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Topic: Google

'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

Summary: 'OMG', 'FYI' and 'LOL' have entered the Oxford English Dictionary - including a love heart graphic, as a result of popular usage thanks to the Web.

Zack Whittaker

By for iGeneration |

The Oxford English Dictionary has accepted three new initialisms: 'OMG' standing for 'oh my god', 'FYI' standing for 'for your information' and 'LOL' for 'laugh out loud'; all stemming from popular Internet culture today.

They join existing acronyms made popular with social networking and text messages, so called 'instant communications', such as 'TMI' for 'too much information', 'IMHO' for 'in my humble opinion' and 'BFF' standing for 'best friends forever'.

However, those at the Oxford English Dictionary claim a personal letter from 1917 could be the first incarnation of the 'OMG' acronym, with 'LOL' taking the formation of 'little old lady' dating back to the 1960's.

These new additions show the power of the web and instant communications on the English language, or at very least the influence on the acronym or the emoticon.

What may be most worrying is the graphic, "?" - pronounced 'to heart' - has been classified as a verb, along with old favourite to 'google'.

I'll buy a pint to anyone who dares use the "?" in an academic essay.

Has web-speak taken over?

Topic: Google

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34 comments
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  • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

    Our use of the English language has deteriorated beyond saving unless drastic measures are taken.

    Most people I know under the age of 25 can't spell, and have no idea how to use proper grammar. I try desperately to not use acronyms, but still end up using them when my texts get over the 140 character mark, and I know my grammar has deteriorated as well.

    I honestly think that the school systems and their dependance on computers is too blame, assignments should have to be hand written, not typed out on a computer where grammar checking and spell checking can be done for you, and bad spelling and grammar should be penalized heavily.

    JMHO

    Ludo
    Ludovit
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dict

      @Ludovit Try reading this piece by a friend of mine at the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10971949 - it's an interesting analysis of how language is changing, and whether it's a good thing or not. Stephen Fry is surprisingly a big advocate of 'changing language' - I'll try and link to the video, but can't seem to find it...
      zwhittaker
      Reply Vote

      • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

        @zwhittaker Thanks Zack ... I think I found the video ... is this it?

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

        Ludo
        Ludovit
        Reply Vote

      • Sorry, duplicate entry, just ignore this

        NT ...
        Ludovit
        Reply Vote

    • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

      @Ludovit I wouldn't normally point this out, but you used too instead of to in the first sentence of your last paragraph. Lectures on grammar sort of need to be grammatically correct to hold any weight.

      That said, I do agree with you. I proofread a lot of stuff for my friends at college and I'm honestly surprised they got in at all. It's dreadfully atrocious.

      I'm fine with webspeak...on the web. Acknowledging them as real, legitimate words, though, is silly.
      Aerowind
      Reply Vote

      • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

        @Aerowind Thank you for pointing out my error (I am aware of the difference between to and too, and when to use them. This was a typo). I will leave it uncorrected as it, in a way, points out that even those grammatically conscious do make errors, and should try harder in this day and age to proofread our own work.

        Ludo
        Ludovit
        Reply Vote

      • FYI

        @Aerowind "Dreadfully atrocious"? Surely that implies that there is something out there that is atrocious that isn't dreadful? Is "redundant" in the dictionary?
        EnglishBoy
        Reply Vote

    • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

      @Ludovit
      Ludo when writing a criticism of spelling and grammar you should always check your own. It's simpler to rectify on a computer than having to re-engrave a stone tablet. Language has always moved with the times, gadzooks!
      Godolphin
      Reply Vote

      • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

        @Godolphin Thanks Godolphin ... as noted in the post above yours, and two below yours (now three), my error was admitted as a typo, and it was decided to leave it as it is for the reasons stated in the above post.

        Thanks for noticing, and pointing it out to me.

        Ludo
        Ludovit
        Reply Vote

      • Just saying.....

        @Godolphin Surely any proofreader worth his muster would have noticed that the incorrect verb was used at the end of the last paragraph? In the sentence "I honestly think that the school systems and their dependance on computers is too blame", you mention the incorrect spelling of the word "too" (at least three times), but you say nothing about the fact that the verb should be in the plural, as in "I honestly think that the school systems and their dependance on computers ARE too blame".
        EnglishBoy
        Reply Vote

    • Correction "lol"

      @Ludovit Surely if you have perfected the English language, you know that you should not be writing "I try to not use acronyms". The correct way to put it is "I try not to use acronyms". Just an FYI. Or is that TMI?
      EnglishBoy
      Reply Vote

      • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

        @EnglishBoy. Wow! You're hotter on picking up errors than I! I get accused of being pedantic and told that "language is a living changing thing". Yes, but that's no reason not to make an effort to write and speak English correctly. I hope I have not made any errors here for you to find!
        JohnOfStony
        Reply Vote

    • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

      @Ludovit. I agree about spelling and grammar. "Dependence" is the correct spelling and you've used "too" which means also instead of "to" which is the correct spelling of part of the infinitive of a verb (e.g. to blame). Finally one of my pet hates is the use of "acronym" instead of "abbreviation". An acronym is an abbreviation that makes a word, e.g. LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is an acronym. FYI and OMG are not acronyms; they're abbreviations. I must find or develop a website for English grammar and spelling.
      JohnOfStony
      Reply Vote

    • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

      @Ludovit <br>"to not use" is a split infinitive<br>
      jeeves1
      Reply Vote

  • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

    WTF and OMG don't you know the diff between to, too and two. FYI it should have been "to". Actually I was LOL when I read your typo.

    Thought it was funny as my digits slip and double type also. I don't touch type but hunt and peck. Its slow and sloppy but it works. As long as we do our best to catch most things and understand and not be toooo critical of other people's mistakes.
    dave@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

      @dave@... I'm actually a little embarrassed because I too (notice the correct usage) LOL at errors in peoples posts that are trying to correct others. I would like to (correct usage) point out that at least there weren't two (correct usage) grammatical errors in that post ... :).

      As a side note, a friend had to tell her grandmother that WTF stood for Welcome To Facebook ... trust me, that didn't work out to well as grandma's Facebook introductions began starting with WTF ...

      Ludo
      Ludovit
      Reply Vote

      • I use LOL all the time

        People need to know that I'm laughing at them at how ridiculous they sound.
        LTV10
        Reply Vote

      • Don't mess with gramdma.

        @Ludovit
        Grandma may be in the "big house" (ie. lodge or long term care facility) but she takes no prisoners.

        ROFL. That made my day.
        dave@...
        Reply Vote

      • Two Errors

        @Ludovit There were, however, at least two (correct spelling) grammatical errors in that last post, namely the failure to use an apostrophe in "people's" and omitting inverted commas from "WTF". That said, you have one of the funniest stories to date there :)
        EnglishBoy
        Reply Vote

  • RE: 'OMG', 'FYI', 'LOL' and a love heart graphic enters Oxford English Dictionary

    I thought FYI was already a business/government acronym long before the internet.
    pgrmacdonald@...
    Reply Vote
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