OK

Object Lessons is a series of books that explore the hidden lives of ordinary things, using linguistics, history, and new media studies to trace the evolution of the word "OK" from its birth in the Penny Presses to its current ubiquity in the digital age. It illustrates the never-ending dance between language, technology, and culture and offers lessons for our own techno-historical moment.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 23 February 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Object Lessons is a captivating series of beautifully designed books that delve into the hidden lives of ordinary things. It offers a unique perspective on the world, describing it as satisfactory but not necessarily good, providing conversational momentum, and even agreeing or disagreeing. As an object, OK tells a story of how technology writes itself into language, permanently altering communication.

OK is a young word, less than 200 years old, that began as an acronym for "all correct" when the steam-powered printing press pushed newspapers into the mainstream. Today, it is spoken and written by nearly everyone in the world. Drawing on linguistics, history, and new media studies, Michelle McSweeney traces OK's journey from its birth in the Penny Presses through telephone lines, grammar books, and television signals into the digital age.

Nearly ubiquitous and often overlooked, OK illustrates the never-ending dance between language, technology, and culture, and offers lessons for our own techno-historical moment. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Weight: 134g
Dimension: 121 x 165 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501367182