1839年的今天:OK成爲全民語言
1839年的今天，“O.K。”這個縮寫第一次刊登在波士頓晨郵報上。OK表示的是一個常用俚語詞“all correct ”(完全正確)的錯誤拼寫“oll correct”的縮寫，它逐漸進入美國人的日常對話中。
On this day in 1839, the initials "O.K." are first published in The Boston Morning Post. Meant as an abbreviation for "oll correct," a popular slang misspelling of "all correct" at the time, OK steadily made its way into the everyday speech of Americans。
19世紀30年代末，受過教育的年輕人圈子中有一個廣受喜愛的做法，就是人們會故意拼錯單詞，縮寫這些詞，然後在互相交談中把這些縮寫當作俚語使用。就像現在的年輕人會根據歪曲的常用詞創造出他們自己的俚語，比如把“cool”(涼爽的)寫成“kewl”，或者把“these”(這些)寫成“DZ”，19世紀30年代的“潮人”們擁有他們自己縮寫出的一整套俚語詞。常用的縮寫包括把“No use”(沒有用處)寫成“KY”(“know yuse”)，把“No go”(不行)寫成“KG”(“Know go”)，以及把“all right”(好的/可以)寫成“OW”(“oll wright”)。
During the late 1830s, it was a favorite practice among younger, educated circles to misspell words intentionally, then abbreviate them and use them as slang when talking to one another. Just as teenagers today have their own slang based on distortions of common words, such as "kewl" for "cool" or "DZ" for "these," the "in crowd" of the 1830s had a whole host of slang terms they abbreviated. Popular abbreviations included "KY" for "No use" ("know yuse")， "KG" for "No go" ("Know go")， and "OW" for all right ("oll wright")。
在那個年代裏被使用的所有縮寫之中，OK從它作爲一個笑話的一部分被印在波士頓早報上開始受到巨大關注。被當代政客們使用後，它的受歡迎程度大大增加。時任總統馬丁·範·布倫謀求連任時，他的民主黨支持者們組織了一隊暴徒來影響選民。這個團伙被正式稱爲“O.K. Club”(O.K。俱樂部)，指代範·布倫的暱稱“Old Kinderhook”(老肯德胡克，根據他的故鄉紐約肯德胡克而來)，也指最近在報紙上很流行的這個詞。同時，對立的輝格黨用OK這個詞詆譭範·布倫的政治導師安德魯·傑克遜。根據輝格黨人所說，傑克遜發明了“OK”這個縮寫以掩飾他自己拼寫“all correct”(完全正確)時的錯誤。
Of all the abbreviations used during that time, OK was propelled into the limelight when it was printed in the Boston Morning Post as part of a joke. Its popularity exploded when it was picked up by contemporary politicians. When the incumbent president Martin Van Buren was up for reelection, his Democratic supporters organized a band of thugs to influence voters. This group was formally called the "O.K. Club," which referred both to Van Buren's nickname "Old Kinderhook" (based on his hometown of Kinderhook, New York)， and to the term recently made popular in the papers. At the same time, the opposing Whig Party made use of "OK" to denigrate Van Buren's political mentor Andrew Jackson. According to the Whigs, Jackson invented the abbreviation "OK" to cover up his own misspelling of "all correct."
負責解開“OK”背後的祕密的人是一位叫做艾倫·沃克·瑞德的美國語言學家。瑞德是哥倫比亞大學的一位英語教授，他擯棄了關於“OK”起源的一系列錯誤理論，從一種流行的軍旅餅乾的名字(Orrin Kendall)，到一座因朗姆酒而出名的海地港口的名字(Aux Cayes)，到一個叫Old Keokuk的喬克託族頭領的簽名。不管它的起源是哪個，“OK”已經成爲世界上使用最普遍的詞語之一，當然它也是美國對外輸出的最偉大的語言之一。
The man responsible for unraveling the mystery behind "OK" was an American linguist named Allen Walker Read. An English professor at Columbia University, Read dispelled a host of erroneous theories on the origins of "OK," ranging from the name of a popular Army biscuit (Orrin Kendall) to the name of a Haitian port famed for its rum (Aux Cayes) to the signature of a Choctaw chief named Old Keokuk. Whatever its origins, "OK" has become one of the most ubiquitous terms in the world, and certainly one of America's greatest lingual exports。
