Cultural Scientists:
What’s the meaning behind ‘M’Kay’ from Southpark?
Is it more like ‘OK’ or more like ‘K’ (‘Kay’)?
Is it like, the bare minimum of 'Sure, Fine, OK, I’ll do it"?
What’s the difference between “Okay” and “K”? I always just thought of it as Mr. Mackey’s weird pronunciation.
An Mr. Mackey isn’t really asking or telling anyone “It’s OK”, it’s just his affectation, to fill idle dead moments in his thoughts. It’s what makes him, him.
The word has multiple meanings. I’m pretty sure it started out as a way of showing how patronizing he is. But he also uses it as a filler word or as a question. It even shows his nervousness at times.
All of these could use either “okay” or “K,” but they don’t, as it doesn’t fit the very real speech pattern Matt and Trey are parodying.
I have heard people use “Mmm’kay” in real life before South Park and Mr. Mackey, so it’s just not the affectation of a cartoon character. Presumably, so had Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Mr. Mackey probably mirrors how they’ve heard other people use it, mmm’kay?
IME it’s always been the mark of the passive agressive hippy. Someone who absolutely will not in any way take responsibility for leading the covnersation, but also won’t let you get a word in edgewise, and makes sure to sprinkle this assumption of your agreement in anywhere you might otherwise get a chance to speak. I’ve known a couple of these in my life, and Mr. Mackey is a dead ringer for them.
:: twitch ::
I always took it as a lack of self-confidence. Mr. Mackey is a not-very-bright, not-very-competent nerd. The “mm’kay” is partly a verbal tic, like people who say “uh” or “you know” a lot, and partly a lack of assertiveness, as with people (mostly women) who inflect their voice to make every statement sound like a question.
It’s “mm-kay” instead of “OK” because he’s mumbling. He’s not asking “OK?” and waiting for a response–he’s not even confident enough to do that. He’s just mumbling a verbal tic in a semi-conscious grope for approval.
It’s funniest on the rare times when he rouses himself to make an assertive statement, then reverts to form, as in:
**“Eric, you need to STOP WEARING NAZI UNIFORMS TO SCHOOL . . . **mm-kay?”
I remember it from my childhood; just a kid’s way of saying “okay”, so not having seen the character in question I always think of it in that context. Though, now that you mention it, didn’t the boss on Office Space say “mmkay”? I think it’s used to be condescending and / or dismissive.
I can’t remember, when they did the Inception inspired episode, and entered his dream, did Mackey go “M’kay” when he was a child, before, well, the unfortunate Woodsy the Owl, incident? If not, then that’d explain a lot about where Matt and Trey have decided to pin Mackey’s affectation on. If he’s actually using a child-like version of “OK”, you’d see where it springs from.
Pretty sure he did. “This is my happy place, mm’kay?”
I always took it as a combination of mm-hmm (spelling) and OK.
It’s just how he says “OK”, I think. IIRC, Trey based this on a guidance counselor from his own childhood school days.
In the episode Rainforest Schmainforest, Mr. Mackey does the mmm’kay bit in Spanish. (“mmm’bien”) I thought that was hysterical.
It’s patronizing hippie-speak.
My 12 year-old son imitates Mr. Mackey perfectly saying this. I try to be mad at him, because he’s not even supposed to be watching Southpark, but I can’t help but giggle, because he sounds so exactly like him.
This.
And the fact that the south park kids often take the piss out of him.
Didn’t they borrow him from the Butthead and Beavis cartoon?