1065. Is it "OK" or "okay"? We look at the surprising history of one of the world’s most recognized English words and how a 19th-century election campaign helped it stick. Then, we have some fun with Victorian tea culture and the many idioms it inspired, from Cockney rhyming slang to "scandal broth."
1065. Is it "OK" or "okay"? We look at the surprising history of one of the world’s most recognized English words and how a 19th-century election campaign helped it stick. Then, we have some fun with Victorian tea culture and the many idioms it inspired, from Cockney rhyming slang to "scandal broth."
The "tea" segment is by Karen Lunde, a former Quick & Dirty Tips editor and digital pioneer who's been spinning words into gold since before cat videos ruled the internet. She created one of the first online writing workshops, and she's published thousands of articles on the art of writing. These days, she leads personal narrative writing retreats and helps writers find their voice. Visit her at ChanterelleStoryStudio.com.
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Grammar Girl here. I’m Mignon Fogarty, your friendly guide to the English language. We talk about writing, history, rules, and other cool stuff. Today, we're going to talk about the word "OK," Victorian idioms about tea, and then I have the National Grammar Day poetry contest winning poem. Very exciting!
by Mignon Fogarty
March 23 is officially "OK Day" — as in "Yes, OK" — one of America's most successful language exports. And like many official days, it's the brainchild of a person with both a passion and a reason for wanting some attention, in this case, Allan Metcalf, the late esteemed linguist who wrote an entire book about the word, titled "OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word."
And "Why March 23?" you might ask. Well, that's the day the word "OK" first appeared in "The Boston Morning Post" in 1839.
The biggest question about "OK" is usually how to spell it (O-K or O-K-A-Y?), and the origin of "OK" is one of my favorite stories, and to me, it makes the two-letter spelling the purer form. Here's what happened:
Much like the text messaging abbreviations of today, "OK" was an abbreviation for a funny misspelling of the phrase "all correct": "oll korrekt." Journalists at the time seemed to have loads of fun making up these off-kilter, insidery abbreviations. Those Boston journalists at the "Morning Post" are credited with creating "OK," two letters, and according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the “O-K-A-Y” spelling didn’t appear until 1895 in an Australian publication based in Sydney called “The Bulletin.”
And in case you want even more spelling options, in 1919, H.L. Mencken wrote about Woodrow Wilson using the spelling “okeh,” but that one didn’t stick.
Journalists in the 1830s came up with other odd abbreviations like this too. They had "OW" for "oll wright” (a misspelling of “all right”) and “NS” for “nuff said,” but “OK” stuck while the others fell into obscurity because president Martin Van Buren, whose nickname was Old Kinderhooks — because he was born in Kinderhook, NY — abbreviated “Old Kinderhooks” into “OK” and adopted the campaign slogan "Vote for OK.” He called his campaign supporters the "OK Club,” and all that campaign publicity established "OK" in the American lexicon. It stuck.
Today, the two spellings peacefully coexist: the Associated Press recommends the two-word spelling [“OK”] and the Chicago Manual of Style recommends “O-K-A-Y.”
If you've ever wondered what it's like for people who edit my work, my publisher follows Chicago style for my books, and I'm actually really easy going about most things, but to honor this particular word's origins, I insist on the two-letter spelling. And so far, they’ve been kind enough to indulge me.
'Okay' dominates in fiction, but 'OK' wins overall
Because "okay" is the form recommended by Chicago, though, and Chicago and styles like it are the dominant style guides in the publishing industry, “O-K-A-Y” is the dominant form in fiction, which you can see in a Google Ngram search that is just limited to fiction.
But, when the search is more broad, covering all English in Google Books, "OK" (two letters) overtook "O-K-A-Y" in 1990, and continues to be used more often today. You could speculate that “OK”’s two-letter rise was caused by text messaging because people would favor the shorter spelling, which then eventually made its way into books, but text messaging didn’t really take off until about the year 2000, so the rise of the two-word spelling doesn’t quite match up with text messaging.
One thing to remember if you're writing historical fiction is the dates each spelling came into being. If you're writing a story that took place before 1839, you shouldn't use "OK" at all, because people didn't use it before then, and if your setting is before 1895, you should probably only use the two-letter spelling even though Chicago style normally calls for O-K-A-Y.
