OMG, I'm nearly 100 years old. LOL.

The abbreviation for Oh My God (OMG), more commonly associated with teenagers and text messaging, is almost 100 years old, research shows.

A British Lord who died in 1920 has been hailed as the first to use the popular acronym by the Oxford English Dictionary Online. 

The dictionary says the abbreviation was first quoted in a personal letter by Lord John Fisher to Winston Churchill in 1917.

Lord Fisher used the three-letter word to express his excitement over rumours of a new knighthood.

"I hear that a new order of Knighthood is on the tapis-O.M.G. (Oh! My God!)- Shower it on the Admiralty!"

The letter was published in Lord Fisher's memoirs, Memories, in 1919.

The abbreviation joined LOL (Laughing Out Loud) and FYI (For Your Information) to be officially recognised in the Oxford English Dictionary Online last year.  

- © Fairfax NZ News