OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word

This fun little book chronicles “OK” from its beginnings as a barely-funny joke in an 1830s newspaper to its position as probably the most American word in human language.It also explores a lot of the tangents and false etymologies that followed these two letters around nearly since it first showed up in print.An entertaining bit of language history

In the manner of a graduate student writing a thesis, Metcalf has turned an interesting topic into a tedious exercise. The peculiar status of OK in the English language and around the world is fascinating. Unfortunately, the author has included lengthy quotes that document just about every use of the word (term? acronym?) since its creation. For the most part, the passages quoted are not in themselves very interesting, and I soon resorted to skipping whole pages of the book in hopes of finding an analysis worth reading. Metcalf's research is thorough; his linking of OK to the American dynamic is less so.

It is a nice historical view of the creation and absorption of OK into our language. In a few place the writing is a little dry and repetitive, hence the 4 stars. But overall a worthwhile read.

Interesting as can be

I never thought much about the expression "OK", so it was a little interesting to learn more. The author writes well, so it is readable, and a decent lunchtime diversion. Still...the book is an organic metaphor for OK. If that was the intention - Brilliant! Otherwise it was, well, OK.