Monday, April 29, 2013

OMG (New Russian).



OMG - oh my god - has entered and firmly established itself in new Russian over the past few years.

Some, mostly young women, use it with relish, others complain about its omnipresence and ask whatever happened to the original Russian gospodi bozhe moy (господи, боже мой) - my good Lord.

In Cyrillics, it's transcribed as ОМГ, or omg. 

What makes OMG a case of special interest, is its pronunciation. An abbreviation mostly used in written speech, it is subject to all sorts of transformations in oral usage. I haven't actually heard it spoken, but have asked several times on social networks how Russians pronounce it.

Replies varied from 'omega' to 'oink'. Don't ask me how OMG becomes oink, it's just what they told me. 

See the recent entry on OMG in 'Dictionaries of the 21st Century' website here.


No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...