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发信人: gzcsl(诗亮) 整理人: roy_young(2001-06-04 14:07:23), 站内信件 |
| OK is the most successful of all Americanisms. It has invaded hundreds of other languages and been adopted by them as a word. Mencken claims that US troops deployed overseas during WWII found it already in use by Bedouins in the Sahara to the Japanese in the Pacific. It was also the fourth word spoken on the surface of the moon:
Ok一词是美国用语中最成功的一个。他已渗透到几百种其他语言中，并作为一个通用词被其他语言所采用。曼肯指出，二战期间进兵海外的美国军队发现，Ok一词当时已被撒哈拉大沙漠地区的贝督因人用来与太平洋上的日本人交谈。Ok一词也是在月球表面讲出的第四个口语词： Buzz Aldrin: Contact light. Neil Armstrong: Shutdown. Aldrin: OK. Engine stop. ACA out of Detent. Armstrong: Out of Detent. Auto. Aldrin: Mode Control, both Auto. Descent Engine Command Override, Off. Engine Arm, Off. 413 is in. Charlie Duke (Houston CapCom): We copy you down, Eagle. Armstrong: Engine arm is off ... Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed. Duke: Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. 布兹·阿尔德林：连接灯光。 尼尔·阿姆斯特朗：关闭。. 阿尔德林：OK..引擎停止。ACA制动脱离。 阿姆斯特朗：制动脱离，自动的。 阿尔德林：方式控制，双双自动。登陆引擎命令飞跃，脱开！引擎臂，脱落。４１３，进入。 查理．杜克（休斯敦Ｃａｐ通信）：我们把你拍摄下来，鹰。 阿姆斯特朗：引擎臂已脱落．．．休斯敦，这里是平静地面。鹰已登陆。 杜克：罗杰，平静。我们在地面将你们拍摄下来。你们这帮小伙子快变成蓝色的了。我们又喘过气来了。谢谢！ Despite the term's success, however, for years no one was really sure where the word came from. The origin of OK became the Holy Grail of etymology. Finally, in 1963 the Galahad of our story, Dr. Allen Walker Read of Columbia University appeared and uncovered the origin. 尽管Ok一词用得很成功，但多年来，没人确切地知道这个词是从哪儿来的。Ok的出典成了词源学梦寐以求的圣杯。最终，到了1963年，我们这个故事的主人翁，哥伦比亚大学的阿伦·沃克尔·利的博士出现了，他揭示了Ok一词的来源。 But first, some of the more popular suggestions as to the origin are as follows. These can all be dismissed because of lack of evidence or because OK predates the events that supposedly led to creation. 首先，关于Ok的来源有下列几种比较流行的意见。由于缺乏证据或由于Ok一词产生于那些可能产生该词的事情以前，这些流行的说法都可能被否定。 It stands for oll korrect, a misspelling of all correct, usually by a famous person, most often Andrew Jackson. This one comes close to the mark, but still misses it. Ok代表＂OLL Korrect＂，＂all correct＂ （完全正确）的拼写错误。这一拼写错误是由一位名人造成的，可能是安德鲁·杰克逊吧！这一说法语 与Ok一词基本相符，但还是不够准确。 It stands for Old Kinderhook, the nickname of Martin Van Buren who came from Kinderhook, New York. Old Kinderhook played a role in popularizing the term, but it is not its origin. (More on this later.) It comes from any one of a number of languages, most often the Choctaw word okeh. This explanation often involves Andrew Jackson again, but this time adopting it from the Indian language not because he was orthographically-challenged. A later president, Woodrow Wilson, favored this explanation, but he was wrong. As far as this explanation goes, it was not suggested until 1885 and no evidence exists that this, or any foreign word, is in fact the origin. Ok代表Old Kinderhook，这是一位来自纽约，金德虎克的名叫马丁·凡·布伦的人的绰号。