Because OMG OED

The Oxford English Dictionary came out with its updates. Every year, the OED (yeah, I abbreviate it—that’s how we editors roll) adds words that have become ingrained in the popular usage to its already back-breaking book that defines the very things that compose it: words. In recent years, such erudite entries as “bootylicious” have become a permanent part of our language. What did the scholars at the OED feel was ripe for entrance this year?

OMG.

No, really. OMG.

They put OMG in the Oxford English Dictionary. They refer the group of “words” as initialisms. They include “words” like OMG, FYI, and LOL. If you read the article, they note that these initialisms are mostly linked to modern technology and thus, are mostly used by a younger demographic, although the OED researchers did find some specious connections to the past for OMG (a letter from 1917), LOL (in the 1960s it meant “little old lady”), and FYI (was used as early as 1941). Now, I don’t think the researchers at the OED needed to find past usage of these “words” to give them legitimacy—there’s nothing wrong with including words that arise as language changes and includes more and different words. My problem with including them is that they aren’t WORDS. They stand for words. And, tangentially, if you can’t spell OMG, you’ve got bigger issues than needing to look it up in the OED. (That kind of rolls off the tongue if you read it out loud!)

Of course, perhaps there should be a place where these words are defined so that people don’t think that LOL still means “little old lady,” because how awkward would it be if the person on the other end of my text or tweet thought I was calling them a little old lady when in fact I was giggling at their humorous remark. Instead of a compliment, they would perceive an insult. No good! And maybe the OED is the only place official enough for this defining to take place. It just seems odd to me to have a book that defines words define things that stand for words. It kinda makes my brain hurt a bit.

But, that’s only because I’m thinking about it too hard. They also added taquito! I’ll start thinking about taquitos instead. Yum.

Check out the updates at the Oxford English Dictionary website