OK, What's the World's Best Known Word? Okay,That May Be It.

In observance of Columbus Day, The Committee Room asks you to consider how often you say OK. This little Americanism is probably the world's most used word. In OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word Allan Metcalf writes "[T]hese two simple letters (or four, if you use its genteel alter ego okay) anchor our agreements, confirm our understandings, and choreograph the dance of everyday life...OK is the most amazing invention in the history of American English."

Among English speakers, at least, OK's versatility is astounding. It is put to work an adjective ("The council deemed the project OK"), a noun ("The council gave its OK to the project"), a verb ("The council OK'd the project"), occasionally as an adverb ("The council took the criticism OK"), and most frequently as a throat clearing interjection ("The council member began the discussion with 'OK, let's talk about the project'"). Depending upon tone and context OK can convey a positive or neutral assessment. Partnered with a minimizer as such "just" or "only" or "merely" it becomes negative.

TCR's List of Ten Overused Phrases

Master the use of these phrases and begin your career as a pundit --

I would argue
That said
Moving forward
Quite frankly
Game changer
At the end of the day
Crunch time
Wake up call
Red flags
Get it right


To put it another way -- "Quite frankly, I would argue, this is a wake up call.  The red flags were ignored. It's crunch time.  That said, moving forward, this will be a game changer and at the end of the day, we've got to get it right."