poetry - What is the poetic meter of 'O.K.'?



Is the acronym "O.K." generally pronounced as an iamb or a trochee? Or is it context-dependent?



Answer



This specific question can be answered by any dictionary. However, there is a more general question underlying it which may merit closer attention, and that is how pretty much all two-letter letter-pairs in English place the stress on the second letter not on the first.



  • A.D., B.C.

  • B.A., B.S., M.S.

  • U.S., U.K.

  • P.S., M.C., D.T., A.I., G.I., O.D.


This includes O.K. — at least when pronounced as initials. The only exception is when the initialism has been assimilated into a pronounced word, in which case the stress falls more naturally on the first syllable, as in a Let’s welcome Deejay Somebody or that’s an okay try.


I suppose it’s possible that it’s actually the attributive use there that triggers the stress regression more than it is thinking of those things as spelt-out words. That, I’m not sure of.


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