ZOMG

ZOMG is a bastardization of the Internet shorthand term for Oh My God , OMG. The term is commonly used to express humorously overwrought excitement and as a way of mocking internet slang as a whole, and is most likely representative of pushing the shift key over-zealously and sloppily, thus pushing the Z key in the process, on a qwerty keyboard. It has appeared on various websites and message boards, often associated with a witty remark or Internet_trolling, and was spotted in use as early as 1996. It is reasonably widespread today in the online anime and gaming communities, and is often used in its more ironic sense on internet pop-culture forums such as Fark.com.

Because it is a form of written slang and is not commonly used in oral conversation, there is no standard pronunciation. Attempts to pronounce it include , , , , , , or .

ZOMFG, from OMFG (Oh My Fucking God), is also sometimes seen.

= Usage =

ZOMG is often followed by a variation of LOL (Internet slang) or by an excessive series of exclamation points trailing into a numerical 1 . This last convention implies the typist s ineptitude in creating a simple exclamation mark on a qwerty keyboard. A common addition to the previous scenario is to append the word one after the numerical 1 , e.g., ZOMG!!!!!!1111one . On some message boards, this is sarcastically extended to phrases such as ZOMG!!!!1111onetwoeleventy111 . In some cases typists will go to extreme lengths such as typing ZOMG!!!11!1one!1cos(0) . In each case, the (self-depreciating) implication is that the typist lacks the wherewithal to type correctly. Other online communities, on the other hand, have an alternative spin on this mockery – suggesting that ZOMG is, in fact, an acronym for Zachary Owns More Gravel .

In gaming communities, ZOMG is often followed by hax , and cries of ZOMG hax! and the like may be heard when a player does anything especially impressive, implying (ironically or otherwise) that the player must be hacking the game to do so well.

Another meaning of the word suggests a useage as an odd child of the two words Zing and OMG . This implies a more humourous nature to the word itself without the necessary implications of surprise that come with the acronym OMG .

= Popularity =

This slang word was not made popular on the Internet at large until its reinvention in 2003. ZOMG spread from a personal joke between James Curbo and friend Matthew Milan to the Raspberry Heaven Internet community, from there to the Something Awful Forums, LUElinks Forums, and popular image board 4chan upon its opening in October 2003, and from these places spread to the Internet community at large.