The word ‘ok’ first appeared in print 177 years ago on Wednesday, as a jab thrown in a rivalry between Boston and Providence newspapers.
The use of the two letters (or the fully-spelled version, ‘okay’) has spread around the world to indicate varying states of positivity. But the Boston Morning Post writer of a short item firing back at some snark from the Providence Journal likely had little knowledge that the joke would resonate through the ages.
Here’s first appearance of the word ‘ok’ took place on March 23, 1839, as Atlas Obscura writes today:
While the word may have survived the test of time, the humor has not. The joke, at the expense of the Providence Journal, is that ‘o.k.’ does not stand for ‘all correct’, but for a misspelled, phonetic version of the phrase.
And just as ‘ok’ is still popular today, so is the environment that gave birth to the Post‘s joke: an “abbreviation craze.”
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
- The Revolution of Yulia Navalnaya
- 6 Compliments That Land Every Time
- What's the Deal With the Bitcoin Halving?
- If You're Dating Right Now , You're Brave: Column
- The AI That Could Heal a Divided Internet
- Fallout Is a Brilliant Model for the Future of Video Game Adaptations
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Julia Zorthian at julia.zorthian@time.com