Original OMG?...

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Was the original use of the now ubiquitous TLA* OMG in a letter to the original outstanding orator? We'll never really know but Letters of Note editor Shaun Usher has pointed out "what might be the first known usage of O.M.G., in a September 1917 missive from British admiral John Arbuthnot "Jacky" Fisher (or Lord Fisher**) to Sir Winston Churchill.". Hat-tip New York Magazine. Click on image to enlarge and read. Certainly the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) suggests it was the first usage.

* TLA = Three Letter Acronym (aha!)

** Lord Fisher is often considered the second most important figure in British naval history, after Lord Nelson [Wiki]

Original OMG?...

---

Was the original use of the now ubiquitous TLA* OMG in a letter to the original outstanding orator? We'll never really know but Letters of Note editor Shaun Usher has pointed out "what might be the first known usage of O.M.G., in a September 1917 missive from British admiral John Arbuthnot "Jacky" Fisher (or Lord Fisher**) to Sir Winston Churchill.". Hat-tip New York Magazine. Click on image to enlarge and read. Certainly the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) suggests it was the first usage.

* TLA = Three Letter Acronym (aha!)
** Lord Fisher is often considered the second most important figure in British naval history, after Lord Nelson [Wiki]

Original outstanding orator...

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You may think I should write about the Olympics again (what...a...day: Britain's greatest Olympics day since 1908, that middle link from Cranmer) but this is about another truly Great Briton: the Morgan Library and Museum in New York [Link] is holding an exhibition entitled "Churchill: The Power of Words": visitors (crowds have exceeded all expectations) can listen to (and read) the many speeches and see and read the notes, letters, documents etc 'full of annotations and alterations made by Churchill himself'. Allen Packwood, co‑curator of the exhibition and director of the Churchill Archives in Cambridge said "Our aim was to present Churchill in his own words",



[Edited: 'dead' image removed]
"To let visitors hear his voice. To let them read his wartime speeches and see how they were constructed. We wanted to show the blood, toil, tears and sweat that went into his compositions. Because those words mattered. They had a profound effect on Britain, on Europe and on the United States." [DT]



Edward Rothstein, in his fantastic Exhibition Review in the NYT back in June wrote:

"...what the rest of this fine exhibition accomplishes is to show how Churchill’s words can seem the expression of a life force, mixing mercurial passions and extraordinary discipline, passionate devotion and exuberant self-promotion, extravagant indulgence and ruthless analysis." [NYT]

If a quick trip across the pond isn't on the cards then perhaps a visit to the site that the museum has launched in conjunction with the Churchill Archives Centre: discoverChurchill.org. Reading and listening I find myself moved beyond words (something Winnie never suffered!).



"Action This Day"!

Original outstanding orator...

---

You may think I should write about the Olympics again (what...a...day: Britain's greatest Olympics day since 1908, that middle link from Cranmer) but this is about another truly Great Briton: the Morgan Library and Museum in New York [Link] is holding an exhibition entitled "Churchill: The Power of Words": visitors (crowds have exceeded all expectations) can listen to (and read) the many speeches and see and read the notes, letters, documents etc 'full of annotations and alterations made by Churchill himself'. Allen Packwood, co‑curator of the exhibition and director of the Churchill Archives in Cambridge said "Our aim was to present Churchill in his own words",

[Edited: 'dead' image removed] "To let visitors hear his voice. To let them read his wartime speeches and see how they were constructed. We wanted to show the blood, toil, tears and sweat that went into his compositions. Because those words mattered. They had a profound effect on Britain, on Europe and on the United States." [DT]

Edward Rothstein, in his fantastic Exhibition Review in the NYT back in June wrote:

"...what the rest of this fine exhibition accomplishes is to show how Churchill’s words can seem the expression of a life force, mixing mercurial passions and extraordinary discipline, passionate devotion and exuberant self-promotion, extravagant indulgence and ruthless analysis." [NYT]

If a quick trip across the pond isn't on the cards then perhaps a visit to the site that the museum has launched in conjunction with the Churchill Archives Centre: discoverChurchill.org. Reading and listening I find myself moved beyond words (something Winnie never suffered!).

"Action This Day"!