Blake, Lillie Devereux, 131
blanks, OK, 104–6
Blast Off (Stray Cats), 179
blue jeans, 5
bookkeeping, 104
Book of Famous OK Quotations, 2
The Book of Humour, Wit and Wisdom, 131
Boston Atlas, 68
Boston Daily Times, 48, 54
Boston Morning Post abbreviation craze in, 36–38
A.B.R.S. report in, 28–35, 29
advertising, 33–34
founding of, 34
Old Kinderhook and, 48
Providence Journal v., 30, 34–35
Bradbury, Ray, 160–61
Brewer, Joseph, 158
bribery, 102–4
“The Brick Moon” (Hale), 124
British Parliament Theory, 93
Burgess, Gelett, 25
Business Bookkeeping, 104
business of OK Atlantic cable, 101
bookkeeping, 104
bribery, 102–4
Chevrolet, 110–11
on moon, 101–2
OK ballot, 106
OK blanks, 104–6
OK Corral, 108–9
in Oklahoma, 146
Penrod, 109–10
products, 106–8
soda, 112–13
telegraph, 97–101
today, 113–16
usefulness in, 96–97
button, OK (computer), 169–70
Callinan, Brigid, 153
Capote, Truman, 161
Carney, Pat, 197–98
Carpe Diem (Cornwell), 153–54
Carrington, Carroll, 133–34
cars, used, 110–11
“Casey at the Bat” (Thayer), 121
Cash Money Girls, 153
Catch-22 (Heller), 161
Chandler, Raymond, 159–60
Chapple, Joe, 106
Cheetah Girls, 153
Chevrolet, 110–11
Chicago Record-Herald, 88
Chicago Tribune, 88
Chickasaw language, 85–86
Child ego state, 186–88
Choctaw Indians language of, 84–87
in Oklahoma, 144
Civil War, 88, 93, 118
Clay, Henry, 78, 97
Clubs, OK at colleges, 120–22
flourishing of, 117–19
in New York City, 118–19
presidential elections and, 43–44, 64–65
Coca-Cola, 112–13
Coens, Thomas, 70–71
Cohn, Irving, 3
colleges, OK Clubs at, 120–22
Collier’s, 157
colloquial language, 22
The Color Purple (Walker), 162
Comedy of Fashion, 129–30
computers, 169–70
The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 155
conspicuous coinage, 25–26
contrast, 77
Cornwell, Autumn, 153–54
countersigns, 82–83
Crandall, Ashley, 171–72
Daily Advertiser, 44
Daily Express, 44
Dalzell, Tom, 155
Danish, 91
Darwin, Charles, 41
Delaware: A Guide to the First State, 151
DeRouchey, Bill, 170
Dickens, Charles, 39
Downing, Jack, 68–79
Dreiser, Theodore, 104–6
dry cleaners, 115–16
Duke, Charles, 168–69
Duma Key (King), 163
ego states, 186–88
1840 presidential election Harrison in, 42, 46–47, 49, 58, 64
Jackson and, 42–43
OK Clubs and, 43–44, 64–65
participation in, 40–41
poem about, 48–54
Tammany Society and, 43–45
Tyler in, 42
Van Buren in, 14, 41–43
Ellison, Ralph, 160
Elusiveness of OK, 6
Encyclopedia of New York State, 90
England British Parliament Theory and, 93
Gosford Park in, 177–78
Lifesmanship OK in, 182–84
Oakie Doke in, 180–81
OK! magazine of, 173
rules OK in, 178–80
“Walking in the Zoo” in, 173–77, 174
Erie Canal, 89–90
Eubanks, Barbara, 152–53
Evans, John S., 103
Evening Transcript, 35
everyday OK, 4
evolution of OK, 41
“The Fable of the Regular Customer and the Copper-Lined Entertainer” (Ade), 135
Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury), 160–61
Falls, Joe, 152
false origins Choctaw language, 84–87
eighteen theories, 92–94
initials, 87–90
