Is advancing age affecting my hearing whilst listening to TV or have Americans really started saying: "m'kay" instead of "okay"? **************************************************** 12-08-02, 04:48 AM Lighteningrodd While I am not aware of a new trend or variation in saying "okay", here in the U.S. it certainly is possible. In years past, I have heard some use the shortened version by just saying "k".
Something else as well. In different regions of the U.S., people have noticeable distinctive speech patterns, otherwise refered to as a different accent. Perhaps this could be a possibility or "mkay" could be confined to a particular region of the U.S.
12-08-02, 08:35 AM juanruiz I may be mistaken about this, but I believe "mk" is a combination of Hmmmm and OK, reflecting thought about something and then immediate assent.
12-08-02, 08:59 AM JerseyTomater The only place I have heard m'kay is on the cartoon show 'South Park'. roll eyes I think the creators of the show are Canadian, maybe it's a Canadian trend?
12-08-02, 09:30 AM Texan-In-Exile I've always heard barbarisms of OK. Maybe it is a regional thing.
Especially lately I've heard 'K a lot too. Maybe people are just getting too lazy to talk?
12-08-02, 07:32 PM Katanya2000 You ARE hearing m'kay. It was a phrase which gained popularity because of Mr. Garrison off of the show South Park, and is trickling into that dreadful TV slang perpetuated by people on shows like Rikki Lake and ANYTHING on the WB. Eventually it may take it's place in modern American speech along side other such beauties like "You go Girl!" and "Woot!" and of course "Da Bomb!"
-wants to know why all the people her age sound like mindless TV-worshipping parrots- Katanya
12-08-02, 10:30 PM newnickname P.G. Wodehouse occasionally had some of his (Eton and Oxford) characters say "'myes" - signifying, I think, the kind of thoughtful assent Juanruiz describes.
'M-kay' isn't any easier to say than 'OK'. 'OK' can be pronounced with many different intonations to signify 'yes', 'yes, but', 'if you must' and so on. 'M-kay' must mean something like 'well, yes'. I don't see it as lazy, barbaric or particularly American.
12-09-02, 02:58 AM Monsterquizzer Well, it may not be particularly American, but I've certainly never heard anyone British say: "M'kay". One suspects, therefore, that it must be North American at least. Indeed there was a past time when upper-class English types used 'm' as a sort of prefix to 'yes', as it fitted well with the drawl they affected then, but that seems to have long gone. Actually, I first got the impression "m'kay" was American by listening to the actress who plays the sister in the American TV serial 'Six Feet Under'. I wouldn't swear she starts with 'm', but it doesn't sound much like 'o' either. I have since heard it on 'South Park', so - as several responses here suggest - that is probably the source. Canada again, eh?
12-12-02, 05:19 PM Sarai The creators of South Park are from Colorado, USA.
I've heard "m'kay" - not "mmm, 'kay," but m'kay. I'm from the West, so maybe it's our fault. M'kay?
smile
12-13-02, 03:12 AM Monsterquizzer It's certainly m'kay with me, Sarai. I'm going to have to look at the credits next time the TV series of 'South Park' appears in the UK. (All I've ever seen of it was the film, which was puerile but vaguely entertaining.) The film certainly was all about 'Canada good, America bad', so I simply accepted that it was Canadian in origin, as was suggested above. Now we have Colorado in the frame! Wherever...I still quite like "m'kay".
12-13-02, 10:19 PM cattywampus Is that why they can't seem to grasp the difference between "its" (possessive) and "it's" (contraction of "it is)?
Catty (gotcha!) razz
12-14-02, 12:35 PM sonnet26 I will confirm for you that Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, are indeed from my home state of Colorado. More on them and the show at South Park - Behind the Scenes .
Personally, I've never said m'kay; I do however use the shorthand "k" in Instant Messaging for expediency's sake. I generally use complete English words, except for effect, in my every-day speech. k? wink
12-14-02, 02:17 PM babthrower Cheese, you guys, isn't it just a contraction of "Mmmm, okay"?
"Mmmm" seems to convey the message 'I'm thinking. Give me a second."
e.g.
