LOL (also spelled lol) is a TLA, the abbreviation for "laughing out loud", "laugh out loud", or less commonly "lots of laughs". LOL is a common element of Internet slang used historically on Usenet and in bulletin board systems; and continuing to the present day in nearly all Internet and wireless venues (e.g IRC and instant messaging). It is used for expressing general amusement, or a wide variety of subtle emotions depending on subcultural context. As well as being a state of action, some use the word as a verb, such as "I'm going to lol". Many similar acronyms for expressing laughter exist. In Dutch "lol" is a common word meaning "fun", but recently, the term LOL has been sneaking into English spoken conversational speech as well, as a wry acknowledgment of humour rather than actually laughing. LOL is also widely used to lessen the impact of a somewhat serious sentence, for example "I don't really want to do it lol".
Analysis
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Many people are critical of "LOL" and its related acronyms and there is widespread controversy over their use. Some message boards ban the usage of "LOL". Most people seem to use "LOL" as a filler in a message instead of actually "laughing out loud," for example, someone may say "lol I don't know" despite the fact that "lol" does not necessarily mean the person is laughing out loud. "LOL" can also be used to mean 'lots of love', however, those who use it in this form are clearly stretching it.
Variations on the theme
The widespread use of the term has sprung many variations such as pseudo-pluralizations (e.g. lols and lolz), repetitions (e.g. lololol, loooool, and any number of other repetitious variants), and puns (e.g. lollerskates, lolgasm, lollercoaster, lolocaust, lollerfest). Sometimes the Os are replaced with alternating or random zeroes (e.g. lo0o0ol).
Despite it being an English acronym, it is often used by non-English speakers as-is, even in other scripts (eg. Arabic: لول, Hebrew: לול).
Variants and translations in widespread use
- El oh el - pseudo-pronunciation.
- lal or lawl — "la(w)l" can refer to either a way in which someone words the phrase 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.
- Lol (lollig) is a Dutch word, meaning fun (funny).
- Mdr is the equivalent in French : Mort De Rire ('Dying of laughter')
- ｗ — used commonly in 2channel
- lolled (also spelled "lol'd") - past-tense form; as in the sentence, "I lolled at the movie."
- LMAO stands for "Laughing My Arse Off" or "Laughing My Ass Off" and has several variations itself:
- LMFAO - The F can stand for Fat or for Fucking, or both.
- PMSL - Stands for Pissing Myself Laughing.
- ROFL/ROTFL - Rolling On the Floor, Laughing. Roffle is now also a widely used variation of ROFL, along with its own variations, and of course, in any permutation such as: ROFLMAO.
- LAWL - Laughing A Whole Lot
- ial stands for "I am Laughing" or "I actually laughed". The word was created after people were annoyed that lol is commonly overused even when a person is not laughing. ial is used when someone actually laughs in response to what has been said.
- lolz is occasionally used in place of "lol".