Back in the 1960s. We used it for Little Old Lady. And a matching LOM. Our dad was just the OM.
Then you had nothing to do with LOL as it currently is defined (Laugh Out Loud). I am pretty sure the three letter combination has meant many different things to many different people over the years.
The shovel. Now there was a groundbreaking invention.
I can dig it.
in spades.
Agreed, let’s call a spade a spade.
mmm
Shovels are used to move earth, not break it.
Let’s call a spade a spade.
(Ninja’d!)
Not that I am going pick on anyone because I don’t have an axe to grind, but the OP’s suggestion is a hard row to hoe.
My family used it in snail and email from the early 80s…to mean Lots Of Love. I was very confused for a while when the new meaning took off!
Can a shovel be used as a spade?
Well, that’s the hole point.
This is a very down to earth thread.
Imagine that… another pun thread.
What were the adze?
I first noticed LOL as an abbreviation for “little old lady” on ER in the 90s. They must’ve gotten it from the OP and his family.
A three-dot columnist at the Oregon Journal (evening paper, Portland) was using this (LOL as little old lady) back in the 50’s, as a term of affection. I was there, I remember seeing it. I’m sure it’s in the archives if someone wants to spend the time looking it up. Later, Herb Caen in the San Francisco Chronicle stole it and used it extensively as a term of ridicule.
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz both invented LOL.
Interesting there’s a Chronicle connection. If I recall, LOL (as Little Old Lady) is used in the second Tales of the City book, which was serialized in the Chronicle in the late 70s.
I have drafted maps with LOL, and that meant neither ladies nor love.
In engineer-speak, it’s Layout Line.
~VOW
Well, whoever invented it, Land 'O Lakes is mighty fine butter.