"Can I borrow your car?"
"MmmmNo."
12-14-02, 08:56 PM jusork One more thing. It’s not Mr. Garrison who says it, it’s Mr. Mackey, the school counselor.
The reason some people say things from shows is because it’s fun to say. That’s why they always fade because it’s not as funny after each person in the world has had the chance to say it once. I don't think even most of the people who say it got it from South Park or think of it the same way as anyone else.
Oh, it's coming on in less than 5 minutes!
12-15-02, 03:13 AM Monsterquizzer Bab, I don't think your idea, which Juanruiz suggested earlier, really holds up. Even on my very brief acquaintance with 'South Park', as outlined above, I can assure you that the School Counsellor was not pondering before coming up with a positive answer to an earlier question. Indeed, he was the one putting the point. I obviously can't remember the exact words, but it was along the lines of: "This is what we're going to do, m'kay?" Now that isn't really a question (Yeah, yeah...I know it is a question!) and it certainly isn't a response following consideration. [Thanks for the website link, Sonnet.]
12-15-02, 12:04 PM newnickname '...Hmmmm?', '...eh?', '...huh?','...alright?', '...OK?' or even (P.G. again) '...what?' are all long-established tags which make statements into questions. All that has happened here, maybe, is the combining of 'hmmmm?' and 'OK?'. It's not particularly lazy or barbaric, although of course it belongs to spoken rather than written English.
12-15-02, 02:28 PM babthrower When a sloppy and undefined term enters colloquial use, who knows where it will go?
We seem to have agreed, above, that 'okay' or 'O.K.' basically means that something is correct or acceptable.
"It's okay to shoot the dog."
Yet we use it as an introductory exclamation now:
"Okay, you guys, come to order now."
So I maintain that "m'kay" likely began its shady history on the wrong side of the bed as 'mmm' + 'okay'.
12-16-02, 03:37 AM Monsterquizzer If you go back to my original question, you'll see that I didn't really ask about the origin of "m'kay", though there have been several replies - interesting in themselves - on that. I really wanted to know whether Americans in general had started using it as a regular thing. Is it only 'South Park' fans and people from Colorado, perhaps, who say this? Might I hear a Virginian who has never seen 'South Park' say it? Also, nobody has picked up on my reference to the actress in the TV series, 'Six Feet Under' (see above). However it may have originated, it is no longer a pondering device.
12-16-02, 12:18 PM Sarai
quote:Originally posted by cattywampus: Is that why they can't seem to grasp the difference between "its" (possessive) and "it's" (contraction of "it is)?
Catty (gotcha!) razz
Catty, whom are you addressing?
12-16-02, 12:24 PM Sarai I think it's pretty universal in the States, but then again, maybe I just live in a place where it's common. I'll bet most people aren't even aware that they use it. People say "ngkay," too. I think it's just that people don't always get around to opening their mouths fully before they get to the "kay" part of the word. My guess is that it's related to "mmm-hmmm [expressing agreement without opening the mouth]." I don't think it originated with "South Park" or any other television program.
12-16-02, 12:42 PM babthrower *kay Sorry, MQ. I'm unqualified to answer, not having seen either TV program. No Americans I know say "m'kay". Maybe they don't watch the shows either. Or maybe they just don't think it's adorable to say it like that.
A lot of mannerisms (not just in speech) originate when the 'business' of charismatic actors is imitated by members of an adoring public.
12-16-02, 12:55 PM methos It's certainly not commonplace in any of the areas of the US that I have lived in recently (eastern NY, western NY, and central IN).
I am from Los Angeles, California, USA and it is used quite a lot here. I use it myself, (but just don't tell anyone, m'kay?)
12-18-02, 04:39 AM Monsterquizzer Ah, Julieta...a Californian! I'll bet that's the answer to my question. The hub of the TV/movie world refers me back to my point about the actress in 'Six Feet Under'. I imagine she's an Angelena...is that the right word?..at least as far as residency goes. There may also be an LA connection with the production staff of 'South Park'. Yep, I think we've got it! Thank you, Ma'am. You're m'kay!
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