Did You Know The Term OK Became Popular Because Of A New Yorker?

Ok is one of the most popular terms in the world. It has a little bit of history behind it, all linking back to a very high-profile man from New York State.

Let's take a trip back to the 1830s. There was quite the fad in that decade, a fad that consisted of misspelling words. What rebels and cool cats they were. During that era, it would be very common to hear someone respond with all correct. If you were the hippest of the hip, you would spell that Oll Korrect. So, ok is actually an acronym at its origin. But nobody would spell it out O.K., or at least not just yet.

That all changed once we had a President who went by the nickname Old Kinderhook and then used that as their running slogan. Old Kinderhook is Oll Korrect. Old Kinderhook is OK also was common to hear. That is where the term garnered massive popularity. From that point forward, it was ok to say ok.

So, sure the term existed. But the creation of it being known at a nationwide level is all thanks to the 8th President of The United States, Martin Van Buren. Van Buren resided in Kinderhook, New York, and was at one point the Governor of the Empire State as well.

The fad disappeared, but the slang that was hip and youthful stuck around forever. Ok is a term that transcends the language barrier. People in Japan use it, people in Africa use it, ok is used all over the world.