OMG、LOL等网络热词 牛津英语词典在线版收录

It's official: OMG and LOL are no longer just time-saving shorthands. They're real English.

OMG和LOL不在仅仅是用来省时间的缩略语了。它们正式晋升为真正的英语咯。

In a decision that may drive English teachers across the nation to despair, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the venerable last word on proper language, has embraced the tech world and added several abbreviations — or "initialisms" — to its new online edition.

这一决定不知会不会让全世界的英语老师抓狂咧？作为语言规范方面的权威，牛津英语词典（简称OED）决定将一系列技术用语和英文缩写纳入其在线版本词典中。

Those include OMG (Oh my god), LOL (laughing out loud), TMI (too much information), FYI (for your information) and BFF (best friends forever).

其中就包括OMG (Oh my god/额滴神啊), LOL (laughing out loud/放声大笑), TMI (too much information/说得太多), FYI (for your information/仅供参考) 以及BFF (best friends forever/永远的好朋友)。

The OED explained the decision extensively in an online statement and pointed out many of these "noteworthy initialisms...are strongly associated with the language of electronic commications."

牛津英语词典在一份网上声明中详尽地解释了这一决定，并且指出这些“引人注意的缩写……与网络沟通语言有着密不可分的联系”。

The OED explains that shorthands such as LOL and OMG have gone beyond just saving space and acquired nuanced meanings of their own, with "a bit more than simple abbreviation going on."

牛津英语词典解释说诸如LOL或者OMG之类的缩写，它们的作用已经远远超过了节省空间，而且它们的意思已经有异于它们的原型，是“比单纯的缩略语更多一些些”。

"The intention is usually to signal an informal, gossipy mode of expression, and perhaps parody the level of unreflexive enthusiasm or overstatement that can sometimes appear in online discourse, while at the same time marking oneself as an 'insider' au fait with the forms of expression associated with the latest technology," the OED said.

牛津英语词典方面表示：“这些词汇的使用往往标志着一种非正式的、八卦的表达方式，对于网络交互中常见的不由自主的热情或夸张，也许有一些嘲弄的意图。而与此同时，却也彰显了说话人本身同这种与最新科技紧密联系的言表达形式的熟悉程度”。

But some abbreviations have been around for longer than expected. Researchers at OED discovered that OMG appeared in a personal letter from 1917 (with the same meaning as now), and the letters LOL had a "previous life" in the 1960s, when they signified little old lady.

不过其中有些缩略语的历史由来已久。牛津英语词典表示OMG第一次是在1917年一封私人信件中出现，意思同现在一样，而LOL在1960年代的前身却是小老太太little old lady的意思。