Episode 1 of 1

First Print Record

When: March 23, 1839
Where: Boston, Massachusetts
Part of: Event of 1839: The Boston Morning Post first records the use of "O.K." (oll korrect).

The Boston Morning Post published the earliest known use of "O.K." on March 23, 1839, as part of a local abbreviation fad.

Allen Walker Read identified this specific date as the earliest known print usage. The term originated as "oll korrect," a deliberate misspelling of "all correct," reflecting the humorist style of the late 1830s Boston fad.

Sources

OK Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-15

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.