What is LOL please?

[Andyvon]

Oh dear, I hope I'm not asking a question with too obvious an answer. I've noticed that many ABers replying to posts sometimes end their reply with the letters 'lol', or they simply type that as a reply.

Sorry, but I don't know what it means. Can anyone tell me please?

[society]

Laugh Out Loud

[ELVIS68]

pmsl

[looobylooo]

it means laughing out loud andyvon.
people use it when they are responding to something humerous,
or we are making light of what we are saying if we add 'lol' to what we type.

[society]

http://www.gaarde.org/acronyms/?lookup=L

[Andyvon]

Ah - yes. It makes sense now. Thank you everyone, especially you Society. That's a very good link. I'll be joining the lol group from now on then, although it seems it could also mean Lots of Love and Little Old Lady!

Thank you too Elvis. I'm sure you must be !

Thanks everyone.

[jno]

because it can be hard to judge the tone of something in writing, people use lols and smileys :-) to show they're joking

[Answerprancer]

Imagine the hardship poor old Lol Creme (from 10 CC) has to go through when texting people bad news. eg. "I heard you've been a bit down in the dumps lately - lol"

[looobylooo]

lol ^^^^

[jno]

all the lols you could want here

http://lolcats.com/

[Answerprancer]

(and before he comes in and says it ...yes Markrae, straight out of Viz!)

[snags]

Andyvon... there's also this:

http://scienceblogs.c...k/How%20to%20ROFL.png

[Answerprancer]

One I've never a) understood b) been bothered about researching Snags is "ROFLCOPTER" - is this another gaming meme ?

[Quizmonster]

As you see above, some people claim LOL means 'laugh out loud'...ie it's an instruction to the reader. Others think it means 'laughing out loud'...ie it's a statement of what the writer is currently doing.
Whichever of these you go for, it is clearly nonsensical. You can't TELL someone to laugh out loud unless you are a bit daft yourself and, even though you laughed out loud when you first saw the funny item being referred to, it is highly improbable - now that you have got around to writing about it - that you are still doing so.
In whatever circumstances it is used, it is either absurd or untrue. Best avoided, therefore. Otherwise, Why not use the not-much-more-complicated ILOL = I laughed out loud. That is, the writer considered the thing amusing and imagines others will do likewise. Simples!

[jno]

there's a picture here, AP

http://upload.wikimed...s/7/73/Roflcopter.gif

[bibblebub]

this is a dictionary of internet slang http://www.noslang.co...?st=LOL&submit=Search

[ChuckFickens]

Wonder if this will work here
.......................__ ............
......<ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL>.
........................| |...........
................... __\||/____......
.\\...............|'-|--| .\\....\.....
..\ \_...........|--|---|..\\ ....\....
../ L \____,/-------\___\___\
.|LOL|-------------O----- ----,\..
..\ L /______,---''-----------, /...
../ /.............\_________ ,/....
.//.............____//___ __\\__/.

There you go AP, a ROFLCOPTER (if it worked)

[fredpuli47]

QM what do you suggest we put instead? type 'But seriously' at the beginning of the next sentence?

[Greedyfly]

I also know LOL as Lots of Laughs