It’s one of the most common phrases of the modern technological age coined by celebrities like Paris Hilton and used by teenage girls across Britain and America.

A far cry from the upper-class world of Lord Fisher

However, it seems OMG is actually very ‘last century’, according to Britain’s Daily Mail.

It has emerged that the British admiral John Arbuthnot Fisher first penned the acronym in a letter to Winston Churchill as far back as 1917.

In fact in the letter Lord Fisher wrote: ‘I hear that a new order of Knighthood is on the tapis — O.M.G (Oh! My! God!) – Shower it on the Admiralty!!’

The phrase, added to the Oxford English Dictionary last year, is the colloquial abbreviation for “Oh My God”, generally used in conversations to express surprise, embarrassment, excitement and disgust, according to the Urban Dictionary.

Today it is normally associated with teenage girls and the phrase was thought to have originated from online chat rooms, most commonly used in online games, web chats and in text messages. It’s a far cry from the upper-class world of Lord Fisher who was one of the most celebrated officers in the Royal Navy.

Lord Fisher began his career during the Crimean War and ended it during the First World War. He is widely credited for materially preparing the fleet for war, introducing the world’s first all-big-gun battleship Dreadnought.

He resigned as First Sea Lord in 1915 after falling out with the then First Lord Winston Churchill over the commitment to the Dardanelles.