Why we say “OK”
I
Lead-in.
1) What word is the most
popular one in the English language?
2) What English words do
people understand even if they don’t know the language well?
II Vocabulary focus. Match
the words to their definitions. Use three words in your sentences.
1.
|
recognizable
|
A.
|
in a planned way
|
2.
|
fad
|
B.
|
to judge the importance of something
|
3.
|
intentionally
|
C.
|
to remain in a place
|
4.
|
abbreviation
|
D.
|
statement that you received something
|
5.
|
to confirm
|
E.
|
a statement of agreement
|
6.
|
acknowledgement
|
F.
|
easy to identify
|
7.
|
manual
|
G.
|
to say something is correct
|
8.
|
to stick around
|
H.
|
an activity popular for a short period of time
|
9.
|
memorable
|
I.
|
deeply fixed
|
10.
|
embedded
|
J.
|
easily remembered
|
11.
|
affirmative
|
K.
|
a shortened form of a word or a phrase
|
12.
|
to evaluate
|
L.
|
a book giving instructions
|
III Watch the video and fill in the gaps
with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to
use.
papers; word; abbreviations;
planet; messengers; messages; order; plans;
mean
There’s a two-letter 1) _____ that we hear everywhere. OK might
be the most recognizable word on the 2)
_____. It’s essential to how we communicate with each other, and even with
our technology. You probably use it every day – even if you don’t notice it. But,
what does OK actually 3) _____? And
where did it come from?
OK actually traces back to an 1830s fad
of intentionally misspelling 4) _____.
Young “intellectual” types in Boston delighted those “in the know” with
butchered coded 5) _____ such as KC,
or “knuff ced” (enough said), KY “know
yuse” (no use), and OW “oll wright” (all
right) But thanks to a couple of lucky breaks, one abbreviation rose above the
rest: OK, or “oll correct" (all correct). In the early 1800s, “all
correct” was a common phrase used to confirm that everything was in 6) _____. Its abbreviated cousin
started going mainstream on March 23, 1839, when OK was first published in the
Boston Morning Post. Soon other 7) _____
picked up on the joke and spread it around the country, until OK was something
everyone knew about, not just a few Boston insiders.
IV Watch the video and choose the correct option to
complete the sentences.
1.
______ Van Buren adopted OK
as a nickname during his 1840 reelection campaign.
a) Singer b) President c) Journalist
2.
Van Buren’s _______ formed OK
Clubs all over the country.
a) supporters b) family
c)
sons
3.
The campaign with OK was shown in the _____.
a) radio
b) press
c) TV
4.
A clever nickname ______ Van
Buren’s presidency.
a) didn’t save b)
helped a lot c) was not connected to
5.
OK became a part of functional use thanks to one invention: the ______.
a) telegraph b) telephone
c)
television
6.
The telegraph debuted in 1844, just five years ___ OK.
a) before b) after c) simultaneously
7.
It transmitted short messages in the form of electric pulses, with
combinations of _____ and dashes
representing letters of the alphabet.
a) push b) stop
c)
dots
8.
The two letters in OK were _____
to tap.
a) impossible b) difficult
c)
easy
9.
OK became a standard acknowledgement of a transmission received,
especially by operators on the expanding US ____.
a) railroad b) airlines
c)
army
V Watch the video and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.
But there’s another big reason the two
letters stuck around, and it’s not just because they’re easy to communicative/communication/communicate.
It has to do with how OK looks. Or more specifically, how the letter K looks
and sounds/soundly/profound. It’s
really uncommon to start a word with the letter K in English — it’s ranked around
22nd in the alphabetic/alphabet/bet it.
That rarity spurred a “Kraze for K” at the turn of the century in advertising
and print, where companies replaced hard Cs with Ks in order to Katch your eye/lie/rye. The idea was that
modifying a word — like Klearflax Linen Rugs or this Kook-Rite Stove, for
example — would draw more attentive/attention/attentively
to it.
And that’s still a visual strategy: We see K represented in modern
corporate logos, like Krispy-Kreme and Kool-Aid. It’s the K that makes it so memorabilia/memorable/remembers.
By the 1890s, OK’s Bostonian origins
were already mostly forgotten, and newsagent/newspapers/snipers
began to debate its history — often perpetuating myths in the process that some
people still believe. Like the claim that it comes from the Choctaw word
‘okeh,’ which means ‘so it is.’ OK’s beginnings had become obscure but it
didn’t really matter anymore — the word was engraving/embedded/debate
in our language.
Today, we use it as the ultimate
“neutral affirmations/affirmative/confirmed it” Allan Metcalf wrote the
definitive history of OK, and he explains that the word “affirms without
evaluating,” meaning it doesn’t convey any feel/feelings/feels
— it just acknowledges and accepts information. If you “got home OK,” it just
means you were unharmed. If your “food was OK,” then it was acceptable. And
“OK” confirms a changeable/change/exchange
of plans. It’s is sort of a reflex/reflected/flexing
at this point — we don’t even keep track of how much we use it. Which might be
why OK was arguably the first word spoken when humanity/humanitarian/humans landed on the Moon.
VI
Watch all part of the video and mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F).
Correct the false statements.
1.
OK is a three-letter word that we hear everywhere.
2.
OK might be the most recognizable word on the planet.
3.
OK actually traces back to a 1830s fad in New York.
4.
OK means “oll confirmed" (all confirmed).
5.
OK became popular in1999, when it was first published in the Boston
Morning Post.
6.
OK was a nickname for a US president.
7.
This nickname didn’t save Van Buren’s presidency.
8.
OK came to functional use thanks to the invention of the telephone.
9.
The telegraph transmitted short messages using dots and dashes to
represent letters of the alphabet.
10.OK was easy to tap out and very
unlikely to be confused with anything else.
11.It is important how OK looks.
12.Many words in English start with the
letter K— it’s ranked around 22nd in the alphabet.
13.Companies replaced Cs with Ks in order
to attract attention.
14.We see K represented in modern
corporate logos, like Krispy-Kreme and Kool-Aid.
15.There are myths that OK comes from the
Choctaw word ‘okeh,’ which means ‘so it is.’
16.OK affirms with evaluating, it conveys
speaker’s feelings.
17.OK was the first word spoken when
humans landed on Mars. FALSE. OK was the first word spoken when humans landed
on the Moon.
VII OVER TO YOU. Find information about at least 2 other English words that are
used all over the world. Why are those words so popular?
Share your findings with other students.
