O.K.

Just a little bit of history trivia for the day:

The other night, my wife and I were about to fall asleep. Out of the blue, she asked "What is the origin of O.K.?"

I haven't been able to figure it out, until yesterday.

According to Allen Walker Read, the quintessential American etymologist (not to be confused with entomologist), O.K. finds its origins in a fad of "humorously incorrect spelling" from the 1830s and 1840s. Many newspapers and other repositories of writing used the phrase "oll korrect" in place of "all correct" - quickly shortened to "O.K."

O.K. gained even more widespread usage in 1840 when Martin "Old Kinderhook" Van Buren formed the "OK Club" during his presidential campaign.

So there you go. Bust it out at parties, amaze and astound your friends! Or just keep it to yourself and hope someone asks you.