What is LOL?
LOL is the acronym for ‘laugh out loud’ or ‘laughing out loud’. This word has practically become a part of the modern lexicon, being always used in conversations conducted in chat, email, and text messaging. Variations of LOL have sprouted since it was first used, including ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing) and LMAO (laughing my ass off), but nothing so far has caught on as much as LOL has.
The use of LOL started in early internet discussion system Usenet, and pure text based chat system mIRC. Abbreviated versions of popular expressions have been called by many as ‘initialisms’ and in the same league as LOL are included BRB, for ‘be right back’, IMHO for ‘in my humble opinion’, CTC for ‘care to chat’, BFN for ‘bye for now’, ASL for ‘age / sex / location’ and AFK for ‘away from keyboard’. According to some studies, LOL, together with IMHO and BFN, are the currently three most used internet initialisms.
People also occasionally how LOL is used, samples of which are LOLZ, LEL (‘laughing extremely loud’) or LOLOLOL (as many ‘“OL’s as can be added for more emphasis).