many languages, 90–92
Revolutionary War, 82–83
Wakeman and, 81–82
Farewell, My Lovely (Chandler), 159–60
Faulkner, William, 150, 159
Federal Writers’ Project, 151
Fellowes, Julian, 177
Fettered for Life (Blake), 131
50 Years of Sports Writing (Falls), 152
Finnish, 91
Flanders, Ned, 148, 154–55
Fondue (Rice and Callinan), 153
Fort Sill, 103
For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway), 160
Franken, Al, 191
French, 90–91
The Galaxy, 81
Games People Play (Berne), 186–89, 193
gangster slang, 157–58
Garland, Hamlin, 134
“Gentlemen, the King!” (Runyon), 157–58
German, 91
Glasgow, 178
Goodman, Ellen, 195
Gosford Park, 177–78
grammar, 9–12
Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck), 159
Gray, Deborah, 18
Great Eastern, 101
Greek, 91–92
Greek Theory, 94
Greene, Charles Gordon, 34–37, 48
Green Grow the Rushes (Riggs), 145
Gunn, Tim, 19
Hale, Edward Everett, 101–2, 124
Hall, Rich, 54
Hamilton Literary Monthly, 74–75
Hammerstein, Oscar, 145
Hampden Post, 30–31
Harding, Warren G., 106
Harper’s Weekly, 107–8
Harris, Thomas, 2, 20, 57, 189–93, 197
Harrison, William Henry Bennett and, 64
in 1840 election, 42, 46–47, 49, 58, 64
Harvard, 65, 120–22
Hatfield, Juliana, 12
Hawk, Philip Bovier, 150
Hebrew, 171–72
Heflin, Woodford, 84
Heller, Joseph, 161
Hemingway, Ernest, 160
Hertzfeld, Andy, 169–70
The Historical Dictionary of American Slang, 156
History of Middle Tennessee (Putnam), 83
Hoffman, Elwyn Irving, 133
Hopkinson, Francis Custis, 121
“How the Overalls Won” (Carrington, 133–34
Humphrey, Clark, 152
Hurst, Granville P., 133
Hurston, Zora Neale, 158
I Am Charlotte Simmons (Wolfe), 162–63
Ice Cube, 156
“If It Weren’t for You” game, 187–88
I’m OK, You’re OK (Harris), 2, 20, 57, 189–94, 197
inaugural addresses, 21
In Cold Blood (Capote), 161
Indian Chief Theory, 94
initialisms, 12–13, 25, 38
initial language, 38
initials, as false origin, 87–90
insider knowledge, 39
interjection, 11–12
Internet chat, 37–39
Invisible Man (Ellison), 160
It’s Okay to Be Different (Parr), 194
Ivens, Sarah, 173
Jackson, Andrew Bennett
and, 62–63, 75
Choctaw language and, 85
Downing and, 68–79
education of, 58
1840 election and, 42–43
misspellings of, 59–67, 71
Ole Kurrek and, 63–75, 81, 177
origins of, 26, 57–58
orthography of, 57–63, 71
Read on, 58
Van Buren and, 57
young, 83–84
Jamaican English, 92
Jones, Eric, 168
Juno, 195
The Karnival Kid, 78
Keefe, Jack, 137–38
Kendall, Amos, 64, 68–69
Kendall, Orrin, 88
Kent, Oscar, 89
Kernerman, Ari, 172
Kimmel, Otto, 88–89
Kinderhook, 89–90. See also Old Kinderhook
King, Stephen, 163
King-Smith, Dick, 179–80
Kloesel, Christian J. W., 120–21
Kodak, 78
The Ladies’ Repository, 128
ladies’ slang, 128
languages African, 92
American Sign Language, 167
Chickasaw, 85–86
Choctaw, 84–87
Danish, 91
English, 91–93
Finnish, 91
French, 90–91
German, 91
Greek, 91–92
Hebrew, 171–72
Latin, 92
many, false origins from, 90–92
Norwegian, 91
Lapham, E. G., 103
Lardner, Ring, 135, 137–40
Latin, 92
lecturer’s OK, 17–18
