創(chuàng)新英語(yǔ)-OMG, LOL, FYI Now in Oxford English Dictionary

We all use them when we send text messages; now they have been included in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). They are the online abbreviations OMG, “oh my God”; LOL, “laughing out loud”; FYI, “for your information; and IMHO, “in my humble opinion”. The OED calls them “initialisms” because they are made up of initials. Young people know and use thousands of these shortcuts on social media sites like Twitter and when sending SMS texts. They are useful when there is a limit on the number of characters used in a message. An OED editor, Graeme Diamond, believes there’s more to initialisms than simply saving space in messages. He thinks young people use them to show irony.

Mr Diamond, who is responsible for allowing new words into the OED, said one of the initialisms, “OMG” was not so new as it was included in a letter written in 1917. New entries in the OED include “ego surfing” – the practice of searching your own name on the Internet, and the “five-second rule,” that "allows for the eating of a delicious morsel that has fallen to the floor, provided that it is retrieved within the specified period of time". Lexicographers also decided that the term “muffin top” deserved an entry. This is defined as "a protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers”. It’s also known as “spare tyre” or “love handle”. The dictionary has also included the heart symbol <3 meaning "love".