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More and more I see the interjection, "OMG!" I also hear it spoken, but in its full form, not the initials. While I know the expression has been around for many, many years, its ubiquity seems recent. Do others find this to be so? A century ago it might have been considered blasphemy!
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There is the Recency Illusion to consider but I think that in this case you're probably right. There was a time in the Victorian era when people were going all txtspk, so to speak, but I think it was limited to expressions where the name of the letter substituted for a syllable in the word being textspoken, e.g., XLNC for 'excellency'.
Then there was the '20s or '30s little byplay:
FUNEM?
SVFM.
FUNEX?
SVFX.
OKMNX.
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It took me a while, but I got there. My late Grandfather (b.1895) told me a little riddle from his childhood which was:
ABCD Goldfish
MNO Goldfish
SDR Goldfish
You will almost certainly work it out but, in case it's too British, it's:
'Abe, see the G.'
'Them ain't no G.'
'Yes they are G.'
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A century ago it might have been considered blasphemy!
Which got me wondering about why some people say 'gosh' instead.
Sounds like someone went to use the phrase, thought again at the last word, then out came gosh.
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Interesting that you will hear 'whiskey tango foxtrot' but never (well hardly ever) 'oscar mike golf'.
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A century ago it might have been considered blasphemy!
Which got me wondering about why some people say 'gosh' instead.
Sounds like someone went to use the phrase, thought again at the last word, then out came gosh.
That's funny, because the alternative I've heard is "goodness"! It's so random which things get pronounced, and which spelled out. I've heard "lol" both ways, "url" only spelled (got admonished for pronouncing it...), "bbf" only spelled, but "pwned" only prounounced. I have a house full of 12-17, and I get told how not in the loop I am all the time... *sigh* ;0)
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Interesting that you will hear 'whiskey tango foxtrot' but never (well hardly ever) 'oscar mike golf'. Had to work that one out... never heard it! I tend to say "What the ffffffff (that's the phoneme...), but again, it could be "freak" or "fudge", so you can CYA with those... he he ;0)
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Interesting that you will hear 'whiskey tango foxtrot' but never (well hardly ever) 'oscar mike golf'. Had to work that one out... never heard it! I tend to say "What the ffffffff (that's the phoneme...), but again, it could be "freak" or "fudge", so you can CYA with those... he he ;0) My point there is that while you will hear "double-you tee eff" or "whiskey tango foxtrot" or even the fully expanded phrase, you will hear "oh em gee" or the fully expanded phrase but never "oscar mike golf". It may be that the full phrase for OMG is not common military parlance the way WTF is.
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Since there's no opprobrium attached to the unabbreviated expansion*, there's no need to resort to euphemism or disguise. Some savings of time, maybe, therefore textlish, but no alpha/bravo stuff.
* (for "OMG")
Last edited by wofahulicodoc; 09/19/10 12:05 AM. Reason: (insert * for clarification)
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Since there's no opprobrium attached to the unabbreviated expansion*, there's no need to resort to euphemism or disguise. Some savings of time, maybe, therefore textlish, but no alpha/bravo stuff.
* (for "OMG") But with SNAFU it's pronounced as a word and not spelled out. It's snafu, not ess en ay eff you.
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Now THAT sounds impolite!
Last edited by Hal Alexander; 09/19/10 03:19 AM.
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Yes it does. The 'ay' and the 'ess' and the 'eff' and the 'yu'.
I enjoyed reading the faux latin thread.
Last edited by Avy; 09/19/10 07:14 AM.
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I would guess that "es en" is German?
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"OMG!"
Last night on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart said "O M G-o-d". Funny re-reversal (or maybe just plain versal).
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Since there's no opprobrium attached to the unabbreviated expansion*, there's no need to resort to euphemism or disguise. Some savings of time, maybe, therefore textlish, but no alpha/bravo stuff.
* (for "OMG") But with SNAFU it's pronounced as a word and not spelled out. It's snafu, not ess en ay eff you. That's because it's pronounceable as a word, whereas OMG and WTF are not. No one spells out UNICEF, because it's easy to pronounce as a word, but FDIC, not so much... :0)
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Since there's no opprobrium attached to the unabbreviated expansion*, there's no need to resort to euphemism or disguise. Some savings of time, maybe, therefore textlish, but no alpha/bravo stuff.
Wofa, reading your text makes me think of "Hello Pappa Tango Charley" by Mort Shuman and I feel like I'm heading for this Bermuda Triangle. (textlish?)
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But with SNAFU it's pronounced as a word and not spelled out. It's snafu, not ess en ay eff you.
That's because it's pronounceable as a word, whereas OMG and WTF are not. No one spells out UNICEF, because it's easy to pronounce as a word, but FDIC, not so much... :0) [/quote] USA is pronounceable as a word but nobody does. Likewise CIA. SNCC is not but it's pronounced 'snick' anyway
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I work in a military environment, and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot has replaced "WTFO" over the last 25 years. "Dubya-tee-eff-oh" is WTF followed by "over," as if one were speaking on a military field radio. WTFO was common in the Vietnam era, but it's all but gone in the military today.
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now we say "oh, my ladygaga"
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