Okey dokey

Okey dokey

Meaning

Okay.

Origin

There's not much to be said about this little phrase, which is a variant of okay. It is 20th century American and first appears in print in Maurice Harley Weseen's 1934 Dictionary of American Slang:

"Okay doke, satisfactory; agreeable; all right."

It is really just a perky variant of okay, utilizing that favourite device of two-word phrases - rhyming. There are several alternative spellings - okay-doke, okey-doke, okee-doke etc.

Like okay it can be used to indicate that all is well, e.g. 'everything is okay here', it can be used when responding positively to a request. That is exemplified in this piece from Colin MacInnes' book 'City of Spades', 1957:

"One Guinness stout, right, I thank you, okey-doke, here it is."