Anyway, to sum up, you can use whichever spelling you prefer. They are both considered correct. If you have to follow AP style, you’ll use “OK," (two letters) and if you have to follow Chicago style, you’ll use “O-K-A-Y,” but if you have some leeway, you can use whichever one you like, and I like “O-K” because it’s more true to the origin and honors those wacky 19th century journalists.
And finally, some people say that “OK” is the most widely recognized English word in the world, and if you want to learn every detail of the story, check out Allan Metcalf's book. And in case you are wondering, he used the two-letter spelling.
Next, just a couple of years before our jaunty Boston journalists were making up silly words, Queen Victoria took the throne in England, heralding in what's called the Victorian Era, so today, we'll stick with the time period and continue by talking about Victorian idioms about tea …
by Karen Lunde
Tea: that magical elixir that fuels gossip, soothes nerves, and — if you’re British — practically serves as a personality trait.
There are few things more comforting than a cup of hot tea. So, you might not be surprised that our language is steeped in tea idioms — pun totally intended. But what is surprising is just how many tea idioms there are!
For example, quite a few interesting tea idioms showed up among the Cockney working class of Victorian London's East End. The Cockneys developed a fun language quirk called "rhyming slang." It works by replacing a common word with a two- or three-word phrase, where the last word rhymes with the original word. These terms made sense to the people of the East End, but they were nonsensical for everyone else if you didn't know the lingo.
Rhyming slang wasn't just about creating code words — it was a way of playing with language among a particular social group. So, in Cockney terms, "Rosy Lee" wasn't just a proper name, it also meant "tea." And a "teapot lid" wasn't just something to cover your tea pot, it meant "kid."
Let me try giving you an example:
"Blimey, I only jes sat down wiv me Rosy Lee an’ in comes me tea pot lid, bangin’ on ‘bout wantin’ a biccy!"
So, now that you've learned a little of the insider tea slang, you might be able to translate that despite my bad attempt at a Cockney accent:
"After a long day, I finally sat down with a nice cup of tea. But before I could take a sip, my kid came in demanding a biscuit!" ("Biscuit" would be a cookie in American English.)
And here's an example of tea-related Cockney rhyming slang that developed a verb form. Thieves were called "tea leaves" in Victorian England, because "tea leaf" sounded close to "thief." The verb form — "tea-leafing" — became slang for theft, especially petty crime. This one's sometimes still used in British slang today. "We think he was out tea-leafing again last night."
But there's more to tea-related terms than Cockney rhyming slang. If you've used the term "high tea" to refer to a fancy tea service, you might be surprised to learn you've been using it wrong! "High tea" sounds like it implies a swanky, high-class event. But actually, that's "low tea." Low tea is a fancy afternoon tea where dainty sandwiches and small cakes are served on low parlor tables. High tea is a heartier working-class meal, served on a proper dinner table. That's why it's high — it's served at table height. The working classes sometimes also referred to high tea as "knife and fork tea." No bougie finger foods here, only the kind of meat-and-potatoes dinner you'd eat with a knife and fork. Mistaking the term "high tea" to mean a fancy tea service became so widespread that many establishments use it that way today even though it's historically inaccurate.
And here's an idiom you've probably heard: "Not for all the tea in China." This phrase may speak to Britain’s obsession with Chinese tea during the height of the tea trade in the late 19th and early 20th century. If something isn’t worth doing “for all the tea in China,” it means no amount of bribery or persuasion could convince you otherwise.
And the phrase "take tea" doesn't refer to making off with your friend's favorite box of Earl Grey. It literally means drinking tea or participating in the social ritual of having tea with others. In this context, "take" means "consume." But "take tea" isn't always used literally. British author Rudyard Kipling used the phrase ironically in his late 19th century poem "The Lost Legion." He wrote:
And some share our tucker [food] with tigers,
And some with the gentle Masai
(Dear boys!),
Take tea with the giddy Masai.
No, Kipling wasn't actually talking about sitting down to tea with the Maasai, an African ethnic group. He may have been mocking the colonial notion of "civilizing" Indigenous groups. The Maasai were not "giddy" but fiercely independent, and the idea of sitting down to the genteel act of "taking tea" with them could have been a satirical jab at British colonialism.
Oh, and just for the record, the correct spelling of Maasai is M-A-A-S-A-I. Kipling spelled it M-A-S-A-I, without the double-A in the first syllable, but that was an incorrect spelling used by British settlers.
