: For other things known by the acronym LOL, see LOL.

LOL (also spelled lol) is an acronym, the abbreviation for laughing out loud or less commonly lots of laughs or the backronym lots of love . LOL is a common element of Internet slang used historically on Usenet and in bulletin board systems; and continuing to the present day in nearly all Internet and wireless venues (e.g Internet Relay Chat and instant messaging). It is used for expressing general amusement, or wide variety of subtle emotions depending on subculture context. Many similar acronyms for expressing laughter exist.

= History =

The origin of LOL is unknown. It is rumored that it first started in print in meaning fun .

= Analysis =

Many people are critical of LOL and its related acronyms and there is widespread controversy over their use.

Siren criticises the overuse of LOL , stating that he has seen people type LOL after every sentence and thus finds it hard to believe that people are actually laughing out loud every single time they type this . FangedFriend criticizes LOL on the grounds that whilst the concept of laughing out loud existed prior to the existence of the acronym, the existence of the acronym decreases the quality of the English language, with its insidious habit of sneaking into peoples homework, notes, and other daily thoughts in general . Brad observes that people say lol for no reason at all and asserts that the word has been used so much in common [I]nternet slang that we have been desensitized to its meaning. Lacetti, professor of humanities at Stevens Institute of Technology, and Molsk predict 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.

Twitchell, on the other hand, defends these acronyms as having become a standard part of [I]nternet conversations, and you re just going to have to get used to it .

= Variations on the theme =

The widespread use of the term has sprung many variations such as pseudo-pluralizations (e.g. lols and lolz ), repetitions (e.g. lololol , loooool , and any number of other repetitious variants), and puns (e.g. lollerskates , lollercoaster ). Sometimes the Os are replaced with alternating or random zeroes (e.g. lo0o0ol ).

Despite it being an English language acronym, it is often used by non-English speakers as-is, even in other writing systems (eg. ).

==Variants and translations in widespread use==

*El oh el - pseudo-pronunciation.

==Puns==

These are the most widely used plays on LOL and ROFL, that satisfy the criteria for inclusion in Wiktionary. (There is a large number of additional nonce word puns, not listed here, that have yet to attain that status.)

= References =

# # # # Silvio Lacetti and Scott Molsk: #

= See also =