I can catch myself sometimes these days and all I do is laugh

[venta]

I rarely, if ever, write LOL. When I do, it tends to be in emails to people who understand that when I write it, it's a shortcut for "I actually am actually laughing out loud". In other situations (most recently, in reply to a comment of sammason's, which quite caught me off guard), I feel the need to spell out that whatever they've written has actually made me laugh. Out loud. If I haven't caused at least three colleagues to turn round and look enquiringly at me, it just ain't LOL-worthy.

Because sometimes, I feel like I don't laugh much. In general, I'd say I'm very easily amused. Yet frequently I'll read a mildly diverting page on t'web, only to find comments along the lines of "crying with laughter, here". And I think: what, really? It didn't cause me to make any audible expression at all. Yes, I know humour is subjective. And yes, how funny you find something depends very much on what you're doing - if you're already laughing, a slight joke can make you laugh all the harder. Am I just hard to entertain in written form?

I do wonder that perhaps a lot of the things that make me LOL do so by being so unexpected. Things which have made me LOL on first reading rarely do so a second time, even though they remain funny. Of course, the downside of being caught on the hop by funny stuff is that it's just as likely to cause a
tea | nose > keyboard
scenario as a LOL.

Some people seem to exhale LOLs and lolols with every sentence. Either they are continually in a state of near hysteria, or they take the expression less seriously than I do.

Do you laugh out loud a lot reading the web? Do you LOL?

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Nah, I'm the same, very few things make me literally laugh out loud on the web,

(Last thing which did was the two hamsters video some months ago. Even then, rewatching it now doesn't have the same effect again.)

[venta.livejournal.com]

It was quite funny, though :)

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I laugh out loud a lot, I suppose. But I don't really write "lol" unless I'm taking the piss somehow, like saying something *isn't* funny by saying "lololol err not".

Another reason I left the Ladies Loos community: people would post very serious things like "I need to leave this abusive relationship, please give me some moral support and direct me to some resources" and some comments would say things like "Oh no that's terrible, I really feel for you lol. Look on this site for your local refuge lol. Good luck you're amazing." Really? *Really*? I can only assume they treat it as some kind of verbal punctuation mark like "over" when you're using a radio.

I did actually cry with laughter, and indeed roll on the floor, at spamusement's Carmen Sandiego drawing. When I look at it now I just snigger slightly. But at the time I literally couldn't stop laughing.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Aha that's another one - David Mitchell's soapbox on the Guardian website.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Soapbox certainly has made me laugh a lot in the past. I think this series has been firmly in the mildly diverting category, sadly.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I can only assume they treat it as some kind of verbal punctuation mark

That does kind of make sense. I think I over-use smiley faces, because I'm often slightly worried that the tone of a sentence isn't clear when written. Often it's basically short for "and you do know I'm joking and mean this in a friendly way, right?" So I guess using lol in that way is sensible. Still kinda weird in the sort of sentence you're quoting, mind.

[metame.livejournal.com]

Re: those Ladies Loos lols - I believe there is an occasional person with the mistaken belief that lol stands for "Lots of Love" which leads to some odd uses...

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhh. *light dawns*

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

David Cameron is one such, famously.

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

My mum thinks that. Hence the occasional email ending LOL, Mum.

I'd tell her, but she'd only forget.

[erming.livejournal.com]

Some people even use similar expressions in real life. I was once talking to someone and cracked a mild joke to which she replied "rofl". My hearing isn't the best (too many gigs) so wondered what on earth she said and she explained.

I was somewhat puzzled as she wasn't laughing in person and she certainly wasn't rolling on the floor either!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is quite weird. Particularly since "rofl" isn't even readily pronounceable.

It kind of makes sense online - you can indicate degrees of amusement if you want. But surely smiling would work well if you weren't actually laughing! Still, each to their own :)

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Roffle? It's a lot more pronounceable than many real English words! :)

I do use LOL but either when it would genuinely mean that (I spend a lot of my day in IM or a chat room where people do really make me laugh) or when I'm being sarcastic.

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

Don't LOL and don't actually laugh out loud at things all that often either. I smile quite often.
I am probably some kind of old fashioned luddite. I use smiley whatsits all the time although in a number of cases what I actually want is the internet equivalent of a very carefully straight face. Which doesn't work so well in ASCII :-| :-)

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Ah, you want <level stare>.

...especially when talking to me... ;)

[sammason.livejournal.com]

How about 8¬|

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

I don't lol. I may occasionally snrk at something that was mildly amusing, though. It's the equivalent of that slight snort where something isn't quite worthy of a full laugh, before you move on to something else.

...that two hamsters thing, mind, had three colleagues turning around to look at me funny :)

[bondagewoodelf.livejournal.com]

Only occasionally. Once a week? (about things from the Internet).

[stegzy.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. However I feel "Big Wide Smile and a chest heaving Heh" doesn't really convey well in text speak...

[sammason.livejournal.com]

Well I often laugh out loud at your posts and it's just happened again ('they are continually in a state of near hysteria' is Viz-worthy) but actually crying with laughter? No I hardly ever do that, except when I'm in a mood that could go either to laughter or to tears. When black humour is saving me from insanity.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I don't actually laugh out loud much, but I assumed that was because I was horribly repressed and that other people felt more free to express their amusement vocally. Supporting evidence: I'm more likely to do so if drunk, or if in a situation (eg. watching live comedy) where other people are doing so. Stiff upper lip and all that.

I am very easily amused, but you wouldn't guess it from watching me, most of the time.

[rapperaddict.livejournal.com]

I laugh out loud all the time (but not ususally when I'm reading. Except in my head where I could very well be having hysterics but outwardly it will raise, at most, a lip twitch) but I don't think I've ever used 'lol'. But then I still write e-mails and texts like formal letters. The C20th is something that happened to other people...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Um, if it's in your head, it's not out loud ;)

But yes, this is pretty much my point. Even reading quite funny stuff online, it rarely tips me over into actually visibly/audibly laughing, however much I'm enjoying it.

[rapperaddict.livejournal.com]

And this is why I should read what I've written at least 3 times. Between the 'but' after the bracket and the 'I' should have been the words 'even when I have been startled into actual laughter'.

Today I am apparently commenting in the form of jigsaw pieces...