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| {{wiktionarypar2|LOL|lol}} | |||
| '''LOL''' (also written '''lol''') is a common element of ] used, historically, on ] but now widespread to other forms of ], and even spread to ] communication. It is an abbreviation for "''laughing out loud''"<ref name=Haig>{{cite book|title=E-Mail Essentials: How to Make the Most of E-Communications|author=Matt Haig|pages=89|date=2001|publisher=Kogan Page|id=ISBN 0749435763}}</ref><ref name=Franzini>{{cite book|title=Kids Who Laugh: How to Develop Your Child's Sense of Humor|author=Louis R. Franzini|date=2002|publisher=Square One Publishers, | |||
| Inc.|pages=145–146|id=ISBN 0757000088}}</ref> or "''laugh out loud''"<ref name=Egan>{{cite book|title=Email Etiquette|author=Michael Egan|publisher=Cool Publications Ltd|id=ISBN 1844811182|pages=32,57–58}}</ref> "LOL" is one of many ]s for expressing bodily reactions, in particular laughter, as text, including initialisms such as "ROTFL" ("roll(ing) on the floor laughing")<ref name=Hueng>{{cite book|title=Technology and Cultural Values: On the Edge of the Third Millennium|author=Jiuan Heng|chapter=The emergence of pure consciousness: The Theatre of Virtual Selves in the age of the Internet|editor=Peter D. Hershock, M. T. Stepaniants, and Roger T. Ames|date=2003|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|id=ISBN 0824826477|pages=561}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The New Hacker's Dictionary|author=] and Guy L. Steele|pages=435|date=1996|publisher=MIT Press|id=ISBN 0262680920}}</ref>, a more emphatic expression of laughter, and "BWL" ("bursting with laughter"), above which there is "no greater compliment" according to Magid.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Little PC Book: Windows Xp|author=Lawrence J. Magid|pages=287|date=2001|publisher=Peachpit Press|id=ISBN 0201754703}}</ref> | |||
| The list of initialisms "grows by the month"<ref name=Hueng /> and they are collected along with ]s and ]s into ] dictionaries which are circulated informally amongst users of Usenet, ], and other forms of (textual) computer-mediated communication.<ref>{{cite book|pages=52|title=Cybersociety 2.0: Revisiting Computer-Mediated Community and Technology|author=Steven G. Jones|date=1998|publisher=Sage Publications Inc|id=ISBN 0761914625}}</ref> 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 ], many of which, such as "''lots of love''", predate the Internet.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} LOL has also replaced the more-obvious "Ha!" that letter writers use.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} | |||
| == Analysis == | |||
| Many people are critical of "LOL" and its related acronyms, and there is some debate over their use. | |||
| lol can also mean lots of love, or sometimes used in the form of lollylops or lolzord | |||
| Lacetti, professor of humanities at ], and Molsk in their essay entitled ''The Lost Art of Writing''<ref>{{cite news|author=Silvio Lacetti and Scott Molsk|url=http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0603/08special_writing.html|title=Cost of poor writing no laughing matter|work=]|date=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|publisher=]|title=Article co-authored by Stevens professor and student garners nationwide attention from business, academia|date=]|url=http://howe.stevens.edu/babbio/pressroom/20031022-368-writingoped.html}}</ref> 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<ref>{{cite conference|booktitle=Proceedings of the International Conference on e-Learning, University of Quebec at Montreal, 22-23 June 2006|title=Threaded Podcasting: The Evolution of On-Line Learning|author=Frank Yunker and Stephen Barry|pages=516|editor=Dan Remenyi|publisher=Academic Conferences | |||
| Limited|id=ISBN 1905305222}}</ref> in a study of on-line courses and how they can be improved through ] 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<ref name=Haig /> singles out "LOL" as one of the three most popular initialisms in Internet slang, alongside "BFN" ("bye for now") and "IMHO" ("in my humble 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<ref>{{cite book|title=The Internet Encyclopedia|author=Hossein Bidgoli|pages=277|date=2004|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|id=ISBN 0471222011}}</ref> likewise states that these initialisms "save keystrokes for the sender but might make comprehension of the message more difficult for the receiver", that "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<ref name=Hueng />, 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." | |||
| ]<ref>{{cite book|author=David Crystal|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2001|id=ISBN 0-521-80212-1|title=Language and the Internet|date=]|pages=34}}</ref> notes that use of "LOL" is not necessarily genuine, just as the use of smiley faces or grins is not necessary genuine, posing the rhetorical question "how many people are actually 'laughing out loud' when they send LOL?". Franzini<ref name=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". | |||
