“OK” is used in every country in the world EXCEPT Spain…

As a native English speaker, having lived in Spain for 1/3 of a year now, one of the things I have noticed about the Spanish language is the lack of “OK´s” I hear in daily communication. On the rare occasion that one does crop up, I can´t help but think that the user sounds rather awkward. Little research was required before I found an article that shed a little light on the subject. The reporter explains that “OK” has infiltrated every language (Chinese, Russian, German etc.) except for Spanish. Although, the word is understood, it is nowhere near as commonly used as it is in the UK for example.

“OK” is a strange word – it looks and sounds like an abbreviation for something. Despite its oddness, “OK” has gradually taken over the world. The letters “O”, “K” and “A” are present in almost all languages so that is one reason for its popularity. Moreover, “OK” provided people with the opportunity to express agreement without having to offer an opinion. So where did this strange little word come from? Although nobody is entirely sure, there are a couple of explanations listed below that seem more feasible or are at least more interesting than the rest. The first explanation is that in 1839, on the 2^nd page of the Boston Morning Post, someone mistakenly used the letters “O” and “K” together to signify “all correct”; the irony being that neither of the words had been given the correct initial. The second, most widespread explanation is that “OK” actually stands for 0 Killed. During the American Civil War, when the troops returned from a mission, they held up the "0 killed" sign if all had gone well and there were no casualties.

In the English language, the word “OK” can be used in a variety of different contexts: “Are you OK?”; “I’m going now, OK?”; “My boss “OK’d” the project; and simply “OK”. In each of the aforesaid statements, the word “OK” takes on a slightly different meaning. For example, in the first sentence, the speaker wants to know if somebody else is happy and/or well; in the second sentence, the speaker is asking for approval; in the third sentence, the speaker is referring to a third party giving their approval; and in the final sentence, the speaker is simply making an acknowledgment.

Arguably, when Spanish speakers employ the word “OK”, they do so only when making an acknowledgment – as an alternative to Yes/Sí. Assumedly, this is why there are less “OK’s” mixed in with the Spanish dialect, because there are less contexts where the Spanish people deem its usage appropriate. That and the fact that they have their very own “OK” substitute: “vale”. Spaniards use this word perhaps even more heavily than the English use “OK”. All this begs the question: “why has “OK” not infiltrated the Spanish language to the same degree as so many other worldly languages?” It’s not because the Spanish are defending the purity of their language, that’s for sure.

If you’ve read previous articles published on this blog, then you’ll know that even the uncompromising Spanish Royal Academy have had to make changes to their dictionary in recent times. One of the newest additions to the “Diccionario de la Real Academia Española” is the verb “tuitear” meaning “to tweet”. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the verb “to tweet” can be defined in the following way: “a posting made on the social networking service Twitter: he started posting tweets via his mobile phone to let his parents know he was safe”.

One of the aims of the Spanish Royal Academy is as follows: “to exercise a progressive up-to-date maintenance of the formal language”. It is surprising then, that the Spanish word “vale”, as it is used in modern day Spanish society, is not defined in the “Diccionario de la Real Academia Española”. The word “valer” meaning “to be worth” or “to value” is defined but not “vale” itself. The word “vale” is a relatively recent addition to the Spanish language: fifty years ago, it was unheard of. In other Spanish speaking countries such as Mexico, the word “vale” isn’t used even today. Instead, they simply say “Esta bien” or “OK”.

So in conclusion, I can say that, strictly speaking, “Vale” is not a real Spanish word in that the current, up to date definition does not appear in the “Diccionario de la Real Academia Española”. Furthermore, although the word is used somewhat, if only in the last half a century, it has not infiltrated the language to the same degree as Chinese, Russian or German. If an English person did not speak a word of the aforesaid languages, they would be able to understand, at the very least, a handful of “OK’s”. The Spanish use “vale” much more frequently and when they do say “OK”, it is usually when making an acknowledgment.