Interjection
- (informal) Okay; an expression of acknowledgment or affirmation, now often used in an ironical or condescending sense.
- Drugs are bad, m’kay?
spelling mkay
spelling mmkay
- 1997: Christina S. Beck, Partnership for Health :
- C: I want you to re:st (.) re:st (.) as much as you can do (.) is just re:st (.) hhh when >you go< home (.) >you tell< your husband you make dinner honey (.) hhh you take care of me (.) . . . I need >to set< down (.) I need >to rest< (.)
- P: mmkay (.)
- C: and >get down< (.) watch your sodium (.) the salt=
- 2004, Abbe Diaz, PX This :
- 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.
- 2005, Catherine Delaney, The Rosameorns :
- I looked back to him...mmkay brown hair dark eyes...high cheek bones that lucky monkey I wonder if he has some native American.
- 2005, Jenny Colgan, Boy I Loved Before
- 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.
spelling mmmkay
spelling m’kay
- 1999, Tom Bradley, Black Class Cur [11]:
- “I’ll tell you a secret if you promise not to tell anybody, not even the missus, m’kay?”
- “M’kay.”
- 2003, Bill Hunt and Todd Doogan, The Digital Bits: Insider’s Guide to DVD [12]:
- 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?
spelling mm-kay
spelling mmm-kay
- 2005: Michael Collins, Hot Lights, Cold Steel [15]:
- “Well, I’m going to take a picture of your arm and then this nice doctor is going to fix it for you, okay?”
- “Mmm-kay.”
Origin
Nasalized variant of okay. Perhaps made popular by frequent appearance in the cartoon South Park as Mr Mackey's catchphrase; earlier, apparently only in linguistic transcriptions of speech.
