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The history of 'OK' (2023)
The fad for abbreviations like LOL is nothing new. In fact, this trend in the 1840s spawned the greatest abbreviation of all, "OK." Let's look at the history behind "America's greatest word."
Before we get to the fateful date of March 21, 1839, let's tip our hats one more time to Allen Walker Read, the man who solved the mystery of OK's origins. Keep in mind that Read was working in the 1960s, decades before searchable digital newspaper archives. "Read must have spent hundreds of hours digging through tons and tons of physical newspapers, journals, private letters and other documents," says Liberman, who writes the weekly Oxford Etymologist blog and knows firsthand how hard it is to track down the history of words.
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