Re: a few questions
| From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, April 21, 2001, 19:44 |
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David Peterson wrote:
> "Okay" was originally "O.K.", of course, and it stood for "Old
> Kinderhook", which, I believe, was the nickname of Martin Van Buren (if it
> wasn't, it was another president; I know it was a Gilded Age U.S. president).
Close. What actually happened was that OK was one of several faddish
abbreviations at the time, OK stood for "Oll Korrect". The fad was
abbreviations based on facetious misspellings. A couple others were OW
(Oll Wright) and KY (Know Yuse). Van Buren's nickname was Old
Kinderhook, so in his re-election campaign, he took advantage of the OK
fad, and that popularized it.
I wonder if Bush's nickname "Dubya" might not make "Dubya" the usual
name for that letter? :-) A lot better name, IMO, than "Double u".
"Wee", on the analogy of "dee", "tee", etc., would be best of all.
--
Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon
A nation without a language is a nation without a heart - Welsh proverb
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