New Delhi: The Oxford English Dictionary on Thursday added abbreviations popularly used in electronic communication; including OMG and LOL, as part of the official lexicon.
These words or slang will join other entries of this sort such as IMHO (‘in my humble opinion’), TMI (‘too much information’) and BFF (‘best friends forever’) among others.
"The initialisms are quicker to type than the full forms, and in the case of text messages, or Twitter they help say more in media where there is a limit to a number of characters," Oxford English Dictionary said in a statement.
OMG is the abbreviation for Oh My God and LOL is Laugh Out Loud. For Your Information or FYI also joins ‘muffin top’ - referring to "a protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers."
Readers looking up the word "heart" will also find the symbol listed as an entirely new usage, as a verb meaning "to love" such as I (heart) New York.
The Oxford English Dictionary decided to add these words after its research revealed that the word ‘OMG’ was first used is a personal letter in 1917, while LOL was used way back in 1960 to denote an elderly woman or ‘little old lady’. The research said that FYI had a common historical use, originating in the language of memoranda in 1941.
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