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By James Morgan BBC News
The internet slang term "LOL" (laughing out loud) has been added to the Oxford
English Dictionary, to the mild dismay of language purists. But where did the
term originate? And is it really a threat to our lexicon?
"OMG! LOL's in the OED. LMAO!"
If you find the above string of letters utterly unintelligible, you are clearly
an internet "noob". Let me start again.
Golly gosh! The popular initialism LOL (laughing out loud) has been inducted
into the canon of the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary. Blimey!
What is going on?
The OED defines LOL as an interjection "used chiefly in electronic
communications... to draw attention to a joke or humorous statement, or to
express amusement".
It is both "LOL" where all the letters are pronounced separately, but also
commonly "lol" where it is pronounced as a word.
The phrase was ushered in alongside OMG (Oh My God), with dictionary guardians
pointing to their growing occurrence "in e-mails, texts, social networking...
and even in spoken use".
As well as school playgrounds, words like "lolz" and "lolling" can be heard in
pubs and offices - though often sarcastically, or in parody.
OED definition
LOL (ɛləʊˈɛl/lɒl) colloq.
A. int. Originally and chiefly in the language of electronic communications:
'ha ha!'; used to draw attention to a joke or humorous statement, or to express
amusement.
B. n. An instance of the written interjection 'LOL'.
Love it or loathe it, "lol" is now a legitimate word in our lexicon, says
Graeme Diamond, the OED's principal editor for new words.
"The word is common, widespread, and people understand it," he explains.
The word serves a real purpose - it conveys tone in text, something that even
the most cynical critics accept.
"I don't 'LOL'. I'm basically someone who kind of hates it," says Rob Manuel of
the internet humour site b3ta.
"But the truth is, we do need emotional signifiers in tweets and emails, just
as conversation has laughter. 'LOL' might make me look like a twit, but at
least you know when I'm being arch."
Death of the dictionary
But for young internet entrepreneurs like Ben Huh, of the Cheezburger Network
of comedy sites, "LOL" is much more than a necessary evil. It's both a tool and
a toy.
Ben Huh, CEO, Cheezburger Ben Huh says LOL is 'a part of everyday life'
"'LOL' is a part of everyday life. I use it all the time in e-mail exchanges.
It's a polite way of acknowledging someone," he says.
"And yes, I do say 'LOL' out loud. In almost an ironic sense, like a slow
handclap after a bad joke. 'Lol' means 'yes, I understand that was funny, but
I'm not really laughing'."
But no matter how much irony we cake it in, the L-word grinds the ears of many
people over the age of 25.
"The death of the dictionary" is how one blogger greeted its induction to the
bastion of English.
While on Facebook, there are at least half a dozen "anti-LOL" groups, where
lol-ophobes dream of loll-ageddon:
"If something is funny, 'ha', 'hehehehe', or 'hee hee' is perfectly fine
depending on the joke, and more descriptive than 'lol'," writes one hater.
Another complains that lol "doesn't sound anything like laughter. In fact you
physically CAN'T say it while smiling. I'm all for bastardisation of the
language, but with lol, that thing you thought was rubbish really is rubbish".
Wags point out that "LOL" is almost always disingenuous. "How many people are
actually laughing out loud when they say LOL?" asks David Crystal, author of
Language and the Internet.
LOL around the world
French version, from the initials of "mort de rire" which roughly translated
means "dying of laughter"
Hebrew version. The letter ח is pronounced 'kh' and ה is pronounced 'h'.
Putting them together makes "khakhakha"
Thai variation of LOL. "5" in Thai is pronounced "ha", three of them being
"hahaha"
Swedish abbreviation of the term Asgarv, meaning intense laughter
Afghan abbreviation of the Dari phrase "ma khanda mikonom", which means "I am
laughing"
Source: Know Your Meme
But those laughing least of all are the language purists, who lament "LOL" as a
hallmark of creeping illiteracy.
"There is a worrying trend of adults mimicking teen-speak," says Marie Clair of
the Plain English Campaign, in the Daily Mail.
"They [adults] are using slang words and ignoring grammar. Their language is
deteriorating."
But is "LOL" really a lazy, childish concoction?
When the OED traced the origins of the acronym, they discovered 1980s computer
fanatics were responsible.
The oldest written records of "LOL" (used to mean laughing out loud) are in the
archives of Usenet, an early internet discussion forum.
And the original use was typed by Wayne Pearson, in Calgary, who says he wrote
the first ever LOL in reply to a gag by someone called "Sprout".
"LOL" was "geek-speak that filtered through to the mainstream", says Manuel.
"I first saw it in the 1990s - at the end of emails. Then it got picked up by
the young kids. Then it went naff. But it came back ironically - with people
saying things like 'megalolz'."
A lolcat Lolcats brought the phrase to a whole new audience
Grandparents, for example, often adopt "LOL" as one of their first "internet
words", says Huh. "'LOL' and 'OMG' are like momma and dada."
But many mistake "LOL" for "lots of love", leading to some unintended "LOLs",
such as the infamous tale of the mother who wrote: "Your grandmother has just
passed away. LOL."
It has also lent its name to some wildly popular internet crazes, like Lolcats,
whose appeal spread far beyond the realms of cyber-geeks.
More than funny
So why has "LOL", above all other web phrases, become such a phenomenon?
Because it's simple and multipurpose, says Tim Hwang, founder of ROFLCon, a
whole festival dedicated to "internet awesome".
"The magic of LOL is that it's both exclusive and inclusive," he says. "On one
level, it's simple to understand.
"But it also conveys something subtle - depending on the situation. It means
more than just 'funny'. For example, if I had my bike stolen, my friend might
reply 'LOL'. It helps overcome an awkward moment."
For school kids, acronyms like "LOL" and "KMT" (kiss my teeth) are a kind of
secret code, a badge of belonging, says Tony Thorne, author of the Dictionary
of Contemporary Slang.
LOL-ternatives
Simple and clear but may appear childish. Are you a Comic Sans fan?
Even more annoying than LOL.
One is fine, three reeks of desperation: 'Look!!! I made a joke!!!' Yes, we
noticed.
The safe option. Effective but not very imaginative. Were you really laughing?
You are living in the dark ages.
"I go into schools and record slang words - all the new terms kids are saying -
words like 'lolcano'. And if you talk to kids they will say this is our
language - this is what identifies us."
But aren't these slang words also harmful to children's vocabulary? Not at all,
says Thorne.
"Government educationalists get all worked up about words like LOL - they see
them as substandard and unorthodox.
"But the small amount of research on this issue shows that kids who use slang
abbreviations are the more articulate ones. It's called code switching."
If we have a literacy crisis, it's among adults as well as children, says
Thorne. And slang is not the culprit. In fact, it is enriching the language.
Diamond agrees: "There will always be a minority who want the English language
to remain as a frozen beast, that doesn't admit changes," he says.
"But language is a vibrant, evolving animal."