I-Am-Bot Code, technology and life

1Nov/098

Usage of LOL

The abbreviation LOL. Laughing out loud. Oh!! I'm so worked up with it. Every now and then, I see people using it in the internet while instant messaging, when commenting on social-networking platforms and sometimes even while communicating face to face. Still worse, people use it in inappropriate and ill-suited contexts.

"Its raining here! Lol"
"I'm bored.. lol"
"My sister ate my burger.. lol"
"LOL!! It sounds really great to hear that.." Honestly, its not. In fact, its totally freaking me out!

It all started when Usenet, a worldwide distributed internet discussion system, was using the abbreviation LOL to express a textual, emphatic expression of laughter. The abbreviation then spread pandemic and became a regular, universal word in the english language.

An analysis of Laccetti and Molsk in their essay entitled "The Lost Art of Writing" states 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". David Crystal, a linguist, rhetorically questions "How many people are actually 'laughing out loud' when they send LOL?". It is indubitably true!

You can call it as a brand new variety of language emerging or cool language stuff or even expressiveness and richness of the language but the usage of it in business correspondence or corporate world won't be so LOL.

About Sandeep

A tech grad, an amateur guitarist, a fitness freak, a music maniac & a novice blogger
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  1. I’m not sure how many ppl really laugh out loud when say LOL
    I really am lol now :D
    Well what say we ban lol?!

  2. i share the same thoughts on the usage of ‘lol’.. good post!! :)

  3. U cleared my few doubts wid ur post…. coz many times i wondered y they write “lol” wen the situation is to pathetic….. :P

    Now i know that they do it just do show that they know few extra words… :D :D


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