Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 10:12:29 -0500 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: "O. K." again; "Missoury" again O. K. Just a few new items. Allan Metcalf said this was new to him. It's from the Chicago Daily Tribune, "A LINE O' TYPE OR TWO," part 1, pg. 12, col. 3, 1 June 1957: Sir: Here is the truth about O. K. In Boston about 1810 there was a baker named Otto Kimmel. He was very proud of his vanilla cookies, and the best ones he would ship down the Atlantic coast. These were stamped with his initials. Hence the term O. K. for anything that is perfect. Frank Bains This is from the Hampden Federalist (Mass.), 30 November 1815, pg. 3, col. 1: (...) I am mistaken, or many shops will ere long, exhibit to their customers the welcome sight of O. P. _old prices_. (...) I don't know if Allan has WWII's "Okay Joe," but the February 2-7, 1942 Scholastic advertises that "'OKAY' JOE JENKINS HAS WHAT IT TAKES!" and "'OKAY' JOE READS (various columns) IN _SCHOLASTIC_." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------- MISSOURY Donald Lance has probably collected these, but various writers avoided the problem altogether by using the spelling Mizzoury instead of Missouri. In the Long Branch (NJ) Record of 6 July 1900, pg. 2, cols. 2-3, is a story taken from the Home Journal (NY) called "Missoury Heleny," by Juliette M. Babbitt. She probably meant to say Mizzoury.