himself I 1 n the attali and or of the reeks under the rJ 14 at the blattle of holy it in nl alile ie filding aiding lie elie american lip ii 14 sold said to have instituted such a rigid astell ul tit among ilia film warriors that py PV 1 line ree rd ns as soldiers and tin won fol foi flip title of indian general 1 I h hi wt W t 14 nn i union man |