In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

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  • In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

    In dialogue, should I spell out "okay" or is it "OK" ....?

    Which is correct? Which do you use and why?
    Does it really matter as long as I'm consistent throughout?

  • #2
    Re: In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

    'OK' is best regarded as an abbreviation, though it is impossible to say, since the origin of the word is obscure. We have some similar situations with ID (identification card or papers) and IQ (intelligence quotient), and we use ID and IQ in writing dialogue, but IQ and ID only exist as abbreviations - you do not have an option to spell them out. With OK you have an accepted full spelling: 'okay'.

    From a logical and aesthetic standpoint, it is better to write out the word in the form of 'okay' when you use it in dialogue. That is how you see it in well-edited books, or you did back in the day before standards became so low.

    By the way, the 'orl korrect' theory of the origin of 'OK/okay' seems unlikely to me.

    "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

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    • #3
      Re: In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

      Originally posted by ComicBent View Post
      From a logical and aesthetic standpoint, it is better to write out the word in the form of 'okay' when you use it in dialogue. That is how you see it in well-edited books, or you did back in the day before standards became so low.
      Okay.

      Thank you!
      (off to search/replace)

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      • #4
        Re: In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

        I always write "okay" too, unless it's Tulsa, OK.

        You used to see "O.K." a lot in novels but then periods fell out of fashion and chaos ruled the earth.

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        • #5
          Re: In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

          Originally posted by Terri View Post
          In dialogue, should I spell out "okay" or is it "OK" ....?

          Which is correct? Which do you use and why?
          Does it really matter as long as I'm consistent throughout?
          Thanks for asking this question. I was wondering, too.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

            I suspect the answer to may be "Either is OK (or okay) but be consistent with it.

            I used to always write "okay", but thought that might not be... right. So I checked it the "official sources" and it appeared OK was used twice as often as okay, so I went with that. I never have been that excited by the way it looks though. "OK" looks like it's shouting at us for no particular reason.

            I am amazed, when I watch the subtitles on a foreign film, how often "OK" appears.

            From Grammarist.com:
            "OK vs. okay
            Okay, OK, and O.K. are all acceptable spellings of the word. OK is more common in edited writing, but okay appears about a third of the time. O.K. is preferred by a few publications, including the New York Times, even though it is not an abbreviation of anything in modern use."

            Another site says "Consult your style-sheets'.

            For what it's worth.
            "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

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            • #7
              Re: In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

              OK is more common in edited writing, but okay appears about a third of the time.
              "Edited" writing can include a lot of things, including advertising copy and technical works. OK is certainly common in advertising.

              Yes, OK and O.K. and okay are all considered acceptable. No dispute. But such a statement ignores the context. OK is just not what you find in dialogue in works that have undergone editing that follows publishing standards. If the New York Times wants O.K., then fine. Do it that way for that publication. I also remember the days when newspapers following the AP style wanted strange spellings like employe instead of employee, and whisky (British spelling, I think) instead of whiskey, because those unusual spellings were shorter. I do not think that the AP recommends those different spellings anymore.

              I would invite anyone who doubts that okay is preferable in literary work to pick up some hard copies of novels, published by real publishing houses, and start perusing. By literary work, I mean fiction, essays, and nonfiction books such as biographies and historical studies. You will find that okay is far and away more common in dialogue. In fact, I am not sure that I have ever seen OK in that context in a novel, though it is possible that examples exist, because we no longer live in a culture that uses real standards.

              I picked up three literary works from my own library and flipped through the pages randomly. In one work, I was never able to find OK or okay at all. In the other two, the spelling was okay.

              Those two works were:

              Death in Paradise, a novel by Robert B. Parker, who is a prominent writer of detective novels and the creator of the Spenser character.

              Teeth, a one-act play by Tina Howe, in a collection of one-act plays published in the 1990s. Some information on Tina Howe:
              Tina Howe (born November 21, 1937) is an American playwright. Over a career spanning more than three decades, Howe's best-known works are Painting Churches, Coastal Disturbances and Pride's Crossing.

              Her works have won numerous awards, including the 1998 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play for Pride's Crossing, which was also a finalist for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Coastal Disturbances was nominated for the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play.
              As for experts in grammar ... I am usually flabbergasted at the sources that people cite as their experts. I speak as someone who has a master's degree in English, who has a PhD in comparative literature, who has written many scholarly papers for courses in graduate school, who used to teach English grammar and composition at the university level, who in a previous career wrote hundreds of stories for newspaper publication, and who has worked as a freelance editor.

              In any case, use whatever strikes your fancy, but I will certainly follow tradition and use okay in dialogue and OK for computer buttons or other technical directions.

              "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

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              • #8
                Re: In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

                I's write "okay". OK if I was saving space.

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                • #9
                  Re: In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

                  As a general rule, spelling everything out in dialogue.

                  OK - okay
                  4 - four
                  Etc. - etcetera

                  The only exception is if a character utters a date, phone number or numerical address, something that would be truly awkward to spell out.
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                  • #10
                    Re: In Dialogue: OK vs okay?

                    Saw this on Reddit's "Today I Learned":
                    TIL that the word "ok" as we know it today, as a synonym for "alright", is only about 175 years old. It was originally written as a joke that went viral in 1839 by a Boston editorial writer satirizing people's bad grammar and use of abbreviations, and was an abbreviation for "oll korrect".
                    http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...ago-180953258/

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