G'day, McGrath,

The point I'm making (unwelcome as it seems to be to American notions) is that a form of words meaning "yes" - that "sounds like" (is not "spelled as") OK ( ... och aye ... oc oil ... hoc ille ...) has been used for millenia. A Scot using his affirmative - would be reasonably understood by a Roman! The American "usage" is a (comparatively) recent spelling convention for an ancient standard expression. Literary citations in the OED, and other 'dictionaties on historical principles' don't cite speech - they cite published text.

Regards,

Bob Bolton