“This is O.K.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 366, 7 March 1932, Page 6

“This is 0.K.”

To the Editor. Dear Sir,—ln a recent issue of the ** Star,” under “ People and Their Doings,” you ' quote Governor Murray of Oklahoma as having stated that the expression “ 0.K.” is not a modern American slang term, but was taken, by General Jackson, from the old Indian phrase—“si hoka.”

This may be correct. Undoubtedly the expression is not modern, but here is an- ( other version, dealing with the same period but from a different source. Well over a century ago, the best tobacco and the best rum going to America came from Aux Caves (0.K.), and the best of everything was designated as Aux Cayes or “O.K'' This meaning of the phrase is still retained. In the Jackson campaign, every *1 lie that could be invented was invented ' i to blacken the general's character, and an endorsement that he made, “ this is “ O.K I (meaning the best), was taken to be an abbreviation of the general customary endorsement of papers as “ oil kerrect.” The meaning “.all correct ” stuck to the letters, and since then they have been used in the two meanings of “ the best ” and “ all right.”—l am, etc.. CHATTRRTONE.