LOL (also spelled lol) is an acronym, the abbreviation for "laughing out loud" or less commonly "lots of laughs" or the backronym "lots of love". 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 Internet Relay Chat and instant messaging). It is used for expressing general amusement, or 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.

Analysis

Many people are critical of "LOL" and its related acronyms and there is widespread controversy over their use.

Siren criticises the overuse of "LOL", stating that he has "seen people type 'LOL' after every sentence" and thus finds it hard to believe "that people are actually laughing out loud every single time they type this". Fanged criticizes "LOL" on the grounds that whilst the concept of laughing out loud existed prior to the existence of the acronym, the existence of the acronym decreases the quality of the English language, with its "insidious habit of sneaking into people’s homework, notes, and other daily thoughts in general". Brad observes that people "say 'lol' for no reason at all" and asserts that the word has been "used so much in common Internet slang that we have been desensitized to its meaning." Lacetti, professor of humanities at Stevens Institute of Technology, and Molsk predict 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." Selinger, discussing meeting people over the Internet, states that she has "already made it clear to friends and family that I will never date anyone who writes 'sup' or 'lol' ... to me in an email."

Twitchell, on the other hand, defends these acronyms as having "become a standard part of Internet conversations,and you're just going to have to get used to it".

Variations on the theme

Internet laughter slang

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, lollercoaster). Sometimes the Os are replaced with alternating or random zeroes (e.g. lo0o0ol).

Despite it being an English language acronym, it is often used by non-English speakers as-is, even in other scripts.