The Pascagoula democrat-star., 1885-08-14
THE oRIGIN OF 80. K.

4 SUgges an Th8t yae,rsoH Got
IAis Famous Ab6re y'a..On From
the Chcctaw.
American Magazine of History.
In the language OF the Cboctaw
Indians, one of the most frequent
ly recurring expressions is the en-
phatlc 0ke, with which an affirnla-
ton or denial is concluded. This
oke pronounced with strong ac..
cent on the last syllable) is one of
the substitutes for the copulative
verb to be, which is wanting in
Choctaw. Oke, as pronounced in
Choctaw, has exactly the same
sound as the alphabetlc pronuncia-
tion of the letters o. X. in English.
The meaning of the expression, as
nearly as it can be conveyed in En-
gllsh, is: ''That is true ; "That is
all so.0 A few examples out OF
many that might be cited, will IL
lustrate this. FThe OhOctaw In.
dian is a good fellow" is expressed
thus: Hattak api huma Chahta &C.
hukmah one, III which hattak api
huma means "Indian" (literallv,
man.body red) achukmah means
"good," and oke is the copnlative
expression, ''it is sO." Iu the Rev,
Cyrus Byington's Choctaw New
Testament the first sentence OF
Matt. 5. 13: aye are the sail Of the
earth," is: gakni in huppi huch-
CHA hOke," literally "the earth its
salt ye: that is So"
To Gen. Andrew Jackson is at
tributed the introduction OF t5e
Choctaw word into our AHC'o-
American speech. Before the var
of 1872, iu voyages up and do~u
the Mississippi and in trading ex-
peditions overland to Nashville.
Tenn, to Natchez, Miss, through
the Choctaw Nation, be was
brought into frequent communlca-
ton with the Choctaws.
Gen. Jackson, as everybody
knows, was prone to the use OF
downright aud energetic methods
of assertion. Hearing this emphat-
ic oke so frequently uttered by the
Choctaw people, he learned the
meaning conveyed by it to the
ChOctaw mind aud appropriated it,
out of hand, to his own purposes.
From him 1t passed over to the mul-
titude. This account of the origin
of o. X. has been current in the
South for mary years. lfnot true,
to say the least, ben troyatO.
No one who ever read an auto.
graph letter of Gen. JacksOn's will
easily credit the story that be was
in the habit, when be was Presi-
dent OF the United States, of en-
dOrsing, in kaltem blute, applica-
tions for office, with the letters d.
K, under the belief that these were
the proper initials for "all correct"
Jacksop WAS no scholar, but he was
not SO grossly ignorant of English
photography as to fall into u blun-
der OF that sort. He may have en-
.lorSed documents with the letters
o. X. as 4 jOcular symbol of his ia
vOlite CbOctaw expression. The
story that these letters were seri-
Ousiy intended bv him as au alb
breviafion o, ''oll kOrrect" was
probably, as Mr.. George BaucrotG
suggests, as an posteriOri invention
OF the enemy-to wit, the Wings
during the hot political contests IN
the days of the roaring '40s.
That the abbreviation o. X. was
coiued by Jackson himself aud used
by him long years before it passed
into current slang. finds curious
confirmation in an extract from the
oil court records of Sumner county,
Tenn, quoted by Parton in his
"Life of Jackson" vol. 1, p. 136.
sOct. 8. 1890, Andrew jackson,
Esq.,, proved bill of sale from
Hugh McGary to Casper Man
skier, for a negro man, which was
o. K.0 ga common Western mis-
take" adds Mr.. Parton, for 0. r.,
which means Ordered Recorded.
Hence, perhaps, the saying o. Ky
Is it not more likely that the ID.
X. of this entry was suggested by
jackson himself, as brief way Of
saying, after the Choctaw fashion,
that the claim had been legally
made outf