Why we say ‘OK.’ How tea shaped English slang. Poetry winner
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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 okay, Victorian idioms about tea, and then I have the National Grammar Day Poetry Contest winning poem. Very exciting.

March 23rd 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, Alan 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 23rd, you might ask? Well, that's the day the word okay first appeared in the Boston Morning Post in 1839. The biggest question about okay is usually how to spell it. Okay or okay-a-y. And the origin of okay 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. O-L-L-K-O-R-R-E-K-T. 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 OKAY 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 O-K-E-H, but that one didn't stick. Journalists in the 1830s came up with other odd abbreviations like this too. They had O-W for All Right, O-L-L-W-R-I-G-H-T, a misspelling of All Right, and N-S 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, New York, 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 OKAY.

Now, 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 easygoing about most things. But to honor this particular word's origin, I insist on the two-letter spelling. And so far, they've been kind enough to indulge me.

Because OKAY is the form recommended by Chicago, though, and Chicago and styles like it are dominant style guides in the publishing industry, OKAY is the dominant form in fiction, which you can see in a Google Ngram search that's just limited to fiction.

But when the search is more broad, covering all English in Google Books, OK, two letters overtook OKAY 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 okay at all because people didn't. And if your setting is before 1895, you should probably only use the two-letter spelling, even though Chicago style normally calls for okay-a-y.

Anyway, to sum up, you can use whichever spelling you prefer. They're both considered correct. If you have to follow AP style, you'll use OKAY, two letters. And if you have to follow Chicago style, you'll use OKAY. But if you have some leeway, you can use whichever one you like. And I like OKAY with two letters because it's more true to the origin and honors those wacky 19th century journalists.

And finally, some people say that okay is the most widely recognized English word in the world. And if you want to learn every detail of the story, check out Alan Metcalf's book. And in case you're wondering, he used the two-letter spelling.

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Are you still quoting 30-year-old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now. It pays to discover. Learn more at discover.com slash credit card based on the February 2024 Nelson Report.

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. That magical elixir that fuels gossip, soothes nerves, and if you're British, practically serves as a personality trait.

There are a few things more comforting than a cup of hot tea. 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 T 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, Rosie Lee wasn't just a proper name. It also meant tea. And a teapot lid wasn't just something to cover your teapot. It meant kid. Let me try giving you an example.

Blimey, I only just sat down with me Rosie Lee and in comes me teapot lid bangin' on about wantin' a bicky. 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 still sometimes 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 T sounds like it implies a swanky, high-class event. But actually, that's Low T. Low T is a fancy afternoon tea where dainty sandwiches and small cakes are served on low parlor tables. High T is a hardier, 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 food there, though, 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 Maasai, dear boys, Take tea with the giddy Maasai.

And 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 weren't 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. And just for the record, the correct spelling of Maasai is M-A-A-S-A-I. Kipling

Kibling 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 called The Rottledge Dictionary of Historical Slang.

Scandal broth and chatter water are both words for tea from the late 19th and early 20th century. Tea is apparently the beverage of choice if you're going to sit around gossiping. A bun struggle or bun worry was naval and military slang for a tea party for sailors or soldiers.

To drum up meant to make tea, especially by the roadside as a vagabond might do. A waiter at a tea garden was called a grasshopper. And in Cockney rhyming slang, it could also be a policeman, rhyming with copper. A kettle drum was an afternoon tea party on a large scale.

In mid-19th century Australia, post and rails tea was poorly made tea with stalks and leaves floating in it, a reference to post and rail fences. And tea from a cook shop or coffee stall? In the Cockney vernacular, that was a mahogany slosh. 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. Haha.

So that's the tea. Drinking tea is a tradition steeped in history, culture, and a whole lot of slang. From Cockney rhymes to colloquial 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 and enjoy your scandal broth.

That segment was written by Karen Lundy, a former Quick and 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 this 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, I'm

Here in Ontario, I have noticed that people do the same before highway names. People could say, for example, from Toronto to Kingston, you can take the 401. From Kingston to Ottawa, you can take the 401, then the 416. From Kingston to Ottawa, you can take the 401, then the 416. And a fun fact is that the 401 is the busiest highway in North America. Enjoy your show. Thank you. Bye.

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 am especially impressed this year because Salma is a student who's 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. Here's the poem. 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, quote, provides a refreshingly earnest entry whose use of poetry makes me appreciate language in a new way, unquote.

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 Hoops in marketing, Dan Feirobend in audio, Morgan Christensen in advertising, Brandon Goetjes, director of podcasts, and Holly Hutchings in digital operations, who's 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 of day book, The Grammar Daily. That's all. Thanks for listening.

Looking for a snack that's better for you and irresistibly tasty? Grab a bag of Skinny Pop popcorn. The original, ready-to-eat popcorn is made with just three simple ingredients, and it still delivers all the light, airy, and satisfyingly salty flavors you love. Share a bag of Skinny Pop with your favorite people, or just keep it to yourself for some endlessly enjoyable solo snacking that lasts and lasts. Deliciously popped, perfectly salted. Skinny Pop. Popular for a reason.