OMG and LOL Added to the OED

Alex

OMG! We can't accuse our BFF Oxford English Dictionary with being behind the times anymore. The OED has finally managed to get with the program (LOL!):

For the March 2011 release of OED Online, we have selected for publication a number of noteworthy initialisms—abbreviations consisting of the initial letters of a name or expression. Some of these—such as OMG [OMG int. (and n.) and adj.]: ‘Oh my God’ (or sometimes ‘gosh’, ‘goodness’, etc.) and LOL [LOL int. and n./2]: ‘laughing out loud’—are strongly associated with the language of electronic communications (email, texting, social networks, blogs, and so on). They join other entries of this sort: IMHO (‘in my humble opinion’) [IMHO at I n./1], TMI (‘too much information’) [TMI at T n.], and BFF (‘best friends forever’) [BFF at B n.], among others.

Link - via Digital Life (Photo: Shutterstock)


Comments (6)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

Hmm, I wonder if they will add "Normativity" this year. None of the major dictionaries recognize it. Yet it is used all the time in philosophy.
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What's the problem? These abbreviations have become extremely common usage; so why not put them in a dictionary?

Language is not a reflection of what's in the dictionary; it's the other way around. Like it or not.

I spot two emoticons in the four previous comments btw. ;)
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Maybe for english, but for Simplified Chinese, the hardest one is the chinese poem about a lion eating poet which is 93 pronounced versions of shi...

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/SHISHI.RXML
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The hardest tongue twister is actually quite simple:

toy-boat.

I have never come across a person that could say that five times fast without inevitably uttering: "toy-boit."
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How weird to see one of my sheep as an illustration for the article! I had to search all over to find where you'd found the shot (Wikipedia I guess now). Cheers!
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dahhh.....

this is not the hardest tongue twister...

i can repeat as many times as I can.....

can you find more??....

and the toy boat is very simple....

most of the people can say it properly...

dahhhhh.......
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haha. those tounge-twister are easy. esp. toy boat; i already said it for 10 times clear without saying toy boit. try this one.
Three Swedish switched witches watch three Swiss Swatch watches switches. Which Swedish switched witch watch which Swiss Swatch watch witch?"
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haha. those tounge-twister are easy. esp. toy boat; i already said it for 10 times clear without saying toy boit. try this one.
Three Swedish switched witches watch three Swiss Swatch watches switches. Which Swedish switched witch watch which Swiss Swatch watch witch?”
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if you like to eat potato chips and chew pork chops on clipper ships, i suggest that you chew a few chips and a chop at skipper zipps clipper ship chip chop shop
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The hardest i've come across is actually Russian. Phonetically in English it is:

Yekhal gryeka chyeryez ryeku. Vidit gryeka v ryekye rak. Tsunul gryeka ruku v ryeku. Rak zaruku gyeki tsap.
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I AGREE, THAT THIS IS A HARD TONGUE TWISTER, BUT DISAGREE THAT IT IS THE HARDEST. I WILL NAME HARDER ONE'S. FOR EXAMPLE ONE I INVENTED: (Epileptic Hiccup). try saying <<< that 3-5 times "fast/ really fast." Now here is another one, but I did not make this one up, or any of the others I am about to give you, or any one else. Here it is: (Red Leather, Yellow Leather). try saying <<>> MOVING ON TO MORE HARD TONGUE TWISTERS: I do agree with the person above who said "Irish Wrist Watch" is a hard tongue twister because it is for a lot of people. Try saying ("Irish Wrist Watch") 3-5 times "fast/ really fast." P.S. to Matt O'Brien, I knew about that tongue twister also. ANOTHER TONGUE TWISTER IS: (UNIQUE NEW YORK) TRY SAYING <<< THAT 3-5 TIMES "FAST/ REALLY FAST". LAST BUT NOT LEAST THE LAST TONGUE TWISTER I HAVE IS: (YOU KNOW YOU NEED UNIQUE NEW YORK). TRY SAYING <<< THAT 3-5 TIMES "FAST/ REALLY FAST". Remember: ("Epileptic Hiccup") is by Jake Luba.
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