Copacetic: Variant(s): also
co·pa·set·ic or co·pe·set·ic /
"kO-p&-'se-tik/
Function: adjective
Etymology: origin unknown
Definition: "very satisfactory"
Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary online.
World Wide Words: "Fine,
excellent, going just right." It’s possible that this word
has created more column inches of speculation in the USA than any other
apart from OK. It’s rare to the point of invisibility outside
North America. People mostly become aware of it in the sixties as a
result of the US space program—it’s very much a Right Stuff
kind of word.
"A ...frequent explanation is that it derives from one of two
Hebrew expressions, hakol b’seder, “all is in order”, or kol
b’tzedek, “all with justice”, which it is suggested were introduced
into the USA by Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants. Yet other accounts
say it derives from a Chinook word copasenee, “everything is
satisfactory”, once used on the waterways of Washington State, or from
the French coupersetique, from couper, “to strike”, or
from the French phrase copain(s) c’est épatant! (“buddy(s),
that’s great!”).
[Michael Quinion, World Wide Words,
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-cop1.htm]
Kopes-etic: Relating to the distinctly
skeptical, forward-looking, optimistic, innovative, and mildly revolutionary perspective on
health care of Colin Kopes-Kerr, MD, JD, MPH
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