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'OMG' Dates Back to Almost 100 Years Ago: Real or Hoax?

AdriHead 2012/08/08 23:00:00
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OMG... you guys won't believe this! So, you know the abbreviation "OMG," short for the phrase "Oh My God"? Well, it was evidently used as early as 1917, in some correspondence from John Arbuthnot Fisher to Winston Churchill. Do you believe it? Or do you think this news is a little too good to be true?

THEMARYSUE.COM reports:
Younger generations these days are saddled with a lot of responsibilities they're not quite prepared for: Coming of age in a time of economic turmoil, figuring out how to get Earth to let us keep living on it without drowning in its rising oceans, dealing with the ever-looming threat that Siri will finally follow through with her plan and enslave us all.

Less grave, but nonetheless usually put on the youths of the world, is the popularization of text-speak. You know the type: LOL, LMFAO, ROFL, OMG, Totes. Well, it turns out there's at least one of those abominations to the English language that no one in any recent generation has to take the blame for: OMG is at almost a hundred years old.
omg totes turns abominations english language generation blame omg years
+14

Read More: http://www.themarysue.com/omg-is-old/

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  • Tennessee3501 2012/08/09 18:11:27
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    Tennessee3501
    I am very suspicious until they can authenicate it!
    reply
  • Swordfish 2012/08/09 17:06:15
  • janice.heartbriggs 2012/08/09 15:35:29
    Hoax
    janice.heartbriggs
    +1
    to my knowledge OMG is an internet acronym
    reply
  • rcardon 2012/08/09 15:17:47
    Real
    rcardon
    +1
    In those days, telegrams were charged by the word, so the fewer the words, the less it would cost, and for a man fleeing his profession, and looking at retirement, he would want to save as much as he could.
    reply
  • Kelly W... rcardon 2012/08/09 22:45:18
    Kelly Welly
    +1
    that would only make sense if he didnt put oh my god in brackets next to it because that would have cost him more
    reply
  • rcardon Kelly W... 2012/08/10 14:52:39
    rcardon
    +1
    I guess that's true. I assumed that was added, by the writer of the article, for emphasis, or interpretation.
    reply
  • Gia 2012/08/09 14:56:24
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    Gia
    +1
    LOL
    reply
  • Shelsa Pamphil 2012/08/09 14:24:25
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    Shelsa Pamphil
    Can't believe it
    reply
  • bill.fife.3 2012/08/09 14:22:04 (edited)
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    bill.fife.3
    +2
    One thing is clear enough here: All the medals in the world aren't enough to make some career soldiers smile.

