Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for March 17, 2014
Transcript:
Ripley's Believe It or Not! The word O.K. was invented by the Boston Morning Post newspaper in 1839. It was short for "oll correct," an alternative spelling for "all correct." Polar bears are half Irish! They are descended from bears that lived in Ireland in the last ice age. The Cincinnati Zoo has employed a sniffing beagle to detect if the zoo's polar bears are pregnant.
Templo S.U.D. over 10 years ago
O.K., what does a pregnant polar bear smell like anyway? And I thought only snakes, not polar bears, weren’t present in Ireland due to Saint Patricius.
Sidhekin over 10 years ago
That looks inkorrect.
juicebruce over 10 years ago
SOoooo that is why dogs like to smell butts !
Fred Kuechenmeister over 10 years ago
Believe the “correct” miss-spelling is “OLL KORRECT” a fad that swept the country for a few years… also think there are a number of other sources for “OK”, including a rail yard worker who checked boxcar bearings and chalked his initials over each wheel “OK”
Simon_Jester over 10 years ago
Another one of Snoopy’s fantasies?
dr_dolittle_rwc over 10 years ago
OK dehn, dat sowng karek!
Guilty Bystander over 10 years ago
I guess it’s safer for zookeepers to send the beagle in than administering the EPT test themselves.
louieglutz over 10 years ago
you can tell they’re irish, they turn green in zoos.
John W Kennedy Premium Member over 10 years ago
“Oll Korrect” was one of a whole collection of silly misspellings that were popular for a while, just like “I can haz cheezburger” or “ketteh” or “teh”, today. Martin van Buren, known as “Old Kinderhook” is the reason “OK” is remembered while the rest are forgotten.
tuslog64 over 10 years ago
And the bear ate the dog?
Eric Provencher over 10 years ago
Ripley’s once mentionned that “OK” came from the “0 Killed” mentions on battle reports during the civil war.
GeorgeJohnson over 10 years ago
Why not just call it “AC”? Or “acee”?Seems kinda silly to do that.
Charlie Fogwhistle over 10 years ago
The polar bear fossil found at Kew Bridge in London (the Irish bear) is only 70,000 years old, while a 100,000 year old polar bear fossil was found in the Arctic north of Norway. In any case, polar bears descended from the brown bear, which seems to have come from Eurasia.
Kali39 over 10 years ago
I read somewhere that “OK” started with Andrew Jackson, then they jokingly added a footnote to the effect that Jackson may not have been able to spell worth a darn, but even he knew not to spell “All Correct” as “Oll Korrect”! :-)
Meh~tdology, fka Pepelaputr over 10 years ago
O.K. is a pair of initials with a multitude of uses — not to mention a number of different explanations of how it came to be. An upcoming anniversary is the occasion for Mo Rocca to investigate:Time for a little word history, OK? http://www.cbsnews.com/news/time-for-a-little-word-history-ok/
rqs1123 over 10 years ago
CBS did a thing on this expression and say that it is Martin Van Buren who coined the phrase. Find it hard to believe that both of you are correct.