LOL
Hello. My name is mnemosyne, and I have used the “LOL” and the “…”
As my justification, though, I will only add “LOL” to a post if I did, in fact, laugh out loud, or even snicker (because even my usual laughter is somewhat of a silent wheeze most of the time). If I think something is funny, I will point that out, and online, the “LOL” comes in handy for that. I like the smilies, too, but I find that I have assigned a particular type of laugher, or emotion to the, and I don’t want people to misinterpret them. For example, the 
is, to me, either a goofy sneer, or a big-proud-of-myself-grin, most of the time, and that isn’t necessarily what I want to express. I also express laughter with a simple hehe (I don’t haha) or sometimes the bigger hehehe. All of that said, I will ONLY do any of these things in a post if I also have something else to add to the thread. What’s the point of posting just for a “LOL”? I try to avoid posting even addendums or corrections to posts because I don’t like to look like I’m padding my post count (yes, I’m self conscious about it!)
As for the “…”. I use this mainly if I’m writing along with a train of thought, and I might not actually have a point until the end of my paragraph, or I’m just rambling ideas about something. If my thoughts aren’t coherent enough for correct punctuation, I’m not going to go back and do it afterwards. I find that it expresses a certain randomness in the post, where proper punctuation just “truncates” it (that’s not quite the word I’m looking for, but its close).
I can tolerate LOLs and “…” a lot more than that l337 crap. I HATE IT when I get emails from people asking me something (usually school-related, like who to contact for a partuicular thing), and it reads “r u some1 who can tellz me where u findz the person 2 change majors - thx”. (That was one of the most unnatural things I’ve ever had to write. I think I can spell backwards faster than I did that!) Or even worse if its actual l337, and there are numbers and random caps in there…AAAARRRGGGH!!!
What the heck is 1337?
1337 = leet = elite. It can either refer to the method of writing (eg. 13375p33k (‘leet speak’)) or as a description for the people that might use it (eg. a 1337 h4x0|2 [hacker]).
Just curious, did it hurt to type that? Because it hurt my brain to read that…
Next question: WHY is 1337?
'Cuz that is REALLY stupid-looking typing, if you ask me.
My friends and I used “lol” constantly. I have no doubt that any sane adult of the SDMB viewing a transcript of one of our discussions would come to the conclusion that we were a) insane or b) completely moronic. But we weren’t–I had a group of friends that I’d known for years, only on the internet (besides meeting a few times IRL) and “lol” became a word that carried much more baggage than its literal meaning.
“LOL” was the ultimate accolade to a comment–the highest compliment one’s joke could be paid.
“lolol” or perhaps even more “ol”'s added on, was a slightly lesser accolade, depending on the amount of “lol”'s. It was used in response to jokes, stupid things people did, etc. “rofl” was of much the same caliber.
A simple “lol” was almost like “um.” It was used almost constantly. We were a happy bunch, of course, but “lol” did not have to signify actual laughter; even the smallest smile could garner a “lol.” For example “hi lol I pressed esc AGAIN omg” (when you press escape in an AIM chat it automatically closes.)
“lol…” was a sarcastic kind of laugh, that kind of that is usually preceeded by “what the hell?” in real life. Whenever something bizarre, ironic, or completely off the wall was said/happened, those little ellipses were present in our laughter.
“ahahahaha,” on the other hand, was a mocking (yet friendly) kind of laughter, the kind that results when you spectacularly beat a good friend at a game.
I probably sound a bit crazy myself, but looking back at it, it fascinates me how my close group of friends took internet slang and developed it into precise shades of meaning that allowed us to understand emotions and feelings through only words, with a minimum of verbosity that is necessary in real-time chatting.
Erm, that didn’t really have anything to do with the OP, but I wanted to defend internet slang.
To actually address the OP, I don’t use “lol” in posting because it’s simple inappropriate to the situation, in my opinion. You have time to get your feelings across much better. In IM, etc. I feel it is completely different thing, though I’d be more formal with someone I didn’t know, and avoid “lol” much more.
PS: I have never met anyone who has actually used “l33t speak” seriously. It’s almost always used sarcastically/humorously, i.e. Jeff K.
I could use something hard in front of me right about now.
Encroaching? I must be slacking off in my stalking responsibilities, jjimm. I shall do better.
I use “…” all the time in everything I write, it’s just my way of trying to approximate natural speech.
I never, ever use “Lol” anywhere because it always irritated me. I use “hahaha” instead.
oh, shit, Tygr , those were some funny references…why, they almost made me…<gasp>…lol… …but, i do have to agree with the consensus of this thread…lol is pretty annoying…but in my own defense to ** Mr. Miskatonic** who thinks that the people who use “…” in their posts are stoned…well…uh…so, what was i saying?..hehehe
actually, i’m with mnemosyne on the “…” issue…also, i’m an english major, so i am constantly using correct punctuation, grammar, etc…and it’s a nice release to not use punctuation…i’m such a rebel
So how do you say lol? Lole? Lawl? El-oh-el?
El-oh-el