老金德虎克，(Old Kinderhook）此人在普及这一词语中起了很大作用，但这还不是Ok的起源（以后祥述）。Ok来自多种语言中任何一种，最经常的是巧克陶（Choctaw）词okeh。这一说法常常又涉及到安德鲁·杰克逊，但这一词来自印第安语，并不是因为他音义的改变。后来一位叫伍德鲁·威尔逊的总统赞同这一说法，但是他错了。这一说法一直流行至1885年，但没有证据可以证明，Ok一词起源于任何一种外国语言。 It is an abbreviation for Oberst Kommandant, or Colonel-in-Command, used by Von Steuben or Schliessen (take your pick) during the Revolutionary War. No record of either man, or anyone until 1839, using this phrase exists. Ok是Oberst Kommandant或Colonelin-Command（指挥上校）的缩写，是革命战争时期封·斯图本或史利森（两人由你选择）所采用的。但是直到1839年，尚没有发现关于上述两人或任何其他人用过Ok一词的文字记载。 It comes from the French Aux Cayes, a port in Haiti famed for its rum. Ok来源于法语Aux Cayes，海地的一个港口名，以其朗姆酒（一种甘蔗制的糖酒）而闻名。 It stood for Orrin Kendall crackers supplied to the Union Army during the Civil War. Unfortunately for Orrin's immortality, OK was in use twenty years before the Civil War. Ok代表Orrin Kendall，一种美国国内战争期间供给联邦军队的饼干的品牌名。遗憾的是Orrin(奥林)品牌虽然流放拜师，但Ok一词国内战争20年前就开始使用了。 It stood for Obadiah Kelly, a railroad shipping clerk akin to Kilroy who initialed bills of lading. And, That it was an 1860s telegraph term for Open Key. Ok代表Obadiah Kelly，一个铁路运输职员的名字，他与首创货单的奇尔诺艾（Kilroy））名字相似。此外，Ok还是19世纪60年代电报用语Open key(开键)的缩写。 Of the above explanations, the first comes the closest to being true, but it too is false. Andrew Jackson was a notoriously poor speller. So much so that his spelling became an issue in the 1828 campaign. (Dan Quayle can take heart in the fact that he was not the first.) He is not, however, known to have ever used the expression OK or misspelled "all correct" with the two letters in question. The association of the word OK with Jackson, however, is not entirely without foundation. George W. Stimpson's Nuggets Of Knowledge, published in 1934 cites a 1790 court record from Sumner County, Tennessee in which Jackson "proved a bill of sale from Hugh McGary to Gasper Mansker, for a Negro man, which was O.K." This was probably just poor penmanship on the part of a court clerk, however. James Parton's biography of Jackson suggests that is really an illegible O.R., which was the abbreviation used for Order Recorded. 上述各种说法中，第一种最接近真实，但同样也不正确。安德鲁·杰克逊单词拼写的糟糕是出了名的。糟糕到为此地步，以致在1828年战役中成了一大问题。（丹·夸勒完全可以振作起来说他不是第一个。）然而，他不是因为用了Ok这一表达方式或者拼错了“all correct”中的两个字母而出名的。将Ok与杰克逊联系起来也不是完全没有根据的。乔治·Ｗ·史蒂姆森在1934年出版的《知识金砖》一书中曾引用了田纳西州萨纳县1970年的一份法庭记录，在此记录中杰克逊曾为一位黑人批过一份销售单，由雨果·麦克加利转给佳斯珀·曼斯克尔，批示同意就用的Ok然而，这也可能是因为法院职员糟糕的书法所致。詹姆斯·巴顿所著的杰克逊传记一书中指出，实际上那是字迹潦草的O.R.，代表Order Recorded（定单已记录）的缩写。 The incorrect spelling explanation is the correct one. Although the part about Andrew Jackson is almost certainly apocryphal. Allen Walker Read of Columbia University solved the mystery in a series of articles in American Speech in 1963-64. In 1839, a "frolicsome group," as Read describes them, called the Anti-Bell-Ringing Society in Boston started using the term to stand for oll korrect, a facetious misspelling. 