OK by Dr. Michelle McSweeney - ISBN: 9781501367182
Paperback
A ubiquitous word’s journey: technology, culture, and communication’s never-ending dance.

$19.98

  • Paperback

    144 pages

  • Release Date

    9 March 2023

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Summary

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

“OK” as a word accepts proposals, describes the world as satisfactory (but not good), provides conversational momentum, or even agrees (or disagrees). OK as an object, however, tells a story of how technology writes itself into language, permanently altering communication.

OK is a young word, less than 200 years old. It began as an acronym for “all correct” when the steam…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781501367182
ISBN-10:1501367188
Author:Dr. Michelle McSweeney
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint:Bloomsbury Academic
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:144
Release Date:9 March 2023
Weight:140g
Dimensions:14mm x 120mm x 164mm
Series:Object Lessons
OK by Dr. Michelle McSweeney - ISBN: 9781501367182
120 × 164 mm
A-Format
B-Format
C-Format
A4
mm / in
What They're Saying

Critics Review

[A] slim and lucid addition to the Object Lessons series… . McSweeney traces the word’s evolution through the present, illuminating the ways in which its meaning developed over time. * The Millions *
More than just OK… . A quick and fascinating read… . Short, but mentally nutritious. * The DreamCage *
A concise yet wide-ranging tour though the history of how technology has influenced the way we talk with each other. * Gretchen McCulloch, linguist and author of Because Internet *
OK is more than just okay—it’s the handiest and most up-to-date account of this mysterious yet deathless little expression available. Witness the history of something we say all day every day that’s actually new enough that it would have left Thomas Jefferson scratching his head. * John McWhorter, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Columbia University, USA, author of Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter Then, Now and Forever and host of the podcast Lexicon Valley *

About The Author

Dr. Michelle McSweeney

Michelle McSweeney is Director of Data Quality and Annotation at Converseon.AI, USA, Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute School of Information, Associate Researcher at The CUNY Graduate Center Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society (RISLUS), and Adjunct Professor at The CUNY Graduate Center MA program in Digital Humanities.

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