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-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 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.
