LOL

We all know this abbreviation. I just ran into a comment by a certain Vykki in the comments below a comic about a deaf person who texted to a hearing person who wasn’t very good at ASL. Vykki’s comment was so well written, I’ll quote it:

I’ve also heard people say “LOL” out loud—either as “ell oh ell” or “lawl”—while not actually laughing. Basically, LOL has evolved to be something other than an abbreviation for “laughing out loud”, in much the same way that “ok” is no longer an abbreviation. (There’s a fun thought: 150 years from now, people might say, “Did you know that ‘eloel’ came from ‘laughing out loud’? That’s crazy!” Assuming they remember its origins at all—the origins of many words and phrases, including “ok”, are debated, and perhaps that one will be too.)

I got permission to quote her, of course.

I have maybe twice heard someone say this abbreviation out loud. Perhaps Vykki is right—we’re seeing linguistic change in action!

Okay, here’s the comic, called Girls with Slingshots. They prefer not to make it easy to copy the comic itself, so here’s the address:

 http://girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-chaser-980