    Rembrandt
    (Art credit: Rembrandt van Rijn)
    reply
  • sockpuppet 2012/08/09 14:21:56
    Real
    sockpuppet
    +2
    I'm not finding it on the 'hoax busting' sites, and this item has appeared in various newspapers around the world. I'd guess it's real. OMG. :O)
    reply
  • tatilee(: 2012/08/09 13:51:45
    Hoax
    tatilee(:
    +1
    That does not look real
    reply
  • exsecrare 2012/08/09 13:07:14
    Hoax
    exsecrare
    +1
    Absolutely a hoax.
    reply
  • Nilam 2012/08/09 09:43:00
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    Nilam
    Thats cool
    reply
  • Tiah 2012/08/09 06:58:09
    Hoax
    Tiah
    Sure looks like a hoax
    reply
  • Cat 2012/08/09 06:33:49
    Hoax
    Cat
    +1
    The spacing of the characters is not uniform, if this were typed on a typewriter It would have even spacing regardless of character widths.. This letter was written with a word processing program. Which certainly didn't exist in 1917. It's bogus!
    reply
  • COMALite J Cat 2012/08/13 16:32:07 (edited)
    COMALite J
    Actually, it looks like it was typeset, which has existed since the before 1600s (KJV Bible printed on the Gütenberg press in 1611, for instance). I doubt that anyone would typeset a letter (especially using full justification, the proper use of SMALL CAPS in headers, the use of true em dashes [“—” vs. “--”] and typographic “curly” quotes and apostrophes [as opposed to "straight" quotes and apostrophes], etc.), but typesetting a transcription of the letter for inclusion in a book? Yes indeedy — especially since the guy’s photo is next to it (I doubt he did that in the original letter!).
    reply
  • Juliet Alyssa 2012/08/09 05:56:12
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    Juliet Alyssa
    Interesting!
    reply
  • MkB 2012/08/09 05:17:49
    Real
    MkB
    I read about it today on MSN. Interesting though.
    reply
  • themadhare ~IJM 2012/08/09 04:12:27
    Real
    themadhare ~IJM
    +1
    I can believe it easily. There are many initialisms that date back to the 1820's or possibly earlier. People wrote that someone was SP; small potatoes, or TBFHB; too big for his britches....
    reply
  • ~HopelessRomanticM17~ 2012/08/09 04:10:11
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    ~HopelessRomanticM17~
    +2
    I don't really care or even know what this is talking about...I'm very confused as to why this is a top question to be honest with you...
    reply
  • mikeeonly 2012/08/09 02:37:04
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    mikeeonly
    nah
    reply
  • Elz 2012/08/09 02:08:56
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    Elz
    honestly. i can't even decide if this is real or fake.
    reply
  • merslix. 2012/08/09 01:35:32
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    merslix.
    Omg WOW I CANT BELIEVE IT cool
    c:
    reply
  • Dave Sawyer ♥ Child of God ♥ 2012/08/09 00:34:58 (edited)
    Real
    Dave Sawyer ♥ Child of God ♥
    +2
    When using Morse Code, it was helpful to use abbreviations, kinda like texting today.
    reply
  • Dave Sa... Dave Sa... 2012/08/09 00:37:33
    Dave Sawyer ♥ Child of God ♥
    Also, it cut the cost of a telegram.
    reply
  • Chris D 2012/08/09 00:30:42
    Hoax
    Chris D
    +4
    I don't believe it for a second!
    kenny everett video show
    reply
  • BlondeAphrodite 2012/08/09 00:10:40
    Hoax
    BlondeAphrodite
    hahahaha anybody who believes this is real needs a brain transplant
    reply
  • Artisan Rose ☽✪☾☥ 2012/08/08 23:49:09
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    Artisan Rose ☽✪☾☥
    +1
    lol
    reply
  • Omni Artisan... 2012/08/08 23:56:20
    Omni
    +1
    ...I'm scared.
    reply
  • I(◕‿◕✿)I Omni 2012/08/09 06:41:19
    I(◕‿◕✿)I
    Lol
    reply
  • KG 2012/08/08 23:45:18
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    KG
    wow
    reply
  • Crypt_Heart 2012/08/08 23:35:36
    Real
    Crypt_Heart
    I'd say that it dates way before 1917... in fact I'd say as early as 1850.
    reply
  • emoanimegirl1000 2012/08/08 23:23:01
    OMG! I can't believe it!
    emoanimegirl1000
    You learn something new everyday :)
    reply
  • JMCC 2012/08/08 23:17:19
    Real
    JMCC
    +3
    There are several orders of knighthood in the UK each bears an acronym to help people remember the seniority. There is the CMG (call me god) and the GCMG (god calls me god).

    The letter refers to a rumoured new order being created below them - John was the first to labelled it (oh my god) in print...
    reply
  • Steveth... JMCC 2012/08/08 23:49:20
    Stevethinks
    +1
    Jonathan where did he get all those medals and awards? How can he walk under the weight? CMG
    reply
  • JMCC Steveth... 2012/08/08 23:52:22
    JMCC
    +1
    I would be more worried about the ceremony - I can't imagine Liz's hands are as strong as they used to be, and that's one bloody big blade.....
    reply
  • Steveth... JMCC 2012/08/09 00:17:43
    Stevethinks
    These guys are posturing in front of an enemy. Like an animal blosturing his feathers.
    It's unnecessary. Give the soldiers medals and you can pay them less. it's showing off that motivates them. Look MOM no hands.
    reply
  • JMCC Steveth... 2012/08/09 08:51:26
    JMCC
    Knights have to where silly ceremonial clothes (medieval knickerbockers) - very silly
    reply
  • Steveth... JMCC 2012/08/09 09:09:46
    Stevethinks
    Be careful if your opinion and you know that I respect you very much. Maybe that ought out have been 'cautious.' The only place generals that get rich are in Turkey or Egypt. And that's because of the American stipend. What they do have is tradition, attitude etc Can't live with them or without them.

    It is not easy to send a thousand men to battle knowing only 45% will return.

    Now I must agree I wold have a problem with the knickerbockers. One of the reasons I didn't go into the military is having to look the same every day; I'd go bonkers. I try to never look the same from one day to the next. I's a personal thing.
    reply
  • JMCC Steveth... 2012/08/09 09:26:16
    JMCC
    +1
    Back in 1917 when this letter was written, the officer class were pretty much exclusively from wealthy families because of the cost of education.

    The British High Command back then weren't schooled in modern warfare and were unable to adapt strategy quickly enough. That is largely the reason that so many allied forces died - the generals could not get over the fact that full frontal assaults on trenches wouldn't work.

    Winston Churchill's name, although revered in the West, is mud in Australia and New Zealand, because of Tripoli...
    reply
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