Fascinating, and I can't wait for the next installment. For what it's worth, relative to "OK" being widespread: Back in about 1966 when I was in elementary school our class had a visit from a Peace Corps volunteer who was teaching in Nigeria, though I don't recall what part. He told us that in the native language, "okeh" meant "you rat", so when he would tell someone "write this on the board, okay?" he was really telling them "write this on the board, you rat!". No idea why I remember this 60 years on, but I do!
I said "as we know it"--referring to the puns, jokes, and slang that were made specifically for a mass-reproduced text format much akin to the internet culture of today. As well as the mass participation in these jokes that allowed them to evolve quickly in the hands of the public.
Hm, ok :) in this case, it's actually a really interesting topic, I wonder if humour had its own evolutionary leap at this time. I'm still not totally convinced. I've read ancient Greeks and Romans write genuinely funny, ironic pieces of text, with pun and slang. I don't think you need mass market.
Yes, I totally agree! I really meant how dumb a lot of the newspaper humour was compared to the humour of the past or of "higher" art. Jokes were written just to grab people's attention and then literally be thrown away. To me, the combination of the lowbrow content and mass medium felt a bit like a predecessor of today's online economy of attention. I probably wasn't clear enough that I was comparing specifically to the dominant internet humour culture, rather than any written joke.
But even that is just my opinion! Obviously, newspapers and dumb jokes had also been around a long time by the 1830s.
Yeah there's got to be a mass media link there, right to today's online .... 'issues', agreed! Something about techniques in gathering mass attention, we know all to well now sadly that humour can be used in a very negative way in mass media.
(spoilers for part ii of this article) His nickname was Old Kinderhook, which his supporters coined for his reelection campaign in 1840 as a reference to OK, which was the hot new slang at the time! The highly publicised 1840 election campaign was almost definitely what solidified OK's place in modern language (even though Martin lost)
So interesting. I’d heard the “orl korrect” explanation before but had taken it as one of the less convincing faux-etymologies floating about. Loved finding out I was wrong! Can’t wait for the next instalment…
This was a fascinating read! I've been reading The Onion a lot recently, including their false-document book The Trump Leaks, and the parallels are uncanny.
Thank you! I was thinking while writing it, the Boston Post was like if you had a newsfeed that was normal articles and onion articles just thrown in together
Quite splendid! A well-researchd, deftly written and informative glimpse into a vital aspect of history and society: how people mold language like children with Play-Doh, passing it among themselves.Thanks for a good read.
Great read, thankyou, and I look forward to the followup!
One nitpick, I can't believe I'm the first to point out (do i get a prize?) that OK, OFM etc are not "acronyms" as they are pronounced letter by letter ("oh kay", "oh eff emm") rather than as a single word ("ock", "offum"). They are initialisms. Radar and Laser are acronyms.
I’d like to know about the transition to the word “okay” from OK. I have actually wondered which came first (now I know) but it seems odd to me that the shorthand acronym would become a longer word.
Fascinating, and I can't wait for the next installment. For what it's worth, relative to "OK" being widespread: Back in about 1966 when I was in elementary school our class had a visit from a Peace Corps volunteer who was teaching in Nigeria, though I don't recall what part. He told us that in the native language, "okeh" meant "you rat", so when he would tell someone "write this on the board, okay?" he was really telling them "write this on the board, you rat!". No idea why I remember this 60 years on, but I do!
There was also a record label on 78s called Okeh…
Indeed there was! I believe Mississippi John Hurt's early records were on Okeh. (named for the initials of the founder of the label, apparently)
Such a good read
thank you!
There's no way the 1830s were the "origin of text based humour"
I said "as we know it"--referring to the puns, jokes, and slang that were made specifically for a mass-reproduced text format much akin to the internet culture of today. As well as the mass participation in these jokes that allowed them to evolve quickly in the hands of the public.
Hm, ok :) in this case, it's actually a really interesting topic, I wonder if humour had its own evolutionary leap at this time. I'm still not totally convinced. I've read ancient Greeks and Romans write genuinely funny, ironic pieces of text, with pun and slang. I don't think you need mass market.
Yes, I totally agree! I really meant how dumb a lot of the newspaper humour was compared to the humour of the past or of "higher" art. Jokes were written just to grab people's attention and then literally be thrown away. To me, the combination of the lowbrow content and mass medium felt a bit like a predecessor of today's online economy of attention. I probably wasn't clear enough that I was comparing specifically to the dominant internet humour culture, rather than any written joke.
But even that is just my opinion! Obviously, newspapers and dumb jokes had also been around a long time by the 1830s.
Yeah there's got to be a mass media link there, right to today's online .... 'issues', agreed! Something about techniques in gathering mass attention, we know all to well now sadly that humour can be used in a very negative way in mass media.
could oomf be the O.F.M. of OMD (our modern day)?
It was definitely a lot like oomf! Like how people say "my oomf" and "an oomf" now
NEED to go to the pub with Mr Charles Gordon Greene.
There’s also a theory out there that claims OK referred to President Martin Van Buren’s nickname of Old Knickerbocker. He was president from 1837-41.
(spoilers for part ii of this article) His nickname was Old Kinderhook, which his supporters coined for his reelection campaign in 1840 as a reference to OK, which was the hot new slang at the time! The highly publicised 1840 election campaign was almost definitely what solidified OK's place in modern language (even though Martin lost)
Thanks for the correction. It’s been years since I read the article that mentioned that.
So interesting. I’d heard the “orl korrect” explanation before but had taken it as one of the less convincing faux-etymologies floating about. Loved finding out I was wrong! Can’t wait for the next instalment…
it's one of those rare cases where the explanation that sounds the most fake is the right one!
Great read!
This was a fascinating read! I've been reading The Onion a lot recently, including their false-document book The Trump Leaks, and the parallels are uncanny.
Thank you! I was thinking while writing it, the Boston Post was like if you had a newsfeed that was normal articles and onion articles just thrown in together
Thank you - a great read, loved this.
absolutely delightful
I liked this, got excited when I opened it and saw it was going to get into Boston history.
Quite splendid! A well-researchd, deftly written and informative glimpse into a vital aspect of history and society: how people mold language like children with Play-Doh, passing it among themselves.Thanks for a good read.
What a romp! Loved this and can't wait for the next installment. I hope you'll also explain the origins of "a-ok"!
Great read, thankyou, and I look forward to the followup!
One nitpick, I can't believe I'm the first to point out (do i get a prize?) that OK, OFM etc are not "acronyms" as they are pronounced letter by letter ("oh kay", "oh eff emm") rather than as a single word ("ock", "offum"). They are initialisms. Radar and Laser are acronyms.
I’d like to know about the transition to the word “okay” from OK. I have actually wondered which came first (now I know) but it seems odd to me that the shorthand acronym would become a longer word.