| Victoria Clarke, in her analysis of telnet talkers,<ref>{{cite web|title=Internet English: an analysis of the variety of language used on Telnet talkers|author=Victoria Clarke|date=]|url=http://www.american.edu/lfs/tesol/2003%20Paper--Lg%20of%20the%20Internet.pdf|format=PDF}}</ref> 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<ref name=Egan /> 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<ref>{{cite book|title=Strategic Business Letters and E-Mail|author=Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts|pages=289|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|id=ISBN 0618448330}}</ref> 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 == | |||
| {{IPA notice}} | |||
| "LOL", "ROTFL", and the other initialisms have crossed from computer-mediated communication to face-to-face communication. ]s in North America now sometimes use them in spoken communication as well as in written, with "ROFL" pronounced "{{IPA|roʊf•ful}}" or "raf•ful" and "LOL" pronounced "{{IPA|lʌl}}" or "lahl" for example. David Crystal — likening the introduction of "LOL", "ROTFL", and others into spoken language in magnitude to the revolution of ]'s invention of ] in the 15th century — states that this is "a brand new variety of language evolving", invented by young people within five years, that "extend the range of the language, the expressiveness 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.<ref>{{cite web|work=Digital Culture|title=OMG: IM Slang Is Invading Everyday English|author=Neda Ulaby|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5221618|date=]|publisher=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=OMG, that's, like, so uninteresting!|date=]|author=jadedlistener|url=http://jadedlistener.wordpress.com/2006/02/25/omg-thats-like-so-uninteresting/}}</ref><ref name=Philipkoski>{{cite news|title=The Web Not the Death of Language|author=Kristen Philipkoski|date=]|url=http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66671,00.html|work=]}}</ref> | |||
| Conversely, a 2003 study of college students by ] found that the use of these initialisms in computer-mediated communication, specifically in ], 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, only 31 CMC-style abbreviations, 49 emoticons, and only 76 occurrences of "LOL".<ref name=Philipkoski /> | |||
| == Variations on the theme == | |||
| {{wiktionarycat|type=for Internet laughter slang|category=Internet laughter slang}} | |||
| Despite it being an ] acronym, it is often used by non-English speakers as-is, even in other ] (eg. {{lang-ar|]}}, ]: ], Cyrillic: лол). | |||
| ===Translations in widespread use=== | |||
| <!--ACHTUNG: This article is not a dumping ground for arbitrary variations. Any variation added here MUST already have a Wiktionary article, and satisfy the Wiktionary criteria for inclusion as a word. --> | |||
| Most of these abbreviations are usually found in lowercase. | |||
| *] or lawl — can refer to either a pseudo-pronunciation of ''LOL'', or the ] 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. However, "lawl" can sometimes stand for "laughing a whole lot". | |||
| *] — used commonly in ], a Japanese equivalent of the acronym. (w stands for Warashii, which means 'to laugh' in Japanese.) | |||
| *] — plural form occasionally used in place of "LOL". | |||
| *] — French version of the expression "LOL", meaning "mort de rire". Roughly translated, it means "dead from laughing". | |||
| <!--WARNING: This article is not a dumping ground for arbitrary variations. Any variation added here MUST already have a Wiktionary article, and satisfy the Wiktionary criteria for inclusion as a word. --> | |||
| ===Other languages=== | |||
| ] is a ] word (not an acronym), which, conveniently, means 'fun' (']' means funny). | |||
| LOL in ] refers to a tropical cherry.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} | |||
| ===Parody=== | |||
| In the episode of '']'' called "Mr. Monk and the Really, Really Dead Guy", first broadcast on February 23, 2007, and as shown in a promo clip on ] during the preceding week: The title character begins to use the Internet, and is so happy at receiving his first e-mail that he tells a colleague, "It's enough to make me 'LOL' out loud". | |||
| ==References== | |||
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| == Further reading == | |||
| * {{cite newsgroup | title = smilies collection | author = Russ Armadillo Coffman | date = ]-] | newsgroup = rec.humor | url = http://groups.google.com/group/rec.humor/browse_thread/thread/7a3256660d71ea68/ | accessdate = 2006-12-22}} — an early Usenet posting of a folk dictionary of abbreviations and emoticons, listing "LOL" and "ROTFL" | |||
| * {{cite book|author=Connery, Brian A.|date=]|chapter=IMHO: Authority and egalitarian rhetoric in the virtual coffeehouse|editor=Porter, D.|title=Internet Culture|pages=161–179|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|id=ISBN 0415916844}} | |||
| * {{cite paper|title=CREDIBILITY AND AUTHORITY ON INTERNET MESSAGE-BOARDS|publisher=Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College|date=August 2004|pages=22|format=PDF|url=http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07082004-110035/unrestricted/Goudelocke_thesis.pdf|author=Ryan Goudelocke}} | |||
| == See also == | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 04:48, 24 February 2007
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