There are also many more historical tea idioms from across different English language cultures. Here are some of my favorites from a book I found on Google Books, "The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang."
One of the most amusing British slang phrases I came across was, "More tea, vicar?" It's used as a foil for some sort of embarrassing social faux pas. There's a bit of a legend behind this one, although no one knows the origin for sure. The story goes that a vicar passed gas at a tea party, and the deft hostess stepped in to fill the resulting awkward silence, demurely asking, "More tea, vicar?" But the vicar didn't quite pick up on the subtext, so he responded: "No thank you; it makes me fart."
So, that's the tea! Drinking tea is a tradition steeped in history, culture, and a whole lot of slang. From Cockney rhymes to colonial critiques, tea has flavored not just our cups but our language, too. So the next time you share tea with your friends, maybe drop in a little historical lingo to liven things up. Enjoy your "scandal broth!"
That segment was written by Karen Lunde, a former Quick & Dirty Tips editor and digital pioneer who's been spinning words into gold since before cat videos ruled the internet. She created one of the first online writing workshops, and she's published thousands of articles on the art of writing. These days, she leads personal narrative writing retreats and helps writers find their voice. Visit her at ChanterelleStoryStudio.com.
Next, following up on the segment from a few weeks ago about why people in Southern California use the word "the" in freeway names, like "Take the 10 to the 405," I've heard from multiple people in Ontario, Canada, who say people there do the same thing. For example, here's Anderson:
Hi, Grammar Girl, It's Anderson here from Ontario, Canada.
Following up on your podcast about Californians adding a "the" before freeway names here in Ontario, I have noticed that people do the same before highway names.
For example, people could say, for example, "From Toronto to Kingston, you can take the 4-1."
"From Kingston to Ottawa, you can take the 41, then the 47, 16."
"From Kingston to Ottawa, you can take the 41, then the 416."
And a fun fact is that the 41 is the busiest highway in North America. Enjoy your show. Thank you.
Thanks so much for the call, Anderson, and to everyone else who let me know too. There wasn't anything in any of the studies I read about Canada, so I can't say why people do it there, but it's definitely an interesting bit of extra information.
And finally, I have the winning poem from the ACES National Grammar Day poetry contest. ACES is a society for editors, and the winner, out of 86 entries, is Salma Amanda Latifa, and I have to say I'm especially impressed this year because Salma is a student who is completing a degree in business economics and lives in Indonesia and says English is her third language.
She started learning English when she was young through school and self-study, and says her ever-growing love for reading and writing in English has led her to participate in writing competitions, which she was searching Google for when she came across the ACES contest.
First place: Salma Amanda Latifa
Language in Order
Noun stands firm, giving a name,
Verb takes action, shaping the frame.
Adjective paints colors and hue,
Adverb explains how things ensue.
Tenses shift as time goes by,
Agreement stays, it won’t deny.
"If" makes a promise, setting a tone,
The outcome is clear, never unknown.
Active speaks loud, steady and bright,
Passive rearranges, subtle yet right.
Gerund dances, Infinitive strides,
Language is neat, meaning abides.
One of the judges, lexicographer John Kelly, said the poem "provides a refreshingly earnest entry whose use of poetry makes me appreciate language in a new way."
Salma says, "While writing it, I was reminded of my early school days when I first encountered these grammatical concepts. I remember struggling to grasp tenses, subject-verb agreement, and the roles of different parts of speech. However, over time, I began to see the beauty and order in language, which has now become a big part of my writing journey."
Grammar Girl is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. Thanks to Davina Tomlin and Nat Hoopes in Marketing; Dan Feierabend in audio; Morgan Christianson in advertising; Brannan Goetschius, director of podcasts; and Holly Hutchings in digital operations, who is waiting for a family of owls to show up in a nest they use every year around this time.
And I'm Mignon Fogarty, better known as Grammar Girl and author of the tip-a-day book "The Grammar Daily." That's all. Thanks for listening.
The following references for the "tea idioms" segment did not appear in the podcast but are included here for completeness.
Green, J. "Green's Dictionary of Slang." https://greensdictofslang.com/ (accessed February 24, 2025)
Partridge, E., Dalzell, T, and Victor R. "The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English." 2006
(accessed February 24, 2025)