Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-08-30
THE ORIGIN OF :. TX"
1@E FAMOUS Aeeaev1ArIoN eaoa.
isLY CAME FROM THE chocrAw.
Anire~ Jackson the First to Gee the N.
Pression-Translatiea of . Choctsv
Word-Extract from IN Old
Court Record
rAnneric., Mara.in. o. u;.....,

lAnisTica, Magazine Of Historyl
In TIE language of the Choctaw Indians
one OF tie most frequently recurring ex
pre- Ions Is the emphatic oke, with which
an affirmation or denial Il concluded hi,
ok, pronounced with strong accent on tn
last syilable) Is ons OF the substitute, for thu
I copulative verb to ts' which /, wanting IN
/ Choctaw. Ole, as pronouncsd in Choctav.
Las exactly tie same sound as the aIpha.
tetic pronunciation Of the O. K in English
Inc meaning Of the expression, as nearly
a 1t can be conveyed in English. Is: shat
Is true; that is all So" A few examples
out OF many tia. might b cited, will illus.
trate thiS. Ths Choctaw Indian il a good
Fellow l. expressed thus: Halifax api huma
Chahta ackukrnah oke. in which hattsk api
huma means Indian" literally, man-body.
rei), ac5ukmah means good and Okla is
the copl.ative EXPIRE SION. ut Is sos In the
Rev. Cyrus Byington's Choctaw New Tesla.
ment the first sentencs Of Matt 5. Is: sYs
are the salt of the earth" is: gakni in huppi
huchchia hoke. literally: sthe earth it; ALT
ye; that is So"
To Gen. Andrew jackson is attributed the
lntoiuetion OF the Choctaw word into our
io-American speech. Before the war Of
loi2. IN voyages up and down the Missis
sippi and In trading expeditions overland
from Nashville. Tenn. to Natchsz. Miss
through the Chocta " nation, he was bronpbs
into frequent communication with the
Ckoctaws.
Gen. Jackson. IS everybod knows. was
prone to the uss Of downright and energetic
methods Of assertion. Hearing this en-
phatic oks so frequently uttered by the
Choctaw people. he learned ths meaning
conveyed by it to the Choctaw mind and
appropriated 1t, out Of hand, to his own
purpo'eS From him 1t passed over to the
multitude. This account OF the origin of o.
n has been current in the south for mauv |
year, II not trus, it is, to say the least. |
len irovato
Nd one wao has ever read an auto1Yaph |
letter Of Cen Jackson's will easily credit the |
sfor: that lie was in the habit, when he was
president of tie United States, OF indorsing.
IN kaltem blats. applications for Office with
the letters o. Il, under the belief that thsss
We're the proper initials for @a,l correct
Jack on was no scholar, but hs was not SO
grossly isnoran. Of English photography as
TO fall into a blunder Of that sort. He NAV
have inao-sed documents with tho letters
U. r. as ocular symbol Of his fayorite
Chcciaw expression Too story that .,ess
letters were seriously intended BY him as an
of -Jll korrect7 was probably,
a Mr.. George Bancroft suggests, an a
20 tar.ori invention Of the enemy-to wit,
The hiS during the hot political contests
N the days OF tine roaring 1O'a
That the ebbreviation o. X. was coined by
Jackson himself and used by him long years
before it passed into current slang, finds
'urlous confirmation in an extract from tho
'sd court records of Sumner county, Tenn,
quoted by Parton in his Life Of Jackson
Tol /. page 1856: .
October 9. 1870 Andrew Jackson, E.q,
'roved bill OF sale from Hugh McGary to
Jasper Mansker, for a negro man. which
va, U. h la common western mistake
dds Mr.. Parton. "for O. R, which means
'rdered Recorded. Hence, perhapa the
aging o. XII
1t l. not more likely that the O. K. Of this
ntry was suyge tsi by jackson himself. a.
brief way Of saying. after the C.ioctaw =
a shion that tbs claim had been legally
lale outl