May 23, 2007
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LOL?
When someone types “LOL” in an IM or email to you… do you:
- Translate it in your mind as “Laugh Out Loud”?
- Read it as the initials, as in “L.O.L.”
- Hear it phonetically, like this: “LAWL”
- (by popular demand): You translate it as “ha ha ha”
Comments (91)
#3. but I don’t like the word spelled out as “lawl”
i translate it into laughters. as in…as if i can hear the person laugh haha
3
#1
2!
Lawl. Definitely. I even type it out as lawl.
I don’t really notice it as LOL, but as a poster commented earlier, I think it of as “ha ha ha.” Same thing, but LOL saves five key strokes. ~Karen~
Maybe Baby Boomers might choose either choice 2 and/or 3.
2
lawl
Lol, it’s virtually a word in the English language now. I use it in sentances as do others.
3.
Kind of a combination of 2 and 3… Mostly 2, but with some influence of 3 on the way I pronounce the letters in my head. Partly because I’ve heard so many people pronounce it as lawl since I started college.
4
2 (I ordinarily avoid this sort of abbreviation, but I have to admit that I use LOL and ROFL.)
2
read it as its spelled and translate laugh in my mind
Neither of those. I hear it phonetically, but not as lawl. Just… lol. Like the “lol” in “lollypop”
Wait, not lollypop. hahaha. like… “lol” with a long o. Yeah… o_o
#4.
How do you *chortle* online?
2 i spell it out
#1
i hear the laughter
do you see me grinning, or do you pronounce colon-D in your head?
2, occasionally 3.
#4 … sometimes #2 as well. i hate it tho.
Lawl. I even say “lawl” out loud.
i read it as LOL but at the back of my mind i translate it as a laugh..LOL!
more like a “heh”
I text back “Why did my joke/pun relax you?”
Just incase that dictionary joke is missed the actual definition of “loll” (an actual word) is to lie down in a relaxed position.
4.
2
I woud say #2 but it sounds like I have to poop….so I will say Read it as the initials, as in “L.O.L.”
“lol” in lower case, to me means a smile. “LOL” means the person is laughing. I think I hear it in my head as both “lawl” and “l.o.l.” depending. Now I’m just thinking about it too much, so I can’t give you a real answer.
i see it as l.o.l but sometimes i think i look at is as hahaha
1 of course
Hear it phonetically, like this: “LAWL”
ROFL!
number 2 … i only translate it as number 3 when the person specifically types out “lawl”
#3 and 4 xD
How funny…I was just thinking about how much I HATE LOL. I NEVER type it. (Even though I’m a big fan of WTF and OMG, for some reason.)
I really hate when people type LOLOL! WTF is that supposed to mean?!?
(1) but sometimes I think of it as “lots of laughter”!!
When it’s capitalized I jus’ figure it’s one huge “HA”
number 1… so use to hearing “Laugh out loud” sometimes myfriend would just say it…
LAWL.
#3. lol
eh…combination of 2 and 4 I guess…
i def. read it as L~O~L
1
lol
Yea, pretty much (all of them, that is.) LOL looks really funny with a question mark behind it instead of LOL! That’s a cherry blossom up there, isn’t it?
To me it’s a combination of 1 and 4. I read it as “Laugh Out Loud” and translate it as ha ha ha.
“l-o-l” as separate letters. Though I said that out loud once to my oh-so-hip younger bro-in-law and he instructed me that it’s supposed to be “lol” pronounced as a word. I felt so uncool.
I read it as L.O.L.
but I hear a lot of people say lawl in conversation
I prefer to use “haha” in e-mails though… lol is so overused.
#4 Kinda like what Sean said,
is a smile to me, not colon D. 
#3, “lawl”
… lawl. i mean lol!
lawl…i even have lol in my journal, and i say it outloud occasionally when talking…but i get strange looks then…haha
I like Sean’s response…
#1 =V=
lawl.
i hear it phonetically. i’ll even say “lol” to myself sometimes.
I say lawl out loud, and see it as #3.
If I use Trillian, which I haven’t done for a while, I see a big smiley face and hear the laughter over the speakers anyway
I usually think l.o.l. I say it out loud that way too.
more like “Lowl!”
