Attn: Grammar Police - Help!

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Unique

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OK, Ok, ok, and okay. Which is better? Does it matter? Formal/informal. Transcribing conversations. Pick one and stay with it throughout the document, of course - But - are there standards?

Anyone?
 
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reph

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"O.K.," "OK," or "okay." To my eye, the last is more formal, though all are low on the formality ladder. The American Heritage Dictionary discusses usage for this term but doesn't say which spellings are preferred in which contexts.
 

Unique

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OK, thanks, reph. I knew I could count on you.

I find that I usually use OK if it comes at the opening of a sentence, but I use okay if it is in the middle. I just wondered if one were preferred over the other because I want to stay consistent throughout the document.

:Shrug:Guess, I'll let my 'fingers do the talking' and sort it out in proof.
 

alleycat

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Just an opinion...I would go with "okay" unless it was a humorous or very informal piece of writing.

Have you checked The Chicago Manual of Style? I have a copy but I don't have it handy at the moment. I'm sure the usage of "okay" would be in it.

ac
 

Julie Worth

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I tend to use ok sometimes, but when I'm done, I find and replace them with okay. You can't go wrong that way.
 

three seven

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alleycat said:
Have you checked The Chicago Manual of Style?
Before doing this, first check whether you're American.

To answer the question, I say 'Ok' at the beginning of a sentence, and 'ok' in the middle. Or at the end, obviously.
 

Cathy C

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You indicated that you're transcribing the conversation --- I presume from a tape of two (or more) people talking? In that case, I would make certain that there is no possible misunderstanding. Use the spelled out "okay."


Okay? ;)
 

Unique

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Thanks all! I am transcribing conversations. I think I'll use the 'Find' function and change my OK's to okay. Sometimes it comes up quite a lot; other times not at all. This time it came up often enough for me to say, 'Hmmm...'

I only transcribe from English into English, but not all of my clients are American. It makes life interesting.
 

katiemac

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A non-native English speaker may not necessarily misunderstand "ok," just think it's a different word from "okay." Especially if they're used to seeing the latter.

My two cents on the matter: I can't stand reading "OK" or "O.K." I suppose it might work for young adult and children's novels, but I lean on the side of full spelling.
 

alleycat

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three seven said:
Before doing this, first check whether you're American.

Good point, but was it necessary?
 

Unique

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Wait! Don't go hijacking my thread! (LOL - go ahead, I probably do it, too)


But seriously, I understand Three's point that the Chicago Manual of Style wouldn't be 'the' source to check if I weren't American, and especially if my clients weren't American.

Good grief! Who do you call when the grammar police are starting the riot?
 

Rabe

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three seven said:
I'm not trying to be contentious here, but how can you possibly misunderstand 'ok'?

Investigator: So, where did you find the body?
Suspect: (garbled) Ok.
Investigator: Oh kay? You mean, Oklahoma?
Suspect: No, no, check it dogg, straight up it was like this, okay?
Investigator: Ok? The OK Corral?
Suspect: You straight frontin fool?
Investigator: Okay, not the OK Corrall. Okey Street?
Suspect: Man, you straight up whack, shnizzle! I said it 'ohtay'
Investigator: Oh, Tay? Taye Diggs?
Suspect: Yeah dogg, it was Taye, he done told me where I could find the body. He came to me, like y'know, in one of them visions. I axed him where to find the girl and he told me.
Investigator: Taye Diggs told you where to find the body. I think we're going by here a long time.
Suspect: Whack dogg, whack!

Nope, can't understand where ANYBODY could POSSIBLY misunderstand Ok when it's being read on the page. Or being heard. Since, y'know, transcripts are usually written documents of verbal communication. And should one person actually misunderstand, for whatever reason, what was actually said, then the transcriber needs to understand that as well. Though with "okay" there is less confusion as to what is actually meant when it could be ambigious.

But hey, I like your point. Nobody could ever confuse the two.

Rabe...
 

Unique

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Oh, Rabe -

You gave me a good giggle early in the morning. Thanks. <snort>
 

alleycat

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three seven said:
If it was a good point, why are you challenging it? Never mind. Give me one good reason why it wasn't and I'll tell you exactly why it was.
Because it was Unique's question and I knew she was American. I assumed any one else interested in the question would disregard my comment if it didn't apply to where they hoped to publish.

However, you did bring up a valid point, so I'll change my original post to:

Have you checked The Chicago Manual of Style or other standard reference applicable to your locale and your type of writing?*

*Since even in the US, the Chicago Manual is often considered more applicable to fiction and the AP Guide to non-fiction.

I hope that clears up any mis-understanding. Sorry, Unique if I helped hijack your thread. :-")

ac
 
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Unique

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No problemo, Alleycat. I like to see where the threads end up....

Most of my work is non-fiction. The AP Manual is available at the library, so I use that when I need to -

I don't have the time to do much fiction (time to let the imagination run free) so that horse stays in the barn most of the time. sad, very sad.
 

alleycat

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Most of mine is fiction which is why I jumped to the idea of checking the Chicago Manual. Actually, I take the thing off the shelf only as a last resort since I know it'll probably refer me to 18 different pages ("Okay, OK, O.K., 43, 56, 87, 123, 222, 459...") and I'll probably end up more confused than when I started.

It was an interesting question, Unique. I'd never really given it much thought.

ac
 
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reph

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The Chicago manual pertains to academic nonfiction primarily, because that's what the University of Chicago Press publishes.
 

Jamesaritchie

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OKAY

Technically, any form of Okay is fine, and may even be different words that mean the same thing.

The only problem with Ok is that some people may have a brief mental flash of Oklahoma, which is breviated OK.

O.K. is the one that seems to confuse most people. It confuses me. What does the "O" stand for?

The one that never seems to confuse readers is "Okay," but use the one you like. You'll be correct.
 

three seven

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"Dave, can you hear me? Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Calm down Judy, I'm small, dry and dusty and shaped a like a foam finger. I'm bordered by Kansas and Texas to the North and South, and Arkansas to the East. I have a population of 3.45 million and am best-known as the eponymous setting of a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical."

"Oh, thank God..."


;)
 

Perks

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"Dave, can you hear me? Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Calm down Judy, I'm small, dry and dusty and shaped a like a foam finger. I'm bordered by Kansas and Texas to the North and South, and Arkansas to the East. I have a population of 3.45 million and am best-known as the eponymous setting of a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical."

"Oh, thank God..."

OK, ok, okay, that may be the funniest thing I've read since 'The Gun Seller.' Having been born in Oklahoma, I may just have to print that out and hang it on the wall.


The only problem with Ok is that some people may have a brief mental flash of Oklahoma, which is breviated OK.

Believe me when I say that very few people outside of the Great State of Oklahoma ever give it a thought. So, according to Three Seven, you're only jeopardizing three and half million potential readers. Out of six billion, a mere pittance.
 
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