oll korrect
See also: Oll Korrect
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
A deliberate, humorous corruption of all correct, dating from the 1830s, recognized as one of several possible origins for the term OK.[1][2]
Interjection
- (idiomatic, dated) All right; okay.
- 1869, Charles Godfrey Leland, Hans Breitmann's Barty and other Ballads, John Camden Hotten, p. 43 (Google preview):
- It is a curious fact that the telegraph clerks in England and America employ the letters ‘O. K.,’ when they send a telegram that a message has been received Oll Korrect.
- 1884, George Alfred Townsend, The Entailed Hat, or Patty Cannon's Times, Harper & Brothers, p. 182 (Google preview):
- "My Lord!" exclaimed Levin; "that's twenty-five dollars, ain't it, sir?"
- "Oll korrect, Levin."
- 1982 June 6, William Safire, "On Language," New York Times (retrieved 23 Jan 2014):
- When faced with the problem of toponymic derivatives, I turn to Prof. Allen Walker Read, the etymologist who tracked down the source of O.K. (Oll korrect, not Old Kinderhook - stop writing me about this. O.K.?)
- 2002, Tiffanie DeBartolo, God Shaped Hole: A Novel, →ISBN, p. 54 (Google preview):
- [E]verything about Jacob made me think of sex. Even fairly prosaic things—the way his lips puckered into a pout when he bit into his sandwich, the way he said certain words—minor words, like the abbreviated oll korrect, also known as okay.
- 2010 Oct. 28, Jeremy McCarter, "Party at the OK Corral," Newsweek (retrieved 23 Jan 2014):
- Allan Metcalfe's new book . . . devotes a chapter to trying to explain why readers of the Boston Morning Post might have been amused to see “o. k.” used as a jokey abbreviation for “oll korrect,” an intentional misspelling of “all correct.”
- 2010, Orson Scott Card, Heartfire: The Tales of Alvin Maker, →ISBN, p. 64 (Google preview):
- “Well, hell, that's the glory of English. You can speak it ten thousand different ways, and it's still O. K.”
- “That barbarous expression! 'O. K.' What does this mean?”
- “Oll Korrect,” said Calvin. “Making fun of people who care too much about how words get writ down.”
- 1869, Charles Godfrey Leland, Hans Breitmann's Barty and other Ballads, John Camden Hotten, p. 43 (Google preview):
Usage notes
- As is the case with the term OK, oll korrect may also be used as a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb.
References
- ^ What does "OK" stand for?, Cecil Adams, The Straight Dope (1985)
- ^ Allen Read, the Expert of 'O.K.,' Dies at 96, Douglas Martin, The New York Times Obituaries (2002 October 18)