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Use of "lol" in response to a joke, in a 2007 conversation on IRC

LOL, or lol, is an initialism for laughing out loud[1][2][3][4] and a popular element of Internet slang. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication and even face-to-face communication. It is one of many initialisms for expressing bodily reactions, in particular laughter, as text, including initialisms for more emphatic expressions of laughter such as LMAO[5] ("laughing my ass off") and ROFL[6][7][8] or ROTFL[9][10] ("rolling on the floor laughing").

The list of acronyms "grows by the month" (said Peter Hershock in 2003),[7] and they are collected along with emoticons and smileys into folk dictionaries that are circulated informally amongst users of Usenet, IRC, and other forms of (textual) computer-mediated communication.[11] These initialisms are controversial, and several authors[12][13][14][15] recommend against their use, either in general or in specific contexts such as business communications.

The Oxford English Dictionary first listed LOL in March 2011.[16]

Origins

In the 1980s, Wayne Pearson was reportedly the first person to have used LOL while responding to a friend's joke in a pre-Internet digital chat room called Viewline. Instead of writing "hahaha," as he had done before when he found something humorous, Pearson instead typed "LOL" to symbolize extreme laughter.[17][18]

Analysis

Richard Nixon laughing out loud in 1969 (prior to the invention of the initialism LOL)

Silvio Laccetti (professor of humanities at Stevens Institute of Technology) and Scott Molski, in their essay entitled The Lost Art of Writing, are critical of the terms, predicting reduced chances of employment for students who use such slang, 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."[12][13] Fondiller and Nerone in their style manual assert that "professional or business communication should never be careless or poorly constructed" whether one is writing an electronic mail message or an article for publication, and warn against the use of smileys and abbreviations, stating that they are "no more than e-mail slang and have no place in business communication".[14]

Linguist John McWhorter stated, "Lol is being used in a particular way. It's a marker of empathy. It's a marker of accommodation. We linguists call things like that pragmatic particles…" Pragmatic particles are the words and phrases utilized to alleviate the awkward areas in casual conversation, such as oh in "Oh, I don't know" and uh when someone is thinking of something to say. McWhorter stated that lol is utilized less as a reaction to something that is hilarious, but rather as a way to lighten the conversation.[19]

Frank Yunker and Stephen Barry, in a study of online courses and how they can be improved through podcasting, have found that these slang terms, 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).[15] Matt Haig singles out LOL as one of the three most popular initialisms in Internet slang, alongside BFN[dubious – discuss] ("bye for now") and IMHO ("in my honest/humble opinion"). He describes the various initialisms of Internet slang as convenient, but warns that "as ever more obscure acronyms emerge they can also be rather confusing".[1] Hossein Bidgoli likewise states that these initialisms "save keystrokes for the sender but [...] might make comprehension of the message more difficult for the receiver" and that "[s]lang may hold different meanings and lead to misunderstandings especially in international settings"; he advises that they be used "only when you are sure that the other person knows the meaning".[20]

Tim Shortis observes that ROFL is a means of "annotating text with stage directions".[8] Peter Hershock, in discussing these terms 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."[7]

David Crystal 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?".[21] Louis Franzini 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.[2]

Victoria Clarke, in her analysis of telnet talkers, 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".[22] Michael Egan describes LOL, ROFL, and other initialisms as helpful so 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.[3] June Hines Moore shares that view.[23] So, too, does Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts, who gives the same advice of not using them in business correspondence, "or you won't be LOL".[24]

Acceptance

On March 24, 2011, LOL, along with other acronyms, was formally recognized in an update of the Oxford English Dictionary.[16][25] In their research, it was determined that the earliest recorded use of LOL as an initialism was for "little old lady" in the 1960s.[26] They also discovered that the oldest written record of the use of LOL in the contemporary meaning of "Laughing Out Loud" was from a message typed by Wayne Pearson in the 1980s, from the archives of Usenet.[27]

Gabriella Coleman references "lulz" extensively in her anthropological studies of Anonymous.[28][29]

A 2003 study of college students by Naomi Baron found that the use of these initialisms in computer-mediated communication (CMC), specifically in instant messaging, was actually lower than she had expected. The students "used few abbreviations, acronyms, and emoticons". Out of 2,185 transmissions, there were 90 initialisms in total;[30] 76 were occurrences of LOL.[31]

