# The last stand against the evil that is "LOL" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 28, 2005, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081 "2005-01-28T09:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/21 "2005-01-28T16:45:32Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > If you don’t like LOL, how do you feel about ‘re’? And does this mean LMFAO is not allowed either? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/22 "2005-01-28T16:50:02Z")
OK, Grandpa. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/23 "2005-01-28T17:19:55Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > Weeell, I didn’t want to point out actual people, but surely you have noticed certain… offenders… around lately? Hint: starts with “araq” and rhymes with “van”. > > There are far more such offenders, but I can’t recall who they are at the moment, and the search doesn’t take words ith only 3 letters. Whoever you guys are, knock it off. Why? It is a perfectly good way of getting the point across, and frequently something I read on board does make me laugh out loud. I rarely use leet speak, LOL and ROTFLMAO are pretty much it, other than a fondness for MMORPG ‘emotes’ like /drool, /facepalm, /em \ Language both written and spoken are not concrete, they are constantly evolving…it took ‘gay’ less than 100 years to go from meaning frivolously happy to homosexual. Awful from meaning something that engenders ‘awe’ or an emotional reaction to something that is nasty. With the speed of cultural changes now thanks to the computer revolution, and the youth of today’s willingness to accept change, the english language may well end up as multiculturally slangy as the droogspeak in A Clockwork Orange. Bling, Cabron, Phat are just 3 off the top of my head. Online, leetspeak will infiltrate into peoples language use - LOL, ROTFLMAO, /facepalm, blog, let me google for the info you need…when was the last time someone on this board typed out ‘let me do an internet search for the information you need’, almost everybody says google… I can function at language levels from leetspeak on mIRC lists [even though I hate it and rarely do it unless I really need something from a channel] through ‘dinner with the head of the university’ I can function in british vs american style english when I have to. I can even function at the ‘talk slowly and carefully to the 3 year old’ level. I had felt that I was kicked back in a living room chatting with my peers, but if I have to revert to university-speak, I can do that as well, but it will make a serious dent in my enjoyment of kicking back with friends and peers. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/24 "2005-01-28T17:52:31Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > (I try not to actually roll on my floor since it’s cold and covered with cat hair). Now, _that_ made me laugh out loud. I can totally relate. > [@](#): > > Someone who laughs out loud all the time like that is obviously some sort of twitchy maniac who will be ascending a tower with a high-powered rifle any day now. > > LOL! Yeah, I work with someone like that. It’s unnerving. But the ones who are really about to ascend a tower with a high-powered rifle are those that have to listen to this day in and day out. The incessant laugher-out-loud is going to end up in the crosshairs, I tell you. ---
**Author:** ![Phelan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Phelan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phelan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/25 "2005-01-28T18:33:21Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > heh heh… > > Isn’t there a 'translation" website that will turn any phrase into teen or “leet” speak? Y3S THEYRE IS!111!11 OMG WTF HER3 IT IS11!11 OMG [http://ssshotaru.homestead.com/files/aolertranslator.html](http://ssshotaru.homestead.com/files/aolertranslator.html) ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/26 "2005-01-28T22:01:38Z")
Well done, **aruvqan**! I agree wholeheartedly. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/27 "2005-01-28T22:29:10Z")
What the fuck is “teh”? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/28 "2005-01-28T22:50:16Z")
> [@Demo](#): > > Well done, **aruvqan**! I agree wholeheartedly. I am a medieval history recreationist, and deal with primary source materials frequently, and have seen changes in language over 600 years of english, and about the same in medieval french and in german as well. No language is set in stone. Hell, spelling was mostly notional until the 1800s…IIRC even Shakespeare’s name was spelled 2 or 3 different ways in one document…Though some languages changed less drastically than english did [the spanish el Cid is written in the 1200s is more or less legible to modern spanish speakers, whereas english of the 1400s is more of a problem to teh english speaker…frex the canterbury tales: Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; When in April the sweet showers fall That pierce