When did fine become the same as okay?

I don’t think the word fine has totally crossed into the land of mediocrity, but it’s close. With the exception of a few phrases, (‘A fine painting‘ for example implies excellence.)when I am told something is fine, I classify it as okay. Okay means that it’s not bad, but it’s not very good either.

This evening, I went here to check out the definition of fine. What a surprise! Fine = ‘of superior quality, skill or appearance’. Fine is also equated with choice, excellent or admirable. Admirable, choice, superior are all a far cry from okay.

Back to my question, when did fine become okay? Or perhaps. why did fine become okay?

Here’s my hypothesis:

At one time in the english language, fine retained it’s original meaning. Then it became used so much, that this admirable adjective became tired and worn out from overuse. The overuse tarnished fine’s image and soon fine was hanging out with the adequate adjectives such as okay and all right. Occasionally fine finds itself being used in a way that is comparable to fine’s glory days, but for the most part, fine is caught in the land of mediocre adjectives, wondering how it ended up in such a state.

In order to test my hypothesis, I need to select another adjective, subject it to overuse and evaluate the results. Some possibilities include:

• awesome




• fabulous




• excellent




• really good

Can you think of any others?