LOL, ROFL, and other initialisms have crossed from computer-mediated communication to face-to-face communication. David Crystal—likening the introduction of LOL, ROFL, 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".[32][30] However Geoffrey K. Pullum argues that even if interjections such as LOL and ROFL were to become very common in spoken English, their "total effect on language" would be "utterly trivial".[33]

Variations on the theme

Variants

The OMEGALUL emote

Derivations

A lolcat using "LOL"

Related

"lqtm" redirects here. For linear quantum Turing machines, see Quantum Turing machine.
An animated ASCII art image popularized in 2004 by memes using the word "roflcopter"

Commonly used equivalents in other languages

Pre-dating the Internet and phone texting by a century, the way to express laughter in morse code is "hi hi". The sound of this in morse ('di-di-di-dit di-dit, di-di-di-dit di-dit') is thought to represent chuckling.[47][48]

The word "lol" in other languages

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Matt Haig (2001). E-Mail Essentials: How to Make the Most of E-Communications. Kogan Page. p. 89. ISBN 0-7494-3576-3.
  2. ^ a b Louis R. Franzini (2002). Kids Who Laugh: How to Develop Your Child's Sense of Humor. Square One Publishers. pp. 145–146. ISBN 0-7570-0008-8.
  3. ^ a b Michael Egan (2004). Email Etiquette. Cool Publications Ltd. pp. 32, 57–58. ISBN 1-84481-118-2.
  4. ^ Tom Meltzer (September 6, 2011). "What 'lol' doesn't mean – but could". The Guardian.
  5. ^ a b LMAO Archived December 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine – entry at Netlingo.com
  6. ^ Ryan Goudelocke (August 2004). Credibility and Authority on Internet Message Boards (M.M.C. thesis). Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. p. 22. doi:10.31390/gradschool_theses.3190.
  7. ^ a b c Hershock, Peter (2003). Technology and cultural values : on the edge of the third millennium. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press East-West Philosophers Conference. p. 561. ISBN 9780824826475.
  8. ^ a b Tim Shortis (2001). The Language of ICT. Routledge. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-415-22275-4.
  9. ^ Eric S. Raymond and Guy L. Steele (1996). The New Hacker's Dictionary. MIT Press. p. 435. ISBN 0-262-68092-0.
  10. ^ Robin Williams and Steve Cummings (1993). Jargon: An Informal Dictionary of Computer Terms. University of Michigan. pp. 475. ISBN 978-0-938151-84-5.
  11. ^ Steven G. Jones (1998). Cybersociety 2.0: Revisiting Computer-Mediated Community and Technology. Sage Publications Inc. pp. 52. ISBN 0-7619-1462-5.
  12. ^ a b Silvio Laccetti and Scott Molski (September 6, 2003). "Cost of poor writing no laughing matter". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on June 11, 2003. Retrieved October 10, 2005.
  13. ^ a b "Article co-authored by Stevens professor and student garners nationwide attention from business, academia" (Press release). Stevens Institute of Technology. October 22, 2003. Archived from the original on March 15, 2007.
  14. ^ a b Shirley H. Fondiller and Barbara J. Nerone (2007). Health Professionals Style Manual. Springer Publishing Company. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-8261-0207-2.
  15. ^ a b Frank Yunker and Stephen Barry. "Threaded Podcasting: The Evolution of On-Line Learning". In Dan Remenyi (ed.). Proceedings of the International Conference on e-Learning, Université du Québec à Montréal, June 22–23, 2006. Academic Conferences Limited. p. 516. ISBN 1905305222.
  16. ^ a b Anna Stewart (March 25, 2011). "OMG! Oxford English Dictionary adds new words". CNN. Archived from the original on April 1, 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2011.
  17. ^ Love, Shayla (March 15, 2022). "Why We Use "lol" So Much". VICE.com. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  18. ^ Hudes, Sammy (October 7, 2015). "What's it like to coin the term LOL?". Calgary Herald. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  19. ^ McWhorter, John (April 22, 2013). "Txtng is killing language. JK!!!".
  20. ^ Hossein Bidgoli (2004). The Internet Encyclopedia. John Wiley and Sons. p. 277. ISBN 0-471-22201-1.
  21. ^ David Crystal (September 20, 2001). Language and the Internet. Cambridge University Press. pp. 34. ISBN 0-521-80212-1.
  22. ^ Victoria Clarke (January 30, 2002). "Internet English: an analysis of the variety of language used on Telnet talkers" (PDF).
  23. ^ June Hines Moore (2007). Manners Made Easy for Teens. B&H Publishing Group. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-8054-4459-9.
  24. ^ Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts (2004). Strategic Business Letters and E-Mail. Houghton Mifflin. p. 289. ISBN 0-618-44833-0.