March’s drought to the root and all And bathed every vein in liquor that has power To generate therein and sire the flower; [not my favorite translation of the text, it is too flowery and more victorian twaddlish than I prefer, but it is the copy I have on hand :smack:] Most people have trouble with Shakespeare, and he is 200 years closer in language, most people give up trying to read Chaucer…Imagine what will happen in 25 years with our educational systems consistantly dumbing down what _is_ taught. As it is, a friends kid isn’t even getting Chaucer, and for the Shakespeare instead of reading it, they are _watching_ the movies and discussing them…and I have not seen a Branaugh movie that hasnt chopped and rearranged scenes…but then again, what we forget is that Romeo and Juliet was the Young and the Restless of its day - popular mass entertainment for the common scum=\ I dread the day that West Side Story is used to teach Romeo and Juliet because they are the same thing after all…/facepalm ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/29 "2005-01-29T06:03:03Z")
[Speaking of _Romeo and Juliet_…](http://uninteresting.myby.co.uk/noeffort/romjul.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/30 "2005-01-29T06:24:34Z")
> [@Flamsterette\_X](#): > > [Speaking of _Romeo and Juliet_…](http://uninteresting.myby.co.uk/noeffort/romjul.htm) LOL **Flamsterette**! ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/31 "2005-01-29T06:53:10Z")
That is funny, isn’t it? 😃 I knew **Spoz** had written up something on “LOL” since he doesn’t much like it, either. After some searching around, I now present it to you. > [@](#): > > Jan. 27, 2003 > > On a disjointed adjunct to this subject… here’s one thing that always irks me with online conversations… I’ve never been a believer, a supporter, or a user of the “lol”… y’know, that funny chat abbreviation for “laugh out loud”…? I’ve seen it enough years to’ve had a chance to accept it, yet it still bugs me… coz it somehow seems less a form of “laughter” and more somethin’ drugdealers at raves call their merchandise… “oi ya geeza’s, wanna drop a lol?”. > > I do like “rotfl” (rolling on the floor laughing), I have no problems with “ltmheaidafev” (laugh till my head explodes and I develop a flesh eating virus) or “iho24htldywf?” (I have only 24 hours to live, do you wanna fuck?) > > But… “lol” still bugs me, it just looks stupid… > As a result… I’m one of the few people who insists on using “hahahahhahahha” instead… which unfortunately makes me appear to be a gibbering mental patient on too much novocaine… > > Speaking of such, why is it that most Internet chats are seemingly loaded with "lol"s and “rotfl”… are Internet conversations really all that crazy with laugh a minute excitement? Are most Internet uses abusing a seriously out’ve control drug habit? There’s no subtlety with the “lol”… > > Really, wot we need is… “ptfyci” (pretending to find your conversation interesting), “atsau” (attempting to stifle a yawn), “yjs” (your jokes suck)… etc… etc… y’know… develop some widely accepted grey region emoticons… so it doesn’t seem like you’re bursting out in a mutiple g-spot trigger everytime someone tells a lame joke. 😉 > > Sure, this is a meaningless issue to a lot of you… > but seriously, it’s small things like these that if untreated, lead to your children being eaten by killer bees… > > Let that be a warning to ya! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/32 "2005-01-29T09:01:03Z")
LOL’s a pain but overuse of ellipses is even worse. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo\_ate\_my\_hamster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@Torgo\_ate\_my\_hamster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo_ate_my_hamster)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/33 "2005-01-29T11:39:50Z")
> [@rolandgunslinger](#): > > What the fuck is “teh”? :dubious: Mistyped “The”. OMG teh n00bzorz. (To write in the general spirit of the thread.) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/34 "2005-01-29T14:36:32Z")
Heh Heh Heh, Hah hah, hah, he he he [choke],[choke], heh heh heh, [pees pants], ah ho ah ho ah hoh, aaaaahhhhhh, [cough] ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/35 "2005-01-29T16:13:29Z")
If you really hate lollers, then you should try out this [flash game](http://www.flashplayer.com/games/rolfattack.html), in which you get to shoot a lot of them. Might do you good. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/36 "2005-01-29T18:39:08Z")
> [@Torgo ate my hamster](#): > > Mistyped “The”. > > OMG teh n00bzorz. (To write in the general spirit of the thread.) Tahts teh stupidest tihng I’ve ever eens. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081/37 "2005-01-29T18:59:51Z")
I’m 25 years old and still use “LOL”. It’s easier and more convenient than typing ::laugh::, \, or “I am laughing.” What’s wrong with that? 😕 Adam [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-stand-against-the-evil-that-is-lol/287081.md?page=1)