[lit-ideas] Re: America's Greatest Word
- From: Mike Geary <jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2010 18:32:32 -0500
Well, OK, then. That's settled.
Mike Geary
OK in Memphis
On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 3:59 PM, <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> From amazon.
> JLS
>
> ----
>
> "Metcalf has produced a complete and completely entertaining history of the
> most American of all expressions. More than 'just OK' -- revelatory and
> engrossing."--Erin McKean, CEO of wordnik.com, author of Weird and
> Wonderful
> Words, More Weird and Wonderful Words, and former Editor-in-Chief, Oxford
> American Dictionaries
>
> It is said to be the most frequently spoken (or typed) word on the planet,
> more common than an infant's first word ma or the ever-present beverage
> Coke. It was even the first word spoken on the moon. It is "OK"-- the most
> ubiquitous and invisible of American expressions, one used countless times
> every day. Yet few of us know the secret history of OK--how it was coined,
> what it stood for, and the amazing extent of its influence.
>
> Allan Metcalf, a renowned popular writer on language, here traces the
> evolution of America's most popular word, writing with brevity and wit,
> and
> ranging across American history with colorful portraits of the nooks and
> crannies in which OK survived and prospered. He describes how OK was born
> as a
> lame joke in a newspaper article in 1839--used as a supposedly humorous
> abbreviation for "oll korrect" (ie, "all correct")--but should have died a
> quick
> death, as most clever coinages do. But OK was swept along in a
> nineteenth-century fad for abbreviations, was appropriated by a
> presidential campaign
> (one of the candidates being called "Old Kinderhook"), and finally was
> picked up by operators of the telegraph. Over the next century and a half,
> it
> established a firm toehold in the American lexicon, and eventually became
> embedded in pop culture, from the "I'm OK, You're OK" of 1970's
> transactional
> analysis, to Ned Flanders' absurd "Okeley Dokeley!" Indeed, OK became
> emblematic of a uniquely American attitude, and is one of our most
> successful
> global exports.
>
> Anyone who loves the life of words or the quirky corners of American
> culture will find this delightful book more than just OK.
> About the Author
>
> Allan Metcalf is Professor of English at MacMurray College and Executive
> Secretary of the American Dialect Society. He is the author of many books,
> including most recently Writing to the Point:, Sixth Edition (2008).
>
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