The replacement wasn\u2019t \u201cOK\u201d, my first thought, which, though it\u2019s existed since at least 1800, only started a significant upswing in 1967 and equaled \u201call right\u201d in 1980 (both started going up around then, but \u201cOK\u201d went faster). The variant \u201cokay,\u201d first seen in the late 1930s, overtook \u201call right\u201d in 2000 and \u201cOK\u201d in 2005, and is today almost twice as common as \u201call right\u201d, three times as common as \u201cOK\u201d, and ten times as common as \u201calright\u201d in the written corpus Google Ngram Viewer draws on (a large number of scanned books and other written material published between 1800 and 2019).<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAll right\u201d wasn\u2019t replaced by \u201cfine\u201d either. After some ups and downs in the 19th century, “fine” shows a dip from 1905 to 1918 (understandable), followed by a rise until 1925, then a fairly steady decline from 1925 to 1995, when it starts an upswing more or less parallel to \u201cokay\u201d. Of course, \u201cfine\u201d means several other things apart from what \u201cOK\u201d or \u201call right\u201d mean, even if you restrict your search to the adjective (which you can do in Ngram Viewer by searching for \u201cfine_ADJ\u201d).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I checked thesaurus.com for other alternatives and found \u201cvery well,\u201d which, of course, can also be used in phrases like \u201cshe did that very well\u201d (which isn\u2019t what we\u2019re after, but I\u2019m not sure how you\u2019d eliminate it from the search). \u201cVery well\u201d has been in relatively stable usage since 1800.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If we restrict the usage to the start of the sentence<\/a> (using the _START_ tag before each word), we get a slightly different picture. This will reduce (though not eliminate) the other usages of \u201cfine\u201d such as \u201cfine furniture\u201d and bring it more into line with the usage of the other words: \u201cAll right, let\u2019s see what we have here.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here we see that \u201cfine\u201d at the start of a sentence has a big peak in 1925, after which it slowly declines, crossing \u201cOK\u201d on its way up in 1969. \u201cOK\u201d peaked in 1986 and started declining, with no other words seemingly replacing it. Presumably, people weren’t starting their sentences with a filler word meaning “all right” to the same extent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Another way to home in on the usage I\u2019m interested in is to make it part of a phrase, such as \u201cthat\u2019s okay\/OK\/fine\/all right\/alright<\/a>\u201d. (I left out \u201cvery well\u201d because \u201cthat\u2019s very well\u201d is not a phrase people use.) The picture is pretty similar:<\/span><\/p>\n So, if your story is set any time between 1800 and about 1980, go with \u201call right\u201d; it\u2019s always correct, and it\u2019s something that people of that time period were much more likely to say than most of the alternatives. If they\u2019re a more high-flown speaker, \u201cvery well\u201d is a good choice in some contexts. “OK” or “okay” are best used after about 1970, though they did exist earlier (please don’t use “ok,” because when you capitalize the first letter but not the second at the start of a sentence it looks like the speaker is an orangutan with a speech impediment). But avoid using \u201calright\u201d except possibly in contemporary or future settings, and even then, I\u2019d advise against it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" tl;dr: No. But to go into it in more depth: the spelling “alright,” last I checked, is still not accepted by major style guides. I see it used often enough that I suspect it’s inevitably going to become accepted, taking … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/wellpresentedms\/files\/2021\/04\/ngram1-300x152.png\")
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