Tