|
The word is “OK,” the most frequently spoken all-purpose expression on the planet — and it celebrated its 176th anniversary on March 23 this year. “OK”是全球使用频率最高的、最通用的词语，今年3月23日，它已经176岁了。 The term was born during a 19th-century abbreviation craze and went on to international renown, with its own hand gesture, even. “OK”诞生于19世纪的缩写潮中，后来跟它的手势一起红遍了全球。 Last year, one New Yorker carried the linguistic torch. Henry Nass, a 64-year-old retired English tutor from the Upper West Side, had spent the last few weeks handing out cards championing “Global OK Day” in advance of the coming anniversary. 去年，一个纽约人举着这个语言学上的耀眼火炬奔走宣传，在周年纪念日来临之前，美国纽约市上西区64岁的退休英语教师亨利·纳斯已经连续几周在街头派发倡导 “国际OK日”的卡片。 “No matter where people are from they use the word ‘OK,’ but they don’t know where it comes from,” said Nass. “The problem is because it’s just, you know, OK.” 纳斯说：“世界各地的人都会说OK，但他们并不知道这个词语的来源，原因可能是这个词真的太普及了。” The word is OK, perhaps, but its history is definitely better than average. Late etymologist Allen Walker Read traced the two-letter word to 1839, when editors at the Boston Morning Post signed off on articles as “all correct” with a winking “OK” or “oll korrect.” | 
