I need a consensus

[GT40FIED]

Ok...I want opinions. Do you think the phrase "o.k." is neutral or affirmative? This is sort of a leftover from last semester's Russian class that still bugs me in Russian II. My teacher insists it's an affirmative phrase that doesn't really have an equal in Russian. Russians have a word that, spelled with english letters with english letters phonetically, sounds like "narmaya" (pronounced like narm-eye-ah) and it's completely neutral. Not good or bad. I contend that "o.k." can be completely neutral but doesn't have to be. Thoughts?

[mavaaoife]

I think its neutral.. although at times i think its affirmative.. it matters how you use it I think..

[GT40FIED]

Right...I think it depends a lot on the inflection of the user. I mean...I could say "I'm ok" with a downward inflection and it becomes either neutral or negative (depending on how much I emphasize the inflection). However if I use an upward inflection it can become an affirmative statement. The trick is, I can do the same in Russian. I'm not going to argue with my teacher, but her theory seems flawed to me.

[Gone]

I agree that it's dependent upon the speaker's tone of voice now.

[ebpda9]

umm, yeah, ok, whatever

[Grip72]

you need to get out more son

[KwikR6]

It depends on the conversation. How its used. The context of the conversation.
like "Hey wanna go for a beer " "OK!" :)

Or "Hey sorry about your loss" :( "ok"

or neutral
"wanna grab a bite to eat" "Ok"

Steve I think it all depends on the tone. I don't think that it fits in anyone where as it has it's place in all of them.