[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.00,0:00:03.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's a two-letter word\Nthat we hear everywhere.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:03.55,0:00:04.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.72,0:00:06.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Okay.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.92,0:00:08.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK, are you OK Annie?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.90,0:00:11.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK OK OK, OK ladies…
Dialogue: 0,0:00:11.46,0:00:14.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK might be the most \Nrecognizable word on the planet.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.45,0:00:15.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK!
Dialogue: 0,0:00:15.45,0:00:16.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.45,0:00:20.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's essential to how we communicate with\Neach other, and even with our technology.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.28,0:00:23.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alexa, turn off the living room light.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.24,0:00:24.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.68,0:00:27.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You probably use it every day –\Neven if you don't notice it.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.45,0:00:29.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, what does OK actually mean?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.100,0:00:32.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And where did it come from?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.54,0:00:33.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hm.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.08,0:00:34.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.08,0:00:35.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Okay then.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.08,0:00:36.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK, thank you.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.98,0:00:42.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK actually traces back to an 1830s fad of\Nintentionally misspelling abbreviations.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.51,0:00:47.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Young “intellectual” types in Boston delighted\Nthose “in the know” with butchered coded
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.21,0:00:55.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,messages such as KC, or “knuff ced”, KY,\N“know yuse,” and OW, “oll wright.”
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.43,0:00:56.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Haha.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.43,0:01:03.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But thanks to a couple of lucky breaks, one\Nabbreviation rose above the rest: OK, or “oll korrect."
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.80,0:01:08.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the early 1800s, “all correct” was\Na common phrase used to confirm that everything
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.14,0:01:09.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was in order.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.26,0:01:16.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Its abbreviated cousin started going mainstream\Non March 23, 1839, when OK was first published
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.03,0:01:17.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the Boston Morning Post.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.75,0:01:22.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Soon other papers picked up on the joke and\Nspread it around the country, until OK was
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.61,0:01:26.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something everyone knew about, not just a\Nfew Boston insiders.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.82,0:01:31.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And OK's newfound popularity even prompted\Na flailing US president from Kinderhook, New York,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.88,0:01:35.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to adopt it as a nickname during his\N1840 reelection campaign.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.70,0:01:40.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Van Buren's supporters formed OK Clubs all\Nover the country, and their message was pretty
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.78,0:01:43.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,clear: Old Kinderhook was “oll korrect.”
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.69,0:01:47.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The campaign was highly publicized and turned\Npretty nasty in the press.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.63,0:01:51.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His opponents ended up turning the abbreviation\Naround on him, saying it stood for “Orful
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.38,0:01:53.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Konspiracy” or “Orful Katastrophe”
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.14,0:01:55.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hah.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.12,0:02:00.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the end, even a clever nickname didn't\Nsave Van Buren's presidency.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.12,0:02:01.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it was a win for OK.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.85,0:02:06.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That 1840 presidential campaign firmly established\NOK in the American vernacular.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.55,0:02:10.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And while similar abbreviations fell out of\Nfashion, OK made the crossover from slang
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.96,0:02:17.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into legitimate, functional use thanks to\None invention: the telegraph.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.87,0:02:20.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we lower the bridge, the current flows\Nto the sounder.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.40,0:02:24.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the other end, the current energizes an\Nelectromagnet and this attracts the armature.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.36,0:02:27.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The armature clicks down against a screw and\Ntaps out a message.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.76,0:02:32.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The telegraph debuted in 1844, just five years\Nafter OK.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.45,0:02:37.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It transmitted short messages in the form\Nof electric pulses, with combinations of dots
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.51,0:02:41.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and dashes representing letters of the alphabet.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.55,0:02:43.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was OK's moment to shine.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.42,0:02:47.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The two letters were easy to tap out and very\Nunlikely to be confused with anything else.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.78,0:02:52.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was quickly adopted as a standard acknowledgement\Nof a transmission received, especially by
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.41,0:02:54.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,operators on the expanding US railroad.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.98,0:02:59.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This telegraphic manual from 1865 even goes\Nas far as to say that “no message is ever
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.97,0:03:04.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,regarded as transmitted until the office receiving\Nit gives O K.”
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.19,0:03:06.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK had become serious business.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.02,0:03:09.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there's another big reason the two letters\Nstuck around, and it's not just because
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.74,0:03:10.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're easy to communicate.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.90,0:03:12.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It has to do with how OK looks.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.97,0:03:16.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or more specifically, how the letter K looks\Nand sounds.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.77,0:03:20.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's really uncommon to start a word with\Nthe letter K in English — it's ranked
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.94,0:03:23.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,around 22nd in the alphabet.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.08,0:03:27.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That rarity spurred a “Kraze for K” at\Nthe turn of the century in advertising and
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.24,0:03:32.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,print, where companies replaced hard Cs with\NKs in order to Katch your eye.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.30,0:03:37.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The idea was that modifying a word — like\NKlearflax Linen Rugs or this Kook-Rite Stove,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.42,0:03:40.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for example — would draw more attention\Nto it.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.31,0:03:45.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's still a visual strategy: We see\NK represented in modern corporate logos, like
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.17,0:03:47.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Krispy-Kreme and Kool-Aid.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.16,0:03:49.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's the K that makes it so memorable.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.99,0:03:55.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By the 1890s, OK's Bostonian origins were\Nalready mostly forgotten, and newspapers began
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.40,0:03:59.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to debate its history — often perpetuating\Nmyths in the process that some people still
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.75,0:04:00.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,believe.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.75,0:04:05.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like the claim that it comes from the Choctaw\Nword ‘okeh,' which means ‘so it is.'
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.05,0:04:07.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Choctaw gave us the word OK…
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.77,0:04:12.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK's beginnings had become obscure but it\Ndidn't really matter anymore — the word
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.34,0:04:13.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was embedded in our language.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.95,0:04:17.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Today, we use it as the ultimate “neutral\Naffirmative.”
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.31,0:04:18.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK then.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:18.31,0:04:19.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Okay then.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.50,0:04:21.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Learn to truly love yourself.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.07,0:04:22.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.07,0:04:22.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.56,0:04:23.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Get yourself up here!
Dialogue: 0,0:04:23.76,0:04:24.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK!
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.06,0:04:27.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't know what to say.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.16,0:04:28.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Say OK.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:30.66,0:04:31.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.16,0:04:33.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's settled then!
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.03,0:04:37.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Allan Metcalf wrote the definitive history\Nof OK, and he explains that the word “affirms
Dialogue: 0,0:04:37.91,0:04:41.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without evaluating,” meaning it doesn't\Nconvey any feelings — it just acknowledges
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.73,0:04:42.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and accepts information.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.96,0:04:46.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you “got home OK,” it just means you\Nwere unharmed.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:46.08,0:04:49.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If your “food was OK,” then it was acceptable.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:49.67,0:04:51.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And “OK” confirms a change of plans.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:51.61,0:04:55.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's is sort of a reflex at this point -
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.95,0:04:56.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we\Ndon't even keep track of how much we use it.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.44,0:05:01.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which might be why OK was arguably the first\Nword spoken when humans landed on the moon.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.20,0:05:13.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not bad for a corny joke from the 1830s.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.71,0:05:16.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alright guys, cut it out.