[See quotation 1828.] A certificate of correctness. To O.K. a bill is to pronounce it correct.
The phrase was certainly used by Andrew Jackson. He may have taken it from the Choctaw Oke or Hoke, meaning “It is so.” See Mag. Am. Hist., xiv. 212–3 (1885); also Century Mag., xlviii. 958–9 (1894). Or it may have been a mistake originally for O.R. The records of Sumner County, Tenn., contain this entry:—“October 6th, 1790. Andrew Jackson, Esq., proved a Bill of Sale from Hugh McGary to Gasper Mansker, for a negro man, which was O.K.” Mr. James Parton (‘Life of Jackson,’ i. 136) suggests that this was a common western mistake for O.R., i.e., Ordered Recorded. See Mr. Matthews in Notes and Queries, 11 S. iii. 390. The latter solution is probable.
Jackson’s illiteracy was notorious. The Richmond Whig, April 19, 1828, p. 3/1, says: “Spelling in itself, may be an unnecessary qualification for the Presidency; but the man who spells every difficult, and many monosyllable words wrong, can have no one qualification which is dependent upon cultivation of the mind. Not to mention other instances, in his letter to Campbell the word Government is spelt Goverment, in every case but one; in that the n was first inserted, but afterwards erased.”
1828. In the Presidential canvass of 1828, General Jackson was accused by some of his political opponents of being illiterate. It was alleged that he spelled the words “all correct” thus, “oll korrect.” Hence originated the abbreviation “O. K.”—Peter H. Burnett, ‘Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer,’ p. 45 (N.Y. 1880).
1841. Jeremiah would be ashamed of his Lamentations, were he here to hear the modern Whigs mourning over the distresses of the people on account of a weak Treasury. O.K. Orful Kalamity.—Mr. Reynolds of Illinois, House of Repr., Feb. 5: Cong. Globe, p. 141, App.
1844. She said it [my bonnet] was O. S., instead of O. K.—‘Lowell Offering,’ iv. 148.
1848. [Fortitude] infuses new life into his soul, while hope adds an O.K. to his condition.—Dow, Jun., ‘Patent Sermons,’ i. 273.
1853. To the earnest inquiries of the other, he simply respondeth O. K.—F. Townsend, ‘Fun and Earnest,’ p. 14 (N.Y.).
1856. We assured him we were O. K., and sound as wheat on the drummer question.—Knick. Mag., xlviii. 407 (Oct.).
1856. It [Philadelphia] ’s the hardest place in existence to find any thing in that is n’t done up shipe-shape and O. K. And if you do conceit that you ’ve discovered something of the sort, the natives will soon argue you down flat on it.—Id., 505 (Nov.).
1888. The Canadian Customs-house is required to stamp an American vessel’s papers O.K.—Troy Daily Times, Feb. 20 (Farmer).