Lee, Spike, 156
Levin, Harry, 18
Lewis, Sinclair, 135, 140–42
license plates, 145
life positions, 190
Lifesmanship OK, 182–84
light, OK like, 6–7
Lin, Grace, 153
Lincoln, Abraham, 72–73
Lions Comique, 173
Lisa applications team, 169
literature. See also modern literature of Ade, 19, 135–37
of Alcott, 124, 126–28
ladies’ slang and, 128
of Lardner, 135, 137–40
of Lewis, 135, 140–42
OK avoided in, 123–24
rough characters in, 129–32
of Thoreau, 124–26
Wild West in, 132–34
Little Women (Alcott), 126–28
live radio, 166–67
Locofocos, 65
Log, 150
Log Cabin Advocate, 49
log cabins, 42, 57–58, 73
Los Angeles Times, 194
“Lumberjack Song” (Monty Python), 180
Main Street (Lewis), 141
Mandingo, 92
Manual of Telegraphy, Designed for Beginners (Smith), 100–101
March, Amy, 126–28
Marlowe, Philip, 159–60
Marsh, C. P., 103
Martin, Edward S., 121
Mason, Bobbie Ann, 162
McCarthy, Cormac, 164–65
M’Cormick, J. W., 128
Menand, Louis, 7
Mencken, H. L., 149
Mexican War, 73
Mickey Mouse, 78
“The Mighty Rourke,” 104–6
Miller, Henry, 158
Misc. Newsletter, 152
misspellings Bennett and, 62–63
fad for, 37–38
Jackson’s, 59–67, 71
modern literature
of Bradbury, 160–61
of Capote, 161
of Chandler, 159–60
of Ellison, 160
of Faulkner, 150, 159
of Heller, 161
of Hemingway, 160
of Hurston, 158
of King, 163
of Mason, 162
of McCarthy, 164–65
of Miller, 158
of Morrison, 162
OK acceptable in, 157
of Pound, 158–59
of Runyon, 157–58
of Steinbeck, 159
of Updike, 161
of Vonnegut, 161–62
of Walker, 162
of Wolfe, 162–63, 168
Montgomery, John, 109
Monty Python, 180
moon, OK on, 101–2, 168–69
More Fables (Ade), 135
Morrison, Toni, 162
Morse, Samuel F. B., 97
Morse code, 97–98, 102
My Little Airport, 176–77
NASA. See National Aeronautics and Space Agency
Nathan, George Jean, 149
National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), 168
neutral affirmation, 13–17
New England Quarterly, 120–21
New Era, 43–45, 47
New Jersey Eagle, 60
Newstatesmanship, 183
New York American, 59
New York City, 37–38, 118–19
New York Commercial Advertiser, 67, 82
New York Enquirer, 59, 62
New Yorker, 3, 149–50
New York Evening Tattler, 35–38
New York Morning Herald, 64–66
New York Times, 107–8
New-York Tribune, 119
“A Night Ride in Apache Land” (Rowe), 132–33
“The Night-Watch and the Would-be Something Awful” (Ade), 136–37
Norwegian, 91
noun, 10–11
Oak Hall, 125
Oakie Doke, 180–81
Obama, Barack, 23, 155–56
OK. See also business of OK ; Clubs, OK ; false origins ; literature ; okey-dokey ; Ole Kurrek ; psychological OK
in A.B.R.S. report, 28–35, 29f
aesthetics of, 76–79
all right v., 24
ballot, 106
blanks, 104–6
blue jeans and, 5
Boys, 118
button, 169–70
change, 167
Chorale, 16–17
Corral, 108–9
Day, 198
everyday, 4
Greene as father of, 34–36, 48
hoax about origin, 56–75
importance of, 1–3
inconspicuous, 2–3
-ism, 194–95
lecturer’s, 17–18
Lifesmanship, 182–84
like light, 6–7
Lincoln and, 72–73
on moon, 101–2, 168–69
-names, 183–84
as neutral affirmer, 13–17
odd existence of, 24–27, 54–57
