History of LOL in Timeline

LOL is an internet slang initialism for "laughing out loud." Primarily used to express amusement, irony, or double meanings, it originated on Usenet and has since become a widespread element of online and even face-to-face communication. LOL belongs to a category of initialisms that express bodily reactions, particularly laughter, and has spawned variations like LMAO and ROFL for more emphatic expressions.

May 8, 1989: Earliest recorded mention of LOL

On May 8, 1989, the earliest recorded mention of LOL meaning "Laughing Out Loud" appeared in a list of online acronyms in the electronic newsletter FidoNews.

2003: Study on initialism use

In 2003, a study by Naomi Baron on college students found that the use of initialisms in computer-mediated communication, like instant messaging, was lower than expected. The study found that out of 2,185 transmissions, there were 76 occurrences of LOL.

2003: Acronyms collection

In 2003, acronyms were collected along with emoticons and smileys into folk dictionaries circulated among users of Usenet, IRC, and other forms of computer-mediated communication.

March 2011: LOL listed in the Oxford English Dictionary

In March 2011, LOL was officially listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.

March 24, 2011: LOL Formally Recognized in Oxford English Dictionary

On March 24, 2011, LOL, along with other acronyms, was formally recognized in an update to the Oxford English Dictionary. Research determined that the earliest use of LOL was as an initialism for "little old lady" in the 1960s.