Though commonly associated with texting and teen-speak, the ubiquitous acronym 'OMG' is actually old enough to have been used by your grandparents. The first recorded usage of the term (short, of course, for "Oh My God!") is in the above letter to world-renowned man of letters Winston Churchill, sent to him by a friend and admiral in the British navy all the way back in 1917.
The admiral, Lord Fisher, was apparently, hilariously, something of an excitable gossip, gleefully availing himself of double exclamation points while relaying reported movements of German naval ships. His "OMG" moment comes at the very end of the letter, and he even spells out the meaning for Churchill (in case his straight-laced friend, then a member of parliament, wasn't up with the times). We wonder what Fisher, and Churchill, would think of some of today's trending acronyms.
[via Smithsonian Magazine]