okay v., 8–9, 92–95, 147
Oklahoma and, 143–46
Old Kinderhook and, 40–55
origin of, ix–xi, 13, 31–39, 46, 80
parts of speech and, 9–12
philosophy of, 18–20, 196–98
poem, 48–54
practical, 166–70
presidential, 21, 23–24
products, 106–8
professor’s, 74–75
quotations, 2–3, 189
Read and, ix–xi, 13, 32, 67, 80
rules, 178–80
Shakespeare and, 5–6
spellings of, 7–9
as structural marker, 17–18
taboo, 20–22
Tammany, 43–45
in 20th century, 147–48, 166
wordhood of, 12–13
-words, 183
worldwide, 171–81
OK/OKAY art exhibit, 92–94
okay spelling, 7–9, 126
The Okay Book (Parr), 194, 197
Okay! magazine, 172
okeh, 85–87
Okeh collars, 86
OKeh phonograph records, 86–87, 87
okey-doke, the old 155–56
okey-dokey playfulness of, 153
rise of, 148–55
Okie-dokie, Artichokie! (Lin), 153
Oklahoma businesses, 146
&nb
sp; Choctaw Indians in, 144
flag, 144
license plates, 145
motto, 144
OK and, 143–46
state song, 145
Oklahoma!, 145
OK! magazine, 173
“The OK Thing to Do on Sunday Afternoon Is to Toddle in the Zoo” (My Little Airport), 176–77
Old English Theory, 93
The Old Guard, 72
Old Kinderhook Boston Morning Post and, 48
OK and, 40–55
origin of, 41–43
the old okey-doke, 155–156
Ole Kurrek Bennett perpetrating, 63–71, 75
Jackson and, 63–75, 81, 177
legend of, 63–75, 81
in politics, 63–75
One-Upmanship (Potter), 183
Orthoepy Klub, 122
orthography, 57–63, 71
Our Mr. Wrenn (Lewis), 141
Overland Monthly, 132–33
OW, 37, 39, 76
Oxford English Dictionary, 178–79
Parent ego state, 186–88
A Parody Outline of History (Stewart), 139–40
Parr, Todd, 194, 197
parts of speech, 9–12
Pearline, 108
Penrod (Tarkington), 109–10
People You Know (Ade), 135–36
personal computers, 169–70
Philadelphia Gazette, 36
Philadelphia Inquirer, 149
philosophy American, 196–98
Lifesmanship, 182–84
of OK, 18–20, 196–98
Pickwick Papers (Dickens), 39
poems “Abraham’s Vision,” 72–73
OK, 48–54
politics. See also presidential election, 1840
Ole Kurrek in, 63–75
role of, 76
Popcorn, Faith, 25
Popik, Barry, 89
positive affirmations, 191
Potter, Stephen, 182–84
Pound, Ezra, 158–59
Powers, John “Shorty,” 168
practicality, 166–70
pragmatism, 18–19, 196, 198
predicate adjective, 10
presidential election, 1840. See also Old Kinderhook
Harrison in, 42, 46–47, 49, 58, 64
Jackson and, 42–43
OK Clubs and, 43–44, 64–65
participation in, 40–41
poem about, 48–54
Tammany Society and, 43–45
Tyler in, 42
Van Buren in, 14, 41–43
presidential OK, 21, 23–24
products, OK, 106–8
professor’s OK, 74–75
Providence Journal A.B.R.S. and, 33
Boston Morning Post v., 30, 34–35
psychological OK Berne and, 20, 185–89, 193, 197
games in, 187–89
I’m OK, You’re OK and, 2, 20, 57, 189–94, 197
self-empowering, 194–95
transactional analysis and, 20, 185, 188–90, 193–94
Putnam, Albigence Waldo, 83
Pyle, James, 107–8
Pylon (Faulkner), 150
quotations, OK, 2–3, 189
Rabbit, Run (Updike), 161
radio, 166–67
railroads, 97–98, 104
Razor Gangs, 178
Read, Allen Walker on abbreviation craze, 36
on Jackson, 58
OK origins discovered by, ix–xi, 13, 32, 67, 80