Text-speak Not Really All That New

Today's texters are notorious for shortening conversations and sentences into just a few letters.

"What's going on?" has been transformed into "sup?" (short for "What's up?")

"Oh, not much" becomes simply "nm."

"I don't know" is "idk."

But, one acronym that has made it into everyday speech is "OMG," standing for "Oh My God," or for the more demure "Oh My Gosh" or "Oh My Goodness."

It's long amused me that the younger generation thinks they invented such shortcuts. Back in the 1970s, penpal letters often had "SWAK" (Sealed With A Kiss) or "WBS" (Write Back Soon) scrawled on the back of the envelope. I remember longer strings of letters that the writer giggled at when writing, wondering if the recipient would be able to decipher the somewhat coded message. I specifically remember "SWALCAKWS," which, of course, means "Sealed With A Lick Cause A Kiss Won't Stick."

Sir Winston Churchill

Ha! Today's texters had nothing on us!

As it turns out, we weren't exactly original either. According to recent news reports, the acronym "OMG" was first used in 1917 by Admiral John Arbuthnot Fisher. He was writing to Winston Churchill (who later became Britain's Prime Minister) during World War I.

George Mason University's History News Network credits the Oxford English Dictionary as having discovered the letter and usage of "OMG" in a book published by Fisher in 1919.

Admiral John Fisher

At the end of a letter complaining about the newspapers' coverage of the war, Fisher wrote:

"I hear that a new order of Knighthood is on the tapis—O.M.G. (Oh! My God!)—Shower it on the Admiralty!"

It is explained that he was making a joke, referring to the various recognitions that could be bestowed on people, such as O.B.E. (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) or O.M. (The Order of Merit). (And, some research shows that the phrase "on the tapis" means "on the table" or "under consideration.")

You can read the entire letter at the Letters of Note on Twitter.