Does Texting 'OMG' Amount to Blasphemy?

Sept. 23, 2009 — -- As texting and instant messaging became a way of life, a shorthand lexicon emerged to save time and stress on fingers. Acronyms like LOL and TTYL replaced "laughing out loud" and "talk to you later." The letters OMG replaced "Oh, My God." Or did it?

There's debate on what the G in OMG really means. Does it stand for "gosh," or "God"? If it stands for "God," is using it a sin?

John Donvan spoke to a group of high school students from the Washington Hebrew Congregation youth group in Bethesda, Md., about OMG and how it relates to the third commandment, which says, according to the King James version of the Bible, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain" (Exodus 20:7).

There are various interpretations of the commandment, but it is commonly defined as using the Lord's name casually or irreverently. Saying "Jesus Christ!" in any way other than in praise is one example.

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OMG has a number of meanings ranging from excitement to disbelief. For a vast number of American teens, it has replaced the exclamation mark. "You don't think that you're saying 'Oh, my God,'" said Rachel Edelman, 15. "You're just thinking 'Oh!' like it's a surprise. OMG. It's nothing to be thought about."

Lexi Levin, 18, describes herself as "an avid OMG user in text," and she thinks using OMG is a long way from "Oh, my God." To her, it's akin to golly, gee and gosh. "That's kind of how I think about it. I don't know if that's a fair way to think about it. But it's how I make myself feel better."

Julian Schneider, 14, agrees. "If you say something like 'Oh my God,' then you're using His name in vain, but if you're saying something like OMG it's not really using the Lord's name in vain because you're not saying 'Oh my God.' It's more like 'Wow. Really?'"

For hundreds of years, people have found ways to avoid using the Lord's name in vain. Words like gosh and golly, both dating back to the 1700s, served as euphemisms for God. It is a Jewish tradition to write "G_d" to show respect. Exclamations like "Oh, my God" and "Jesus Christ" were rarely used in polite conversation and drew rebuke when they were. But that has changed in recent decades and art is imitating life. The Parents Television Council reports that in 2007, the most recent year for which they have data, 95.9 percent of uses of the word God on primetime network television were in vain.