关于拼写不正确的说法是正确的。虽然其中关于安德鲁·杰克逊的部分是不足凭信的。哥伦比亚大学的阿伦·沃克尔·利得从1963到1964年在他一系列的《美国口语》论文中揭示了Ok一词的奥秘。正为利得所讲的，1839年，波士顿一个称作“反对铃儿响叮当协会”的嬉戏团体开始启用Ok一词来代替“Oll Korrect”这一滑稽的错误拼写。 The first recorded use of OK was in the spring of 1839 by the Boston Morning Post: Ok有记录的用法首次出现在1839年春季的波士顿晨报上，现摘录如下： (23 March) "He of the Journal...would have the "contribution box," et ceteras, o.k.--all correct--and cause the corks to fly, like sparks, upward." (26 March) "Had the pleasure of taking these 'interesting strangers' by the hand, and wishing them a speedy passage to the Commercial Emporium, They were o.k." (10 April) "It is hardly necessary to say to those who know Mr. Hughes, that his establishment will be found to be 'A. No. One'--that is, O.K.--all correct." （3月23日）“作为报人的他....将拥有一个“奉献专栏”等等，Ok---完全正确，他将使火花塞飞起，发出火花，直冲霄汉。” （3月26日）“很荣幸能握着“有趣的陌生人”的手，祝愿他们迅速地通过商业中心。他们真的OK。” （4月10日）“对认识雨果先生的人几乎没有必要说，他所创办的协会是第一流的。那真的是OK，——完全正确，无话可说。” By July of that year, the term spread south to New York, and quickly gained wide acceptance: 到那一年的七月，OK一词流传到南方，传到纽约，很快得到公众的接受： (27 July, Evening Tattler) "These 'wise men from the East'...are right...to play at bowls with us as long as we are willing to set ourselves up, like skittles, to be knocked down for their amusement and emolument. OK! all correct!" （7月27日：《聊天晚报》）“这些‘东方来的聪明人’......是正确的...他们在与我们玩滚木球游戏。只要我们愿意站立着，像那些木柱似的，我们就会被他的乐趣以及酬金而击倒。OK——完全正确！” The next year, 1840, New York Democrats formed an organization called the OK Club. The name of the club stood for Old Kinderhook as Martin Van Buren was running for reelection that year. Since the term was in use prior to the formation of the OK Club, it seems likely that the name of the club was due in part due to the phrase, not vice versa. The activities of the OK Club, however, undoubtedly contributed to the popularity of OK even if not providing the origin. 第二年，1840年， 纽约民主人士组成了一个称为“OK俱乐部”的组织。这一俱乐部的名称代表了Old Kinderhook（即老金德.虎克），由于那一年马丁·凡·布伦又一次参加竞选。由于OK一词在“OK俱乐部”成立之前就已在用，所以俱乐部名称倒可能是因为OK一词而产生的 ，反之倒不是如此，即不是因为有“OK俱乐部”，才产生了OK一词。然而，OK俱乐部的活动无疑对OK一词的普及起了很大作用，尽管它没有提供OK一词的来源。 The variant A-OK first appeared during NASA's Mercury program of the 1960s. It may be a combination of A-One with OK. Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff, however, claims that it was originally used by Shorty Powers, the "Voice of Mercury Control," in radio transmissions because the "A" sound cut through static better than the "O". OK的变体“A-OK”最早出现在20世纪60年代美国航空航天局的水星计划中。它可能是A-one（第一）与OK的结合。然而汤姆·沃尔夫在《货真价实》一文中指出：A-OK最初是由肖特·泊沃尔斯使用的。用在“水星控制之声”，在无线电发送中，“A”音穿透静电的能力要比“O”音强。 ---- 
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