OMG! It is a little known fact that the first recorded use of the abbreviation OMG was in 1917 by Lord Fisher in a letter to Winston Churchill. Does this mean Lord Fisher was the world's first teenage girl? Of course not, but in recent times the term is often associated with teenagers, particularly girls, and such contractions are so common in a language now used regularly by younger generations to communicate, that the word has been officially added to the term Dictionary Oxford English. Many different opinions have been expressed about the development of the vocabulary called "text speak" and in this essay I will explore the idea that texting and web-based communications help or limit the English language. as we know it. So has texting suddenly become the most used form of communication? One of the main reasons is that SMS is convenient, since it is asynchronous. It allows the recipient to respond at their own discretion and does not require the immediate attention that a phone call requires. Another important factor is that texting has now become the social norm, especially among teenagers. Teenagers are rarely seen calling a friend; instead, they tap their phones incessantly. That's because texting has become so popular among teens that it's now pretty much the only way they communicate, so calling a friend would feel strange, almost unnatural. Texting is also cheaper which means you can avoid those awkward moments of silence that might happen on the phone. These awkward pauses, hesitations, and false starts are often found in spoken conversations, but are less common when texting. Some people believe that the situation now is... middle of paper... People who are unable to do so are incarcerated, because their use of the English language is limited to standard English, but texting allows older generations young people to use their understanding of English to manipulate words creatively. Although it can sometimes be difficult to understand text messages written completely in verbatim language, these contractions are used less commonly than before. In general, most adolescents recognize the circumstances in which the use of verbatim language is appropriate, as they make a conscious choice to shorten and contract words, and as they age, many young people decrease their use of this form of English, using it only when necessary. After all, if Lord Fisher could get away with using OMG in a letter to Winston Churchill, why should teenagers be deprived of the right to use such abbreviations when texting??