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stranger
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stranger
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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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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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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old hand
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old hand
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stranger
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stranger
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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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old hand
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old hand
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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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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Interesting that you will hear 'whiskey tango foxtrot' but never (well hardly ever) 'oscar mike golf'.
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veteran
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veteran
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old hand
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old hand
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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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old hand
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old hand
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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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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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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