OMG, LOL, FYI added to Oxford English Dictionary Online - Page 3

bZkindle · 03-26-2011, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Okay so why are you asking then?

Do you really need to be rude?
I don't normally see an abbreviation as being the same as an acronym, in a strict sense, but yes, I suppose they do count.
Does that answer your question?

kennyc · 03-26-2011, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bZkindle

Do you really need to be rude?
I don't normally see an abbreviation as being the same as an acronym, in a strict sense, but yes, I suppose they do count.
Does that answer your question?

Do you? I answered your question and then you get snotty.

And what about your avatar, pretty damn rude to me.

bZkindle · 03-26-2011, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Do you? I answered your question and then you get snotty.

And what about your avatar, pretty damn rude to me.

Wow, just wow.

Hostility much?

kennyc · 03-26-2011, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bZkindle

Wow, just wow.

Hostility much?

Exactly my thought about that avatar.

bZkindle · 03-26-2011, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Exactly my thought about that avatar.

Is that better?

MickeyC · 03-27-2011, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Since when are acronyms words?

The most recognized word in all the languages in all the countries in all the world is, itself, an acronym. Or at least I think it qualifies as an acronym.

TGS · 03-27-2011, 11:44 AM

The OED is not the French Academy - the publishers are not some kind of language police giving approval to, or withholding approval from, linguistic elements. They are recording usage not prescribing "proper" English.

kennyc · 03-27-2011, 11:44 AM

I'm almost afraid to ask???

MickeyC · 03-27-2011, 12:04 PM

"I'm almost afraid to ask???"

OK

kennyc · 03-27-2011, 12:06 PM

OK, that's it? OK?

MickeyC · 03-27-2011, 12:13 PM

That's it. Invented by a bunch of upper middle class boys in Boston back in the early 1900's. It was popular among them to imitate the bad English used by immigrants and one of them invented OK as the misspelled abbreviation for All Correct

Learned this from Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue. Very interesting book. Incidentally, I'm about three quarters of the way through his At Home which is also fascinating.

kennyc · 03-27-2011, 12:17 PM

WOW. That's one of his I have not picked up yet....I do have At Home and will get to it in the near future.

Thank you!

Bilbo1967 · 03-27-2011, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cassidym

That's it. Invented by a bunch of upper middle class boys in Boston back in the early 1900's. It was popular among them to imitate the bad English used by immigrants and one of them invented OK as the misspelled abbreviation for All Correct

Learned this from Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue. Very interesting book. Incidentally, I'm about three quarters of the way through his At Home which is also fascinating.

I haven't read Mother Tongue for a while - it is an interesting book - but I thought that that was just one theory. Others included a contraction of Martin van Buren's nickname (Old Kinderhook) and a derivation from a Native American language word. I thought that there was no definitive evidence for any of them?

MickeyC · 03-27-2011, 12:29 PM

As I recall (and it's been several years since I read The Mother Tongue), he seemed to think this was the true history of the word.

I also learned in this book that there was a sort of linguistic battle over whether to use the French method for making a word plural (add an 's') or the German method (add 'en'). Interestingly enough, the countryside which favored the French approach won out over the cities who used the German.

But, it turns out, there are at least four words that still use the German 'en' method. You know them all and use three of them every day.

Bilbo1967 · 03-27-2011, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cassidym

As I recall (and it's been several years since I read The Mother Tongue), he seemed to think this was the true history of the word.

I also learned in this book that there was a sort of linguistic battle over whether to use the French method for making a word plural (add an 's') or the German method (add 'en'). Interestingly enough, the countryside which favored the French approach won out over the cities who used the German.

But, it turns out, there are at least four words that still use the German 'en' method. You know them all and use three of them every day.

Hmmm..I can think of two off the top of my head, oxen and brethren, and I can't say I use any of those every day (so they can't be the right ones). I'll have to think about that.

I think my favourite piece of trivia came from Mother Tongue as well. What does 'ghoti' spell?

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03-27-2011, 11:44 AM	#37
TGS Country Member Posts: 9,058 Karma: 7676767 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Denmark Device: Liseuse: Irex DR800. PRS 505 in the house, and the missus has an iPad.	The OED is not the French Academy - the publishers are not some kind of language police giving approval to, or withholding approval from, linguistic elements. They are recording usage not prescribing "proper" English.

03-27-2011, 11:44 AM	#38
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,930 Karma: 119747553 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2 & PW, Onyx Boox Go6	I'm almost afraid to ask???

03-27-2011, 12:04 PM	#39
MickeyC Grand Sorcerer Posts: 16,731 Karma: 12185114 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Florida Device: iPhone 6 plus, Sony T1, iPad 3	"I'm almost afraid to ask???" OK

03-27-2011, 12:06 PM	#40
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,930 Karma: 119747553 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2 & PW, Onyx Boox Go6	OK, that's it? OK?

03-27-2011, 12:13 PM	#41
MickeyC Grand Sorcerer Posts: 16,731 Karma: 12185114 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Florida Device: iPhone 6 plus, Sony T1, iPad 3	That's it. Invented by a bunch of upper middle class boys in Boston back in the early 1900's. It was popular among them to imitate the bad English used by immigrants and one of them invented OK as the misspelled abbreviation for All Correct Learned this from Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue. Very interesting book. Incidentally, I'm about three quarters of the way through his At Home which is also fascinating.

03-27-2011, 12:17 PM	#42
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,930 Karma: 119747553 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2 & PW, Onyx Boox Go6	WOW. That's one of his I have not picked up yet....I do have At Home and will get to it in the near future. Thank you!

03-27-2011, 12:29 PM	#44
MickeyC Grand Sorcerer Posts: 16,731 Karma: 12185114 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Florida Device: iPhone 6 plus, Sony T1, iPad 3	As I recall (and it's been several years since I read The Mother Tongue), he seemed to think this was the true history of the word. I also learned in this book that there was a sort of linguistic battle over whether to use the French method for making a word plural (add an 's') or the German method (add 'en'). Interestingly enough, the countryside which favored the French approach won out over the cities who used the German. But, it turns out, there are at least four words that still use the German 'en' method. You know them all and use three of them every day.