Omg! Lol!

**TotalMayhem** · 27-03-2011, 08:34 PM

FYI, for the March 2011 release of the Oxford English Dictionary, they have selected for publication a number of noteworthy initialisms - abbreviations consisting of the initial letters of a name or expression.

Who would have thunk? OMG goes back to 1917

**C. Flower** · 27-03-2011, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by TotalMayhem

FYI, for the March 2011 release of the Oxford English Dictionary, they have selected for publication a number of noteworthy initialisms - abbreviations consisting of the initial letters of a name or expression.

Who would have thunk? OMG goes back to 1917

Have they got around to explaining where OK came from yet ?

**Sam Lord** · 27-03-2011, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by C. Flower

Have they got around to explaining where OK came from yet ?

It probably comes from Irish.

How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads

By Daniel Cassidy

In a series of lively essays, this pioneering book proves that U.S. slang has its strongest wellsprings in nineteenth-century Irish America. "Jazz" and "poker", "sucker" and "scam" all derive from Irish. While Demonstrating this, Daniel Cassidy simultaneously traces the hidden history of how Ireland fashioned America, not just linguistically, but through the Irish gambling underworld, urban street gangs, and the powerful political machines that grew out of them. Cassidy uncovers a secret national heritage, long discounted by our WASP-dominated culture.

**Dr. FIVE** · 27-03-2011, 08:43 PM

Irish gambling underworld, urban street gangs, and the powerful political machines that grew out of them.

!!!

**Hapax** · 27-03-2011, 08:46 PM

Originally Posted by Sam Lord

It probably comes from Irish.

How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads

By Daniel Cassidy

In a series of lively essays, this pioneering book proves that U.S. slang has its strongest wellsprings in nineteenth-century Irish America. "Jazz" and "poker", "sucker" and "scam" all derive from Irish. While Demonstrating this, Daniel Cassidy simultaneously traces the hidden history of how Ireland fashioned America, not just linguistically, but through the Irish gambling underworld, urban street gangs, and the powerful political machines that grew out of them. Cassidy uncovers a secret national heritage, long discounted by our WASP-dominated culture.

Daniel Cassidy's word doesnt carry much weight in linguistic circles: ’S cam é!