LOL

LOL (also written lol) is a common element of Internet slang used, historically, on Usenet but now widespread to other forms of computer-mediated communication such as Yahoo and MSN Messenger, and even spread to face-to-face communication. It is an acronym for "laughing out loud"^[1][2][3] or "laugh out loud",^[4] or, less commonly, "lots of luck".^[3] "LOL" is one of many initialisms for expressing bodily reactions, in particular laughter, as text, including initialisms such as "ROFL" (or "ROTFL") ("roll(ing) on the floor laughing"),^[5][6] a more emphatic expression of laughter, "LMAO" ("laughing my ass off")^[7].

The list of initialisms "grows by the month"^[5] and they are collected along with emoticons and smileys into folk dictionaries which are circulated informally amongst users of Usenet, IRC, and other forms of (textual) computer-mediated communication.^[8] These initialisms are controversial, and several authors recommend against their use, either in general or in specific contexts such as business communications.

The use of LOL to express laughter is unrelated to other uses of the abbreviation, many of which, such as "lots of love", predate the Internet.^{[citation needed]} LOL has also superseded the more-obvious "Ha!" that letter writers used to use.^{[citation needed]}

Analysis

Many people are critical of "LOL" and its related acronyms, and there is some debate over their use.

Lacetti, professor of humanities at Stevens Institute of Technology, and Molsk in their essay entitled The Lost Art of Writing^[9][10] are critical of the acronyms, predicting reduced chances of employment for students who use such acronyms, stating that "Unfortunately for these students, their bosses will not be 'lol' when they read a report that lacks proper punctuation and grammar, has numerous misspellings, various made-up words, and silly acronyms."

Yunker and Barry^[11] in a study of on-line courses and how they can be improved through podcasting have found that these acronyms, and emoticons as well, are "often misunderstood" by students and are "difficult to decipher" unless their meanings are explained in advance. They single out the example of "ROFL" as not obviously being the abbreviation of "rolling on the floor laughing" (emphasis added). Haig^[1] singles out "LOL" as one of the three most popular initialisms in Internet slang, alongside "BFN" ("bye for now") and "IMHO" ("in my humble/honest opinion"). He describes these acronyms, and the various initialisms of Internet slang in general, as convenient, but warns that "as ever more obscure acronyms emerge they can also be rather confusing". Bidgoli^[12] likewise states that these initialisms "save keystrokes for the sender but [...] might make comprehension of the message more difficult for the receiver", that "[s]lang may hold different meanings and lead to misunderstandings especially in international settings", and thus advising that they be used "only when you are sure that the other person knows the meaning".

Hueng,^[5] in discussing these acronyms in the context of performative utterances, points out the difference between telling someone that one is laughing out loud and actually laughing out loud: "The latter response is a straightforward action. The former is a self-reflexive representation of an action: I not only do something but also show you that I am doing it. Or indeed, I may not actually laugh out loud but may use the locution 'LOL' to communicate my appreciation of your attempt at humor."

David Crystal^[13] notes that use of "LOL" is not necessarily genuine, just as the use of smiley faces or grins is not necessarily genuine, posing the rhetorical question "how many people are actually 'laughing out loud' when they send LOL?". Franzini^[2] concurs, stating that there is as yet no research that has determined the percentage of people who are actually laughing out loud when they write "LOL".

Victoria Clarke, in her analysis of telnet talkers,^[14] states that capitalization is important when people write "LOL", and that "a user who types LOL may well be laughing louder than one who types lol", and opines that "these standard expressions of laughter are losing force through overuse". Egan^[4] describes "LOL", "ROTFL", and other initialisms as helpful as long as they are not overused. He recommends against their use in business correspondence because the recipient may not be aware of their meanings, and because in general neither they nor emoticons are (in his view) appropriate in such correspondence. Lindsell-Roberts^[15] shares that view and gives the same advice of not using them in business correspondence, "or you won't be LOL".

Spread from written to spoken communication

"LOL", "ROTFL","LMAO", and the other initialisms have crossed from computer-mediated communication to face-to-face communication. Teenagers now sometimes use them in spoken communication as well as in written, with "ROFL" pronounced /roʊfəl/ or /rɔfəl/ and "LOL" pronounced /loʊl/ or /lɔl/ for example. David Crystal — likening the introduction of "LOL", "ROTFL", and others into spoken language in magnitude to the revolution of Johannes Gutenberg's invention of movable type in the 15th century — states that this is "a brand new variety of language evolving", invented by young people within five years, that "extend[s] the range of the language, the expressiveness [and] the richness of the language". Commentators disagree, saying that these new words, being abbreviations for existing, long-used, phrases, don't "enrich" anything; they just shorten it.^[16][17][18]

Geoffrey K. Pullum points out that even if interjections such as LOL and ROTFL became very common in spoken English, their "total effect on language" would be "utterly trivial".^[19]

Conversely, a 2003 study of college students by Naomi Baron found that the use of these initialisms in computer-mediated communication, specifically in instant messaging, was actually lower than to be expected. The students "used few abbreviations, acronyms, and emoticons". The spelling was "reasonably good" and contractions were "not ubiquitous". Out of 2,185 transmissions, there were 90 initialisms in total, 31 CMC-style abbreviations, 49 emoticons, and 76 occurrences of "LOL".^[18] Nevertheless, such results should be viewed in their correct cultural context, and these statistics do not necessarily apply to other demographic groups.

Variations on the theme

For a list of words for Internet laughter slang, see the Internet laughter slang category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Despite it being an English acronym, it is often used by non-English speakers as-is, even in other scripts (eg. Hebrew: לול, Cyrillic: лол).

Translations in widespread use

Most of these abbreviations are usually found in lowercase.

• lal or lawl — can refer to either a pseudo-pronunciation of LOL, or the German translation (although most German speakers use "LOL"). Saying "lawl" is sometimes meant in mockery of those who use the term LOL, and not meant as serious usage.
• ｗ — used commonly in 2channel, a Japanese equivalent of the acronym. 'ｗ' stands for warau (笑う), which means "to laugh" in Japanese.
• lolz, lulz — "a corruption of LOL", according to MyFOX LA; a pluralization of LOL, though often used in a singular sense.
• mdr — French version of the expression LOL, from the initials of "mort de rire" that roughly translated means "dying laughing".
• 555 — The Thai variation of LOL. '5' in Thai is pronounced "ha", three of them being "hahaha".
• asg — Swedish abbreviation of the term "Asgarv", meaning intensive laughter.
• g — Danish abbreviation of the word "griner", which means "laughing" in Danish.

Other languages

Lol is a native Dutch word (not an acronym) which, conveniently, means "fun" ('lollig' means "funny").

In Welsh, lol means nonsense, e.g. If a person would say "stupid nonsense" in Welsh they would say "lol wirion".

References

Further reading

• Russ Armadillo Coffman (1990-01-17). "smilies collection". rec.humor. (Google Groups). Retrieved on 2006-12-22. — an early Usenet posting of a folk dictionary of abbreviations and emoticons, listing "LOL" and "ROTFL"
• Connery, Brian A. (1997-02-25). "IMHO: Authority and egalitarian rhetoric in the virtual coffeehouse", in Porter, D.: Internet Culture. New York: Routledge, 161–179. ISBN 0415916844. 
• Ryan Goudelocke (August 2004). "CREDIBILITY AND AUTHORITY ON INTERNET MESSAGE-BOARDS" (PDF). Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.

See also

• List of Internet slang
• Leet
• Lolcat

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