“Lol” redirects here. For other uses, see
Lol (disambiguation).
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LOL, lol in
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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citation needed] LOL has also superseded the more-obvious "Ha!"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.
