q_sharon
02/09/09, 07:46 AM
:itshere:
:lol: :sign_lol: :glitterlol:
LOL (also written with some or all letters lowercase) is an abbreviation for laughing out loud, or laugh out loud. Lol is a common element of Internet slang used historically on Usenet but now 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 such as ROTFL ("roll(ing) on the floor laughing"), a more emphatic expression of laughter, and BWL ("bursting with laughter"), above which there is "no greater compliment" according to technology columnist Larry Magid. Other unrelated expansions include the now mostly historical "lots of luck" or "lots of love" used in letter-writing.
The list of acronyms "grows by the month", 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. These initialisms are controversial, and several authors recommend against their use, either in general or in specific contexts such as business communications.
Spread from written to spoken communication
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.
LOL, ROFL, LMAO, and other initialisms have crossed from computer-mediated communication to face-to-face communication. Teenagers now sometimes use them in spoken communication as well as in written, with ROFL (pronounced /ˈroʊfəl/ or /ˈrɒfəl/) and LOL (pronounced /ˈloʊl/, /ˈlɒl/, or /ˌɛloʊˈɛl/), for example. 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". Commentators disagree, saying that these new words, being abbreviations for existing, long-used, phrases, don't "enrich" anything; they just shorten it.
Geoffrey K. Pullum points out that even if interjections such as LOL and ROTFL were to become very common in spoken English, their "total effect on language" would be "utterly trivial".
Translations in widespread use
Most of these variants are usually found in lowercase.
lal or lawl: can refer to either a pseudo-pronunciation 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.
ｗ: used commonly in 2channel, a Japanese equivalent of the acronym. 'ｗ' stands for 笑う (わらう, warau), which means "to laugh" in Japanese.
lolz: occasionally used in place of LOL.
lulz: Often used to denote humor at another person's expense. Can be used as a noun — e.g. "for the lulz" ("for laughs"/"for the hell of it"). According to a New York Times article about Internet trolling, "lulz means the joy of disrupting another's emotional equilibrium."
lqtm: Because often when behind a computer screen, one will find something funny, but not actually laugh out loud, lqtms or simply lqtm can be used, which stands for "laughing quietly to myself." This term was coined by stand-up comedian Demetri Martin.
mdr: French version of the expression LOL, from the initials of "mort de rire" that roughly translated means "dying of laughter".
חחחחח: Hebrew version of LOL. The letter ח is pronounced 'kh', and it is common to put a group of them together (the longer the group, the greater the amusement) to transcribe 'khkhkhkhkh' (a sound of chuckling). The word LOL is sometimes transliterated, but its usage is not very common.
555: The Thai variation of LOL. "5" in Thai is pronounced "ha", three of them being "hahaha".
asg: Swedish abbreviation of the term Asgarv, meaning intense laughter.
g: Danish abbreviation of the word griner, which means "laughing" in Danish.
rs: in Brazil "rs" (being an abbreviation of "risos", the plural of "laugh") is often used in text based communications in situations where in English lol would be used, repeating it ("rsrsrsrsrs") is often done to express longer laughter or laughing harder.
mkm: in Afghanistan "mkm" (being an abbreviation of the phrase "ma khanda mikonom"). This is a Dari phrase that means "I am laughing".
In Chinese, although 大笑 (da xiao; "big laugh") is used, a more widespread usage is "哈哈哈" (ha ha ha) on internet forums.
Other languages
Lol is a native Dutch word (not an acronym) which, coincidentally, means "fun" ("lollig" means "funny").
In Welsh, lol means "nonsense" – e.g., if a person wanted to say "utter nonsense" in Welsh, they would say "rwtsh lol".
Excerpts from Wikipedia
:type:
And allow me to say that pinoypower's very own LBM can be added to this list. How about creating an emoticon for it, pinoypower? :happy0141::happy0141:
:lol: :sign_lol: :glitterlol:
LOL (also written with some or all letters lowercase) is an abbreviation for laughing out loud, or laugh out loud. Lol is a common element of Internet slang used historically on Usenet but now 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 such as ROTFL ("roll(ing) on the floor laughing"), a more emphatic expression of laughter, and BWL ("bursting with laughter"), above which there is "no greater compliment" according to technology columnist Larry Magid. Other unrelated expansions include the now mostly historical "lots of luck" or "lots of love" used in letter-writing.
The list of acronyms "grows by the month", 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. These initialisms are controversial, and several authors recommend against their use, either in general or in specific contexts such as business communications.
Spread from written to spoken communication
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.
LOL, ROFL, LMAO, and other initialisms have crossed from computer-mediated communication to face-to-face communication. Teenagers now sometimes use them in spoken communication as well as in written, with ROFL (pronounced /ˈroʊfəl/ or /ˈrɒfəl/) and LOL (pronounced /ˈloʊl/, /ˈlɒl/, or /ˌɛloʊˈɛl/), for example. 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". Commentators disagree, saying that these new words, being abbreviations for existing, long-used, phrases, don't "enrich" anything; they just shorten it.
Geoffrey K. Pullum points out that even if interjections such as LOL and ROTFL were to become very common in spoken English, their "total effect on language" would be "utterly trivial".
Translations in widespread use
Most of these variants are usually found in lowercase.
lal or lawl: can refer to either a pseudo-pronunciation 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.
ｗ: used commonly in 2channel, a Japanese equivalent of the acronym. 'ｗ' stands for 笑う (わらう, warau), which means "to laugh" in Japanese.
lolz: occasionally used in place of LOL.
lulz: Often used to denote humor at another person's expense. Can be used as a noun — e.g. "for the lulz" ("for laughs"/"for the hell of it"). According to a New York Times article about Internet trolling, "lulz means the joy of disrupting another's emotional equilibrium."
lqtm: Because often when behind a computer screen, one will find something funny, but not actually laugh out loud, lqtms or simply lqtm can be used, which stands for "laughing quietly to myself." This term was coined by stand-up comedian Demetri Martin.
mdr: French version of the expression LOL, from the initials of "mort de rire" that roughly translated means "dying of laughter".
חחחחח: Hebrew version of LOL. The letter ח is pronounced 'kh', and it is common to put a group of them together (the longer the group, the greater the amusement) to transcribe 'khkhkhkhkh' (a sound of chuckling). The word LOL is sometimes transliterated, but its usage is not very common.
555: The Thai variation of LOL. "5" in Thai is pronounced "ha", three of them being "hahaha".
asg: Swedish abbreviation of the term Asgarv, meaning intense laughter.
g: Danish abbreviation of the word griner, which means "laughing" in Danish.
rs: in Brazil "rs" (being an abbreviation of "risos", the plural of "laugh") is often used in text based communications in situations where in English lol would be used, repeating it ("rsrsrsrsrs") is often done to express longer laughter or laughing harder.
mkm: in Afghanistan "mkm" (being an abbreviation of the phrase "ma khanda mikonom"). This is a Dari phrase that means "I am laughing".
In Chinese, although 大笑 (da xiao; "big laugh") is used, a more widespread usage is "哈哈哈" (ha ha ha) on internet forums.
Other languages
Lol is a native Dutch word (not an acronym) which, coincidentally, means "fun" ("lollig" means "funny").
In Welsh, lol means "nonsense" – e.g., if a person wanted to say "utter nonsense" in Welsh, they would say "rwtsh lol".
Excerpts from Wikipedia
:type:
And allow me to say that pinoypower's very own LBM can be added to this list. How about creating an emoticon for it, pinoypower? :happy0141::happy0141: