SEC challenge 2003

New contest on SEC ! Welcome all contestants ! A range of interesting prizes are waiting for you !



Every week , there are 2 questions for you. The questions may be about general background, language, literature, culture, geography, natural sciences, history , etc. They can be difficult , can be easy to answer. We examiners will choose a winner that has the most correct and perfect answer for a week . In fact , answers with clear and specific explanations will have more chance to win . Winners will be received a very lovely present at SEC monthly meetings.

Board of examiners : Dirosemimi - NangSaiGon - Pickou - Htung.





Dimi


Được dirosemimi sửa chữa / chuyển vào 18:39 ngày 21/01/2003

WEEK 1 ( from Jan 20 to Jan 26 )
Question 1 : What is the origin of the word â?o OK â?o ?
Question 2 : â?o eat soup â?o and â?o drink soup â?o â?" which is correct ?

Dimi

Okie
Drink soup
mess with the best,
die with the rest

I agree with zerocool . May i have a present ?

Gửi lại đây một quãng đời con gái
Một nửa hồn và một khối tơ vương .

1/ Origin of OK
OK - first attested 1839, only survivor of a slang fad in Boston and New York c.1838-9 for abbreviations of common phrases with deliberate, jocular misspellings (cf. K.G. for "no go," as if spelled "know go"); in this case, "oll korrect." Further popularized by use as an election slogan by the O.K. Club, New York boosters of Democratic president Martin VanBuren's 1840 re-election bid, in allusion to his nickname Old Kinderhook, from his birth in the N.Y. village of Kinderhook. VanBuren lost, the word stuck. The noun is first attested 1841; the verb 1888. Spelled out as okeh, 1919, by Woodrow Wilson, supposedly on model of a Cherokee word; but this was ousted quickly by okay after the appearance of that form in 1929. Okey-doke is student slang first attested 1932.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It comes from the French Aux Cayes, a port in Haiti famed for its rum.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The first recorded use of OK was in the spring of 1839 by the Boston Morning Post :
(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."
By July of that year, the term spread south to New York, and quickly gained wide acceptance:
(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!"
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.
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".
2/ drink soup

Love me, let me know
Don't love me, let me go...plz (~_*)

2/ eat soup or drink soup is ok. However, "have some soup" is much more common in either speaking or writing.

1. Ok [Abbreviation of oll korrect, slang respelling of all correct.]
*** from dictionary.com ***
Word History: OK is a quintessentially American term that has spread from English to many other languages. Its origin was the subject of scholarly debate for many years until Allen Walker Read showed that OK is based on a joke of sorts. OK is first recorded in 1839 but was probably in circulation before that date. During the 1830s there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses. Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation for all correct, the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren's 1840 campaign for reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently suitable for political slogans. That same year, an e***orial referring to the receipt of a pin with the slogan O.K. had this comment: â?ofrightful letters... significant of the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, old Kinderhook, as also the rallying word of the Democracy of the late election, â?~all correctâ?T.... Those who wear them should bear in mind that it will require their most strenuous exertions... to make all things O.K.â?
2.eat or drink soup? haha for me, I eat it, all the time

ANSWER KEY FOR 2 QUESTIONS OF WEEK 1 (Jan20-Jan26)
Question 1 : What is the origin of the word ?o OK ?o ?
There are several suggestion for this one, including :
Via Black American English from words in various West African languages meaning " all right , yes indeed" etc; Choctaw oke or okeh " it is so "; Greek ola kala "it is good" ; Scots och aye "oh yes" ; French aux Cayes "from Cayes" - a port in Haiti well known for the quality of its rum ; the initials of Obediah Kelly , a railway freight agent who initialled lading documents he had checked.
The one best supported by documentary evidence is that it comes from orl korrekt " all correct" - one of a number of similar humorous misspellings which went through a brief period of popularity in the late 1830s .
In the 1840s presidential elections O.K was adopted as an election slogan by supporters of the Democratic candidate Martin Van Buren , who was born in Kinderhook in New York State. He was nicknamed "Old Kinderhook " and his supporters formed the Old Kinderhook , or OK , Club . The term caught on almost immediately in the USA , although it was not common in Britain until the early 20th century.
A personal favourite among all the theories we have been sent is that OK comes from kayo (from K.O.) meaning "knock -out" - if a boxer had not been kayoed he was O.K. Unfortunately this is easily disproved by the dates; the first date for kayo is more than 80 years later than OK.
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Question 2 : ?o eat soup ?o and ?o drink soup ?o ?" which is correct ?
Either ! It may depend on the soup : you may drink a clear consommé even if you use a bowl and spoon , but you may feel that you have to eat a thick soup full of large vegetables chunks, even if it is in a mug.

Dimi

Of all the participants of week 1 , Saigonbynight is the best . In the 1st question, her answer is quite perfect , but her answer In the 2nd one is not completely correct. However, she's still the best participant of week 1. We, SEC moderators, decided to choose her for the 1st prize.
CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU, SAIGONBYNIGHT !!!
( Please show your attendance in SEC new year meeting , a lovely present is waiting for you).

Dimi

QUESTIONS FOR WEEK 2 ( Jan 27 - Feb 9 ) :
Question 1 : Is there any difference between a PUB and an INN ?
Question 2 : I often read " the majority of people are " , but if majority is a singular word , shouldn't it be " the majority of people is " ?

Dimi

Được dirosemimi sửa chữa / chuyển vào 22:12 ngày 03/02/2003