m'kay

Etymology
Nasalized variant of. Perhaps made popular by frequent appearance in the cartoon South Park as Mr Mackey's catchphrase; earlier, apparently chiefly in linguistic transcriptions of speech.

Interjection

 * 1)  Okay;
 * 2) spelling mkay
 * 3) * 1991, Barbara A. Fox, “Cognitive and Interactional Aspects of Correction in Tutoring,” in Teaching Knowledge and Intelligent Tutoring, Peter Goodyear ed. :
 * In these tutoring sessions we have found that, when the tutor agrees with the student’s displayed understanding, her signal of confirmation comes quickly after the student’s turn, as in: S. Mkay. hh. And I know it’s negative, just to follow your thought process, because I know that the sine is positive. T. Mhm
 * 1) * 1993, Herbert H Clark, Arenas of Language Use
 * [...] the director would go on only when both were satisfied the matcher had understood, as here: D. The long view of the quad uh walkway M. those M. ┌ numbers right? D. └ is number 5 M. Mkay D. Yeah with the numbers on the bottom.
 * 1) * 1995, Charles Conrad and Lucinda Sinclair-James, “Institutional Pressures, Cultural Constraints, and Communication in Community Mediation Organizations,” in Conflict and Organizations, Anne Maydan Nicotera ed.
 * M1: Mkay. Let me point us back to. This is related to um what we were talking about and how you’re going to um sort of report what happened here tonight.
 * 1) * 2004, Gordon Atkinson, RealLivePreacher.com :
 * My bold, Crocodile Hunter “Absolutely” withered into “mkay” with the end of the word lilted up like a desperate question.
 * 1) * 2004, Deanna Kizis, How to Meet Cute Boys :
 * That has nothing to do with star-power crap and everything to do with keeping it real, mkay?
 * 1) spelling mmkay
 * 2) * 1997: Christina S. Beck, Partnership for Health (dead link):
 * C: I want you to re:st (.) re:st (.) as much as you can do (.) is just re:st (.) hhh when &gt;you go&lt; home (.) &gt;you tell&lt; your husband you make dinner honey (.) hhh you take care of me (.) . . . I need &gt;to set&lt; down (.) I need &gt;to rest&lt; (.) P: mmkay (.) C: and &gt;get down&lt; (.) watch your sodium (.) the salt=
 * 1) * 2004, Abbe Diaz, PX This (dead link):
 * well i used to have some skilled sticky fingers of my own back in the day so i know a shoplifted dress when i see one mmkay.
 * 1) * 2005, Catherine Delaney, The Rosameorns (dead link):
 * I looked back to him...mmkay brown hair dark eyes...high cheek bones that lucky monkey I wonder if he has some native American.
 * 1) * 2005, Jenny Colgan, Boy I Loved Before (dead link)
 * She was sitting perched on her desk, in that nonchalant, ‘mmkay?’ way teachers do when they’re trying to pretend they’re down with the kids.
 * 1) spelling mmmkay
 * 2) * 1999, “It's Easy, MMMKay.” [title, in soundtrack] South Park: Bigger, Longer &amp; Uncut
 * 3) * 2004, Victoria Schmitz, If It’s Not One Thing It’s the Other :
 * Let’s get all this straight. He took me to a place he hates to see if I like it. Mmmkay.
 * 1) * 2004, Stephanie Lehmann, Are You in the Mood
 * He told her she could sleep in if she liked. “Mmmkay,” she said without opening her eyes, and he kissed her good-bye.
 * 1) spelling m’kay
 * 2) * 1999, Tom Bradley, Black Class Cur :
 * “I’ll tell you a secret if you promise not to tell anybody, not even the missus, m’kay?” “M’kay.”
 * 1) * 2003, Bill Hunt and Todd Doogan, The Digital Bits: Insider’s Guide to DVD :
 * But do keep in mind that this film [viz. South Park] is not for the faint of heart, and it ain’t for kids, m’kay?
 * 1) spelling mm-kay
 * 2) * 2000, Tom Bradley, Hustling the East :
 * She didn’t ask what that was supposed to mean, but tallied a while on her fingertips and obliged him. “Mm-kay, bye.”
 * 1) * 2005, Bill Eisele, Scrub Match
 * “All I’m saying,” the Asian man said, “is it’s about time she got a whiff of her own breath. Mm-kay?”
 * 1) spelling mmm-kay

Usage notes

 * Spellings with initial h, suggesting reanalysis as +, are common on the Internet, though print citations are yet lacking.

Translations

 * French: m’voyez, m’kay