# Is Ok OK now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001 "2022-09-21T20:17:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/1 "2022-09-21T20:17:21Z")
I’ve been seeing “Ok” pop up in a lot of places recently. Why is that? To me, OK is OK and okay is OK, but do we really need a third way to write it? I’m sort of OK with ok, because, as [Allie Brosh](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html) says, maybe it’s been typed by an eagle with its talons. “Ok” shows you know where the shift key is and how to use it, but you can’t be assed to hold it down for the extra split second it would take to get the K in there. That just seems weird to me. Here’s a link to the Merriam-Websters take on it: [http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html) … just to give extra cover to the inevitable accusations of my being a grammar Nazi (spelling Nazi?) that are inevitably coming. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/2 "2022-09-21T20:19:14Z")
It’s OK however you want to write it. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/3 "2022-09-21T20:19:19Z")
Ok should be OK, just don’t use oK, OK? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/4 "2022-09-21T20:51:43Z")
I’m ok with that. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/5 "2022-09-21T20:53:40Z")
There’s okay. There’s Okeh, an old record label. There’s oke, in the _The Lady Is A Tramp_ lyrics. There’s Okely-dokely, from Ned Flanders. There’s A-OK, from NASA. It’s all OK by me. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/6 "2022-09-21T20:57:55Z")
Okey-dokey and related forms are for rubes and nimrods. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/7 "2022-09-21T21:05:23Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > … just don’t use oK … And the less said about 0k, the better. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/8 "2022-09-21T21:23:06Z")
> **[OK/okay/ok](https://xkcd.com/2250/)** > > After changing it back and forth several times and consulting with internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch, I settled on "ok" in my book How To, but I'm still on the fence. Maybe I should just switch to "oK." ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/9 "2022-09-21T21:42:35Z")
To me, ok fits in a more informal context. The only time I’ve seen “Ok” is when people are capitalizing it at the beginning of a sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/10 "2022-09-21T21:46:34Z")
Where exactly are you seeing Ok, @Greg_Charles? Formal situations like books, newspapers, magazines? Informal places like the Dope or Facebook or texts? That makes a huge difference. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/11 "2022-09-21T21:53:25Z")
[https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/22234981/okie-dokie-here-we-go.jpg](https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/22234981/okie-dokie-here-we-go.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/12 "2022-09-21T22:14:16Z")
[Gretchen McCulloch should have quit while she was ahead](https://xkcd.com/2381/). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/13 "2022-09-22T00:28:02Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > There’s okay. > There’s Okeh, an old record label. > There’s oke, in the _The Lady Is A Tramp_ lyrics. > There’s Okely-dokely, from Ned Flanders. > There’s A-OK, from NASA. > It’s all OK by me. OK was a short-lived soda marketed by the Coca-Cola company in 1994. > **[OK Soda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Soda)** > > OK Soda is a discontinued soft drink created by The Coca-Cola Company in 1993 that courted the American Generation X demographic with unusual advertising tactics, including neo-noir design, chain letters and deliberately negative publicity. After the soda did not sell well in select test markets, it was officially declared out of production in 1995 before reaching nationwide distribution. The drink's slogan was "Things are going to be OK." > In 1993, Coca-Cola CEO Roberto Goizueta rehired Sergio Z... ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/14 "2022-09-22T03:08:22Z")
No matter the context, whenever I see _OK_, I always read it initially as _Oklahmoa_. Thank you, USPS. ---
**Author:** ![cincinnatus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cincinnatus/32/7990_2.png) [@cincinnatus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cincinnatus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/15 "2022-09-22T03:20:30Z")
One of my favorite copy editors insisted on O.K. , and I still have a hard time not writing it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/16 "2022-09-22T05:36:21Z")
I think OK is _so_ informal in and of itself that in any context where OK is ok, it matters not whether it is OK, ok, Ok, oK, okay, Okay, or oh-k. Ok? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/17 "2022-09-22T06:01:22Z")
Looks oll korrect to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/18 "2022-09-22T06:09:50Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > “Ok” shows you know where the shift key is and how to use it, but you can’t be assed to hold it down for the extra split second it would take to get the K in there. I think it’s more likely that it shows that _your device_ thought it prudent to capitalize the first letter of the word based on other context, and you didn’t override that default. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/19 "2022-09-22T07:47:50Z")
[Mr. Mackey] “Ok” is not OK, m’kay? If you use “Ok”, then you’re a bad person, m’kay? [/Mr. Mackey] ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001/20 "2022-09-22T08:19:24Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > I’ve been seeing “Ok” pop up in a lot of places recently. Why is that? I don’t think it’s a recent phenomenon. I remember seeing it in a lot of computer software from the early 1980s. Some software I use on a daily basis still uses it. FWIW, I agree with you that it looks weird and illogical. “OK” and “okay” are fine, and maybe “ok” is also tolerable if you’re writing informally in all-lowercase. But “Ok” is mildly grating. Maybe I’ll submit some patches to the offending software. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ok-ok-now/972001.md?page=2)