I'll admit I'm a fan of LOL - I use it pretty much exclusively to express delight, laughter, acknowledgement and a few other emotions online. Although English is pretty much the lingua franca of 21st Century, the more I look at the word LOL with an outsider's perspective the weirder it seems. This peculiar acronym has come to mean and express things that have nothing to do with its pronunciation.
Weirdly enough I have caught myself on several occasions actually uttering the word out loud in substitution for laugher - completely unintentionally I assure you.
Friend: Did you remember to bring the mixers for the party?
Me: No, I was thinking of not even buying them - can we make do without?
Friend: Sure, if you want us to end up on the floor in the fetal position by about 7:30?
Me: LOL, Ok I'll go buy some.
I'm actually lol-ing in real life. This is a great example of language evolution in action and just one of the many weird ways language can adapt in completely unexpected and unplanned ways. Below are a few examples of LOLs from around the world, some of which may make no sense to any average english speaker. I wonder what stories lay behind some of these international social media expressions and if I could slip a few in my own social media lingo? LWKMD!!! (Hmm...I'm not really sure it worked there)