  25. ^ Marsia Mason (April 4, 2011). "OMG, K.I.D.S., IMHO, Needs to Go". Moorestown Patch. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  26. ^ Graeme Diamond (March 24, 2011). "New initialisms in the OED". Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2011.
  27. ^ James Morgan (April 8, 2011). "Why did LOL infiltrate the language?". BBC News. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  28. ^ Norton, Quinn (July 18, 2010). "Why Do Anonymous Geeks Hate Scientologists?". Gizmodo. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  29. ^ Coleman, Gabriella. "Our Weirdness Is Free: The logic of Anonymous — online army, agent of chaos, and seeker of justice". Triple Canopy. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  30. ^ a b Kristen Philipkoski (February 22, 2005). "The Web Not the Death of Language". Wired News.
  31. ^ Naomi Baron (February 18, 2005). "Instant Messaging by American College Students: A Case Study in Computer-Mediated Communication" (PDF). American Association for the Advancement of Science.
  32. ^ Neda Ulaby (February 18, 2006). "OMG: IM Slang Is Invading Everyday English". Digital Culture. National Public Radio.
  33. ^ Geoffrey K. Pullum (January 23, 2005). "English in Deep Trouble?". Language Log. Retrieved May 3, 2007.
  34. ^ Schwartz, Mattathias (August 3, 2008). "The Trolls Among Us". The New York Times. pp. MM24. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  35. ^ Grayson, Nathan (November 12, 2019). "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About The 'Omegalul' Emote (But Were Afraid To Ask)". Kotaku. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  36. ^ Çakır, Gökhan (March 5, 2021). "Twitch slang and common terms explained". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  37. ^ "lel". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  38. ^ Garber, Megan (July 17, 2014). "'LEL,' 'Nyahahaha,' 'U Wat Brah': The Creative Ways We Laugh Online". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  39. ^ "What does *G* mean?". Internet Slang. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
  40. ^ "What does J4G stand for?". Acronym finder. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
  41. ^ a b Sarkar, Samit (September 14, 2017). "Bungie explains how Destiny 2 armor resembling hate symbol made it into the game". Polygon. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  42. ^ Moomaw, Graham (February 16, 2017). "In Charlottesville, GOP candidate for governor Corey Stewart allies with alt-right-inspired blogger who wants to protect 'glorious Western civilization'". Richmond Times-Dispatch.
  43. ^ "How an ancient Egyptian god spurred the rise of Trump". The Conversation. March 7, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  44. ^ "LMBO". Online Slang Dictionary. 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  45. ^ "What does LQTM mean?". Internet Slang. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
  46. ^ "LMAO". NetLingo. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
  47. ^ Dinkins, Rodney R. (2010). "AMATEUR RADIO GLOSSARY: JARGON, ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMINOLOGY". Archived from the original on September 19, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
  48. ^ Dinkins, Rodney R. (2007). "Origin Of HI HI". ORIGIN OF HAM SPEAK – FACT, LEGENDS AND MYTHS. Archived from the original on July 10, 2005. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
  49. ^ Elkan, Mikael (2002). "Chat, chatsprog og smileys". Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
  50. ^ "¡ja, ja, ja!". SpanishDict. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  51. ^ Marcoleta, Harvey (April 24, 2010). "Jejemons: The new 'jologs'". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on April 27, 2010. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  52. ^ Nacino, Joseph (April 26, 2010). "Jejemon in the Philippines". CNET Asia. Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  53. ^ "MDR". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  54. ^ "French-English translation for "mdr (mort de rire)"". babLa. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  55. ^ "Learning to laugh and smile online... Brazilian Portuguese, by Semantica". Brazilian Portuguese, by Semantica. June 9, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  56. ^ "Slang 속어". We Study Korean. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  57. ^ "LOL=wwwwww". Tokyo-Insider. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  58. ^ "Welsh-English Lexicon". Cardiff School of Computer Science. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved July 15, 2008.

Further reading

External links

Look up LOL or lol in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to LOL.
Internet slang variants
Internet slang
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