The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-09-19

A Suggestion That jackson Got His
| Famous Authorization From the Choc-
taw.
In the language of the Choctaw
Indians. one of the most frequently re-
curing expressions is the emphatic oke,
with which an affirmation or denial is
concluded. This oke pronounced with
strong accent on the last syllable) is
one of the substitutes for the copulative
verb to be, which is wanting in Choc-
taw. Oke, as pronounced in Choctaw,
has exactly the same sound as the
| alphabetic pronunciation of the letters
o. X. in English.
The meaning of expression. as nearly
| as it can be conveyed in English. is
THAT is true; That is all So" A few
examples. out of many that might be
cited. will illustrate this. 1.-THE Choc-
taw Indian is good fellow" is ex-
pressed thus: Halifax api huma Chahts
achukmah oke. in which halifax APP
huma means Indian" literally, man
body-red.) achukmah means good
and oke is the copulative expression. I'll
is So" In the Rev. Cyrus Byington'
Choctaw New Testament the first SEN
tence of Matt. 8, 10: aye are the sal,
of the earth. is: gakni in huppi huch-
CHA hoke. literally: 1.-THE earth il sal
ye; that is So"
To General Andrew jackson is at
tributed the introduction of the Choctaw
word into our Anglo-American speech
Before the war of 1912. in voyages W
and down the Mississippi and in trad
ing expeditions overland from Nash
vile, Tenn, to Natchez, Mss, through
the Choctaw Nation. he was brought
into frequent communication with the
| Choctaws
General jackson, as everybody knows
was prone to the use of downright ano
energetic methods OF assertion. Hear
ing this emphatic oke so frequently
uttered by the Choctaw people. he
learned the meaning conveyed by it t.
the Choctaw mind and appropriated it
out Of hand. to his own purposes. From
him it passed over TO the multitude
This account of the origin of O. X. has
been current in the South for man,
years, If not true, it is, to say tbs
least, ben trouato.
No one who has ever read an auto
graph letter of General Jackson's will
easily credit the story that he was in
the habit, when he was President of the
United Stanes, of indoors ng, in kalten
Blute, applications for office, with the
letters O. K, under the belief that these
were the proper initials for "all cor
rect" jackson was no scholar. but he
was not so grossly ignorant of English
photography as to fall into blunder Of
that sort. He may have Endorsed docu
ments with the letters o. X. as jocu
lar symbol Of his favorite Choctaw
expression. The story that these letters
were seriously intended by him as an
abbreviat;on Of "oll korrect'' was prob
ably, as Mr.. George Bancroft suggests,
an posteriori invention of the enemy
to wit, the Whigs-durng the no,
political contests in the days of the roar.
ing '40's.
That the abbreviation o. X. was
coined by Jackson himself and used by
him long years before it passed into
current slang. finds curious confirmat on
in an extract from the old court
records of Sumner County, Tenn,
quoted by Parton in his Life of Jack.
son." vol. 1. p. 1856:
October 6, 1890. Andrew Jackson,
ESQ, proved bill of sale from Hug
McGary to Casper Mansker, for negro
man, which was 0. X" IA common
Western mistake" adds Mr. Parton,
''for o. R.. which means Ordered Re.
corded. Hence, perhaps, the saying o.
XII
Is it not more likely that the o. K Of
this entry was suggested by Jackson
himself, as brief way of saying. after
the Choctaw fashion. that the claim had
been legally made outp-Anserican
Magazine of History.