 Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Liz Wade. And I'm Colin Lauver. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live. Does your language use any English words? Yes. No. Hello. Languages often borrow words from each other. English speakers use many words that have come from other languages. For example, you may hear an English speaker say something like this. I cannot believe I made that faux pas in front of everyone. The words faux pas mean a social mistake. They are French, but many English speakers use them. Another example is the word prima donna. This phrase is Italian. It means first lady. English speakers use it to speak about someone who only thinks about themselves. Many languages also use English words. For example, they use the words computer, internet and email. However, none of these are the most commonly used English word. Do you know what it is? Okay. Yes. The word is okay. Today's spotlight is on the word okay. The word okay is an informal spoken word. You will almost never find it in formal speeches, news, media or books. But it is one of the most common English words. It is also one of the most common English exports from the United States. English professor Alan Metcalf wrote a book about the word okay. He told CBS News. There is no other word that is as widely recognized throughout the whole world. No other American English word has had so much success like that. In a general way, okay signals approval, acceptance or agreement. People can use it in many different ways. Here are some ways to use the word okay. First, okay can be an adjective or an adverb. It can describe an act or a thing. In this way, it means alright or fine. Are you okay? Here is another example. I hope the children are okay while we are gone. It can also mean fine but not so great. Did you enjoy the dinner last night? It was okay. Okay can also be an act or a thing, a verb or a noun. Did your boss give you the time off that you asked for? Yes, she okayed it. Okay is also common as an interjection. It can appear suddenly on its own. In this way, it can simply mean yes or sure. Can you please wash those dishes? Okay. Or it can signal that people need to attend. Okay, time to begin please. It can also mean enough. Okay, please stop now. Okay, we are done with this part anyway. You have already heard how many different meanings the word okay has. But did you know that the meaning also changes depending on how you say it? The tone of a person's voice makes a difference. The meaning can change no matter how you use it. For example, the sentence it was okay could be positive or negative. How was the show? It was okay. What do you think this person meant? What about this next example? How was the show? It was okay. The first answer says that the person was not really satisfied, but he could not think of something bad to say. The second answer says that the person was satisfied. A person's tone also changes the meaning of the word okay as an interjection. I think we should visit your brother tonight. Okay? Okay. The first person used okay to ask for agreement. The second person used okay to express questioning or doubt. Okay is a small word, but it has many different uses. So where did this confusing, complex word come from? People debate the origin of the word okay. The earliest record in print was in 1839 in the city of Boston. At the time, it was popular to use groups of letters to signal words. It was also common to spell the words incorrectly using the wrong letters as a joke. A Boston newspaper used the letters o and k to mean all correct. The o meant all and the k meant correct. Around the same time, US President Martin Van Buren began to use the word. He was the president and he was trying to get elected again. His political party used the saying vote for okay. Van Buren was from a town in New York called Kinderhoek. In this case, he used the letters okay to mean old Kinderhoek. The saying tried to give the message that old Kinderhoek was all correct. Van Buren lost the election. But many language experts think that the election saying helped to make okay a common word. This explanation may also explain the unusual spelling of the word okay. People can write okay in two ways. They can write the word using just the letters o and k. Or they can write it this way. O, k, a, y. And both ways are correct. Other language experts think the word has a native American origin. The Choctaw people are one of many Native American groups. The Choctaw language has a word o k. This word means it is so. This is almost the same meaning as today's word okay. As early as 1825, Christian Bible translators used o k. in their Choctaw Bible translations. In the 20th century, US President Woodrow Wilson used the Choctaw language to sign documents as o k. Other language experts say that o k came from West Africa. Some West African languages have interjection words that sound similar to o k. For example, the word o k in the Bantu and Wolof languages or o k in the Mandi language. These words also commonly signal agreement. West African people were brought to the United States as slaves. The theory is that African slaves used these words when speaking English. After a time, the use spread to the rest of the English speaking population. No one knows which story is true. But today, o k is now one of the most common words in English. People use it all the time, everywhere. O k is now an international word. But Professor Metcalf believes that it expresses a cultural value of the United States. He told CBS News, It is strong, it is simple. People from the United States do not like complex ways of life. And o k is about as short and simple as you can get. O k. So after hearing this program, are you o k with spotlight? Or is it just o k? Can you give your o k to our programs? Or would you use another word? We are o k if you are o k. O k? Do you use the word o k? Do you use words from other languages in your language? Tell us about your experiences. You can email us at contact at spotlightenglish.com You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The writer of this program was Jen Hawkins. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again and read it on the internet at www.spotlightenglish.com This program is called How to Use the Word O K Visit our website to download our free official app for Android and Apple devices. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.