The Word “Okay”

I find the etymology of the word “okay” to be quite interesting.  From Wikipedia:

“OK” is used to label buttons in modal dialog boxes such as error messages or print dialogs, indicating that the user must press the button to accept the contents of the dialog box and continue. It is often placed next to a “Cancel” button which allows the user to dismiss the dialog box without accepting its contents. When a modal dialog box contains only one button, it is almost always labeled “OK” by convention and default. In this usage, it is usually rendered to the screen in upper case without punctuation: “OK”, rather than “O.K.”, “Okay”, or “Ok”. The “OK” button can probably be traced to user interface research done for the Apple Lisa. However, modern user interface guidelines prefer to avoid modal dialog boxes if possible, and use more specific verbs, such as “Continue”, to label their action buttons instead of the generic “OK”.

It’s funny how we take words for granted, and how interesting they are if you just pay attention.

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