Whodunit Wednesday: Martin Van Buren

Maarten Van Buren, the 8th president of the United States didn’t even use English as his mother-language. He came from the town Kinderhook and spoke Dutch. Kinderhook means “Child’s Corner” in Dutch. Dutch was of course quite prevalent in the early days of the United States. New Amsterdam, which became New York, was settled by the Dutch. For a time, speaking Dutch was looked down upon, but later it became fashionable to have Dutch ancestry and be able to speak the language (or parts of it). 

Van Buren spoke Dutch from the beginning, but also spoke English, of course. Because he was fairly old for the time (54 years old) when he ran for president, he used the phrase “Old Kinderhook” for his campaign, to show that something was quality. “Old Kinderhook” meant that he, and all that he touched, was from quality. You could trust it. Shortened, this became “OK” and soon became the way to show that everything was good, or okay. 

Now, even in Dutch, we can say “okay” although we spell it “oké”. It doesn’t always mean something is good quality. Sometimes it means it is mediocre. “How was the movie?” “Ah, it was okay, but not my favorite.” And yet, even in the Netherlands and Belgium, a stamp of OK on an item is a stamp of approval. And all of this because a Dutch-speaking American politician was proud of his roots.