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| Many people are critical of "LOL" and its related acronyms and there is widespread controversy over their use. | Many people are critical of "LOL" and its related acronyms and there is widespread controversy over their use. | ||
| 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> |
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 ]s, are "often misunderstood" by students and are "difficult to decipher" unless their meanings are explained in advance. | |||
| ]<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>{{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, | ]<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>{{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, | ||
Revision as of 14:22, 16 January 2007
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LOL (also written lol or lawl) is an abbreviation for "laugh out loud", "laughing out loud", or very rarely "lots of laughter", "lots of laughs" or "laugh online". " LOL is a common element of Internet slang used, historically, on Usenet. It is similar to the acronyms "lmao" (laughing my ass/arse off), "rofl" (rolling on the floor laughing), and "roflmao" (a combination of the two), which are used to communicate a higher degree of amusement. LOL can be pronounced phonetically as "LOLL" or "LAWL." Evidence of this phrase has been located as far back as a Usenet posting on January 17, 1990.
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.
Analysis
Many people are critical of "LOL" and its related acronyms and there is widespread controversy over their use.
Lacetti, professor of humanities at Stevens Institute of Technology, and Molsk in their essay entitled The Lost Art of Writing 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 in a study of on-line courses and how they can be improved through podcasting have found that these acronyms, and emoticons, are "often misunderstood" by students and are "difficult to decipher" unless their meanings are explained in advance.
David Crystal 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 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, 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 describes "LOL", "ROTFL", and other initialisms as helpful as long as they are not overused.
In the case of teenagers who have grown up with e-mail and text-messaging, the abbreviation "lol" has become so commonplace as to lose all meaning. It often serves merely as a place-holder, punctuating sentences and comments much as the words "like" and "um" do for Generation X. Many people also tend to use this "lol" as a means of ending sentences or when they have nothing else to say. It has been used so much by some people that they will in fact pronounce "LOL" in verbal communication in place of laughing and other short phrases.
Variations on the theme
Despite it being an English acronym, it is often used by non-English speakers as-is, even in other scripts (eg. Template:Lang-ar, Hebrew: לול, Cyrillic: лол). It can also be used in Interlingua.
Translations in widespread use
Most of these abbreviations 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.
- lolz — plural form occasionally used in place of "LOL".
- mdr — French version of the expression "LOL", meaning "mort de rire". Roughly translated, it means "dead from laughing".
Other languages
Lol is a Dutch word (not an acronym), which, conveniently, means 'fun' ('lollig' means funny).
LOL in Sinhalese refers to a tropical cherry.
References
- Russ Armadillo Coffman (1990-01-17). "smilies collection". Newsgroup: rec.humor. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
{{cite newsgroup}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Silvio Lacetti and Scott Molsk (2003-09-06). "Cost of poor writing no laughing matter". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Article co-authored by Stevens professor and student garners nationwide attention from business, academia" (Press release). Stevens Institute of Technology. 2003-10-22.
{{cite press release}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - 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, University of Quebec at Montreal, 22-23 June 2006. Academic Conferences
Limited. p. 516. ISBN 1905305222.
{{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter|booktitle=ignored (|book-title=suggested) (help); line feed character in|publisher=at position 21 (help) - David Crystal (2001-09-20). Language and the Internet. Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN 0-521-80212-1.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Louis R. Franzini (2002). Kids Who Laugh: How to Develop Your Child's Sense of Humor. Square One Publishers,
Inc. pp. 145–146. ISBN 0757000088.
{{cite book}}: line feed character in|publisher=at position 23 (help) - Victoria Clarke (2002-01-30). "Internet English: an analysis of the variety of language used on Telnet talkers" (PDF).
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Michael Egan. Email Etiquette. Cool Publications Ltd. p. 57. ISBN 1844811182.