# OK vs. Okay **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 8, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004 "2006-09-08T23:37:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ravenwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Ravenwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenwolf)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004/1 "2006-09-08T23:37:55Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_250](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_250) The explanation on ‘OK’ seems good, but what about ‘okay?’ Is there anything special about how it came to be written out longer? I have always written it as ‘okay,’ because I assumed that the shorter version came later, what with lazy chatspeakers and all. Upon looking it up in my own dictionary, it simply says ‘also spelled _okay_’ (and, on another note, has the OK Club explanation). Being a Grammar Nazi myself, I’m ashamed to say that I’ve been fooling myself all this time into thinking I was doing it right, and would like some clarity. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004/2 "2006-09-09T00:05:04Z")
Could it possibly be just a phonetic spelling? ---
**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 9, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004/3 "2006-09-09T02:26:07Z")
This is actually a case of parallel development. “O.K.,” as we all know, comes from Oll Korrect. However, the alternate form “okay” comes from the remarkably coincidental usage of the name of an Irishman, Seamus O’Kay, in a very similar context. He was well known to be an honest and upright man; when people wished to bestow a compliment on another, they would compare them to the good Irishman, to wit, “He’s an O’Kay.” When this usage collided, through the immigration of the period, with the already-extant “O.K.,” there was, of course, an immediate melding of the two. The variant spelling of “okay” is our sole evidence of this previous form, with the only loss being the capitalization, the apostrophe, and the preceding article. In a further remarkable coincidence, Seamus O’Kay had a son who went to Liverpool and spent many years baking Kalidis Co. Pies, as well as a fraternal twin sister with a penis. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004/4 "2006-09-09T12:02:43Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] In a further remarkable coincidence, Seamus O’Kay had a son who went to Liverpool and spent many years baking Kalidis Co. Pies, as well as a fraternal twin sister with a penis. [/QUOTE] Criminy! How long does it take to bake a fraternal twin sister with a penis? ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004/5 "2006-09-09T18:26:23Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Criminy! How long does it take to bake a fraternal twin sister with a penis? [/QUOTE] Several hours. It’s much quicker if you use an oven. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004/6 "2006-09-11T21:36:26Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Criminy! How long does it take to bake a fraternal twin sister with a penis? [/QUOTE] Since when do mushrooms constitute an oath? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004/7 "2006-09-12T00:14:29Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL] Since when do mushrooms constitute an oath? [/QUOTE] [Since 1681.](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000209) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004/8 "2006-09-12T14:37:38Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] This is actually a case of parallel development. [/QUOTE] Okay, bright boy, but how do you explain, “okeh?” ---
**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 12, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004/9 "2006-09-12T15:36:13Z")
“Heko” is a Lakota word meaning “totally screwed up.” (Literally it means “deer that has shit so hard its intestines are trailing behind it and tangling up its hind feet.”) So “okeh,” obviously, is the opposite of that. Anything else I can help with? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-vs-okay/372004/10 "2006-09-12T19:54:48Z")
All hail **Cervaise**! Made my day.