Crystalwizard asks...

Why is “ok” not OK?

Hi, Don,

Why is it “okay” instead of “ok”?

Crystalwizard

Oooh, have you been reading the official Style Manual??!! If so, you’re probably the first...

“OK” — or, for that matter, “O.K.” — is acceptable because it’s etymologically correct. That’s the way the word was spelled when it was first coined in the early 19th century, as initial slang.

As a spoken word, lower-case “ok” makes no sense. It’s not a super-singular of “ox” (half an ox?); it’s pronounced “oh-kay.”

And that’s how we spell the word “okay” in the merry old land of BwS.

Quoth the chicken: “Squok!”

Don