Lolling your tongue.
Someday all of our laughter will be replaced with “LAWL!!!!! LAWL!!!! LAWL!!!!”
Even FOTL, I’m thinking “Fought-fall”
1 and 4… “LOL” its actually redundant in my blogs, emails and texts. I type it even if I don’t mean it. I use it too frequently that it became a habit. Or maybe im just really that bubbly or giddy when I type… lol! See I did it again!
1 and 4… “LOL” its actually redundant in my blogs, emails and texts. I type it even if I don’t mean it. I use it too frequently that it became a habit. Or maybe im just really that bubbly or giddy when I type… lol! See I did it again!
2, too!
I think it is more 2 and 4..I hear my friends laughing but at the same time translate it as they are laughing out loud.
lots of love~
hahaha~
2
“laugh out loud” and am surprised how many people use it that don’t know what it means.
I remember a pastor using “rotflmao” that didn’t know what that a stood for, until I told him.
Number three. But more like loll, like a loll in conversation. Most definately.
i think if it as laugh out loud amazingly enough.
#2…. definitely read it as the letters. =)
I always read “LOL” as “lawl”!
XD
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#2 … L. o . L … but the meaning is automatic
it used to be #3 but now it’s more like #1.
wow, I never had really thought about that before, I definitely think ‘laugh out loud’ in my head everytime either I type it or someone else types it.
I’m so pathetic, I read it as the initials. L.O.L.
[karen]
L.O.L. or el-oh-el.
as laugh out loud.
but when i type “rotf lmao” to someone, if i’m at home, i might be actually rolling on the floor, holding my stomach from bursting out from too much laugh, but if i’m in a public spot, i’m probably imagining it, and really wish i didn’t have to hold it in.
#4 and sometimes #2.
<3Always,
Nary
definitely 2
I think I do two things . . read it as “laughing out loud” but also, I guess, “hearing” it as the hahaha’s. Sometimes, depending on how well I know the person, it’ll be just more of an expression . . and when they say it I can just picture or understand what kind of mood they’re trying to get across or how they look responding to what I said. I mean, really, “lol” isn’t really a “word” to me even though we really do use it as one, it’s just like body language online kind of, I guess. I often struggle when writing e-mails that are supposed to be not so casual, even if I know the person a little bit, because if I’m trying to say something that’s light-hearted, I feel like an “lol” could symbolize that . . but at the same time I don’t want to get criticized for using IM slang in a slightly professional e-mail, and I have to try and think of a different way to say things. So like I said earlier . . it’s kind of like trying to convey body language in written words that are easily understood (it’d be nice to be able to understand other types of body language online, huh?) – but since laughing and being funny are things that are seldomly taken the wrong way, I think that’s why “lol” is the one that was “invented” or became widely used.
I will also admit, though, that in certain situations I think “lol” better constitutes the type of laughter I want than saying “haha”. To me, “lol” seems more genuine, like it could be interpreted in more unique ways depending on the person, whereas “haha”, since it’s the strict wording of an actual laugh, sometimes seems more mechanical. All I know is there are times when I’ve typed “haha”, didn’t think it looked like what I wanted to convey, and switched it to “lol” as if it made it more personal. Maybe I’m just crazy on that one, though.
in my head, it becomes “loll.” i have to consciously translate it to “laugh out loud.” it always jars me when people write LOL. it’s kind of annoying, actually.
I normally translate it through number 4. oh and, my brother has this friend and he’s older than me. He likes me too. I also like him. But, my brother is telling him to stay away from me because he’s older. It makes me so mad! Cuz I really like him! Any advice?
1, although sometimes people actually type “lawl”, and I’ve occassionally done that as well now.
i pronounce it ‘lull’
3 and then it becomes 4 when it registers in my brain!
I hear laughter for sure.
but for things like OMG and OMFG and LMFAO, I read them phonetically, because they sound funny.
#3, but I think of it more as “LOL” with a long O sound (so it’s more like LOLE) which then translates into laughter- not exactly “ha ha ha,” but the sense of it.
What about Lots Of Love?