LOL

It took me a while, way back when, to become accustomed to using the acronym LOL in my responses to either text messages or social media posts. I’m not entirely sure why I was so shy of my LOL responses but it is likely something similar to my dislike or inability to text a message that reads:
r u cmg over 2day?

Regarding texting, it would probably be so much easier and quicker if I just got off my high grammar horse. A horse I really only learned to ride properly when I started to learn how to write fiction, I must add, and which I haven’t yet fully mastered. But standards, and all that. Standards.
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This grammar thing probably makes me one of those know-all types. Like someone who’s given up sugar after a lifetime of eating donuts and cream puffs for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper, who wrinkle their nose at you for scoffing your once a week vanilla slice in front of them. LOL

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​I still have panic attacks when I text ‘r u’ or ‘2moz’ in response to the younger generation (my daughter being the immediate younger generation I text to), and I need to take a breath and deliberate whether or not to hit the back button and type ‘are you’ or ‘tomorrow’ instead – which I invariably do (doubling the time it takes to type the message). Unless I’m feeling particularly anarchic or perhaps just cute. 

But let’s get back to that luscious LOL/lol. 

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Now that I understand the acronym’s many uses, I have embraced LOL. Its uses are many and varied and will save you from all sorts of situations. Let’s take a look at some ways LOL/lol can be used.

LOL (Laughed out loud/Lots of laughs) – used for genuine amusement at the texter’s or blog poster’s wit or sarcasm, and the original reason for the acronym.

LOL (You’ve got to be joking!) – used when surprised, taken-aback, shocked.

LOL (Feelings of syrupiness) – used when something is so sweet it’s sickly, but you still like it or smiled when you saw it, so you grant the poster a pleasant lol response.

LOL (Problematic or awkward) – used when unable to find a suitable response to someone who is wittier than you.

LOL (Derogatory) – used in response to an idiot. Nothing more needs to be added.

LOL (Rolling of eyes) – used in irony, causticness or sarcasm, whichever response most suits your viewpoint.

LOL (Insincerity) – used when you want the commenter to know you find them totally stupid but don’t want to say so definitively.
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LOL (In anger) – never use LOL in anger. It doesn’t work and might backfire on you, garnering lots of derogatory responses, heaps of eye rolling, and a bucketful of ironic wit you have no chance of keeping up with. In situations where you are enraged or outraged - don’t respond. Move on. Ban said commenter from your page or blog. Unfollow them. Unfriend them if you’re seriously annoyed. But don’t respond.

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I thought about dabbling with LMAO responses – but I don’t use this acronym. Reason being, it gives the person I’m conversing with online or over text an immediate mental image of me laughing my arse off, which is not the picture I want to paint. Call me old fashioned … or just old :)

​Then there’s ROFLMAO which is an horrendous mental image. The only reason I would roll on floor laughing my arse off is in a situation where my daughter was held hostage by a bunch of bad guys who are about to throw her off a cliff unless I do as they demand. In which case, obviously, I would roll on the floor laughing my arse off and not care about the mental picture until much later, when me and my daughter were safely ensconced in a five-star hotel (the baddies behind bars, not laughing at all) and I was gulping back Gin & Tonics. 

LOL – you’ll never read it the same way twice :)
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Jennie x

Photo credits: Pixabay.com