LOL
From Encyclopedia Of Stupid
LOL is stupid.
Technically, LOL is an example of an Internet Abbreviation. It stands (again, technically) for "Laughing Out Loud." But dear readers, it is much, much more than that. It has a long and storied history spanning over a decade during which it has been the Internet's equivalent of both a celebrity, as well as a smacked out drunken whore.
Contents |
History
The Early LOL
LOL started out in 1984 on USENET and IRC before the advent of the web, along with other famous Internet Abbreviations as a way to express frequently used sayings in a manner that required less typing. Unfortunately, this practice tended to degrade the dialog until it was all but unreadable to newbies (at the time a desirable side effect):
<tom> LOL <tom> OMFG <dick> SUP <harry> BIO <harry> IYKWIM <dick> ROFL NAH TOMS SXE <tom> BBIAB AFK
These times were LOL's heyday, a time when you could use LOL innocently and not fear being instantly reviled, perhaps even using it for times when you really were laughing out loud. LOL was one of the earliest Internet memes, something that could be used for no reason other than to demonstrate that you used the Internet.
AOL Destroys LOL
For AOL users, always the last to the party, the only one of these acronyms that made the leap from IRC to AOL Instant Messenger was LOL, and because the average AOL user's IQ is roughly equivalent to that of a shoe they all thought that LOL was extremely amusing. This caused a veritable flood of the use of LOL, until all sentences in all AIM messages ended in LOL. These conversations looked like this:
<terri> lololol <terri> oh my GAWD lol <dani> whats up terri lol <hilari> she prolly had to go to the bathroom lol <hilari> and powder her nose lol <dani> lol no way terri is straightedge lol <terri> hold on ill be right back im gone lol
When AOL users started creeping over to IRC, due in large part to Mirc, they brought their annoying habitual use of the word LOL with them and started a backlash of monumental proportions. No longer was it simply out of fashion to use these acronyms because kiddies on AOL were using them, it became offensive, and an excuse to ban users from channels altogether. Bots were given directives to autokick people from AOL and anyone who would dare to LOL in an IRC channel. LOL, it seemed, was done for.
LOLLERSKATES and ROFFLECOPTER Save LOL
Long about this time someone made some clever graphics which were originally conceived to lampoon and make fun of people who used LOL. They were animated gifs known as LOLLERSKATES and ROFLCOPTER. They started an Internet Phenomenon one of the Internet's first meta-memes and suddenly there were animated gifs being created by the thousands: LOLLERCAUST, LOLLERCOASTER, LOLGASM, the list went on. Everyone was amused for a short while and then something amazing happened. LOL became postmodern hip.
LOL Becomes Postmodern Hip
Old-time IRC diehard users began using LOL as what might be looked at as a meta-meta-meta meme (in that it is being used now, was formerly forbidden, and before this was used - all of which knowledge comes into play in the current usage) a meme which through its use in what would ordinarily be considered perilous circumstances, demonstrates that the user knows that LOL is forbidden, but that they are using it with this knowledge, essentially as a display of weary cynicism. This is a fundamentally different usage of LOL, but LOL is indifferent. It just wants to be loved, and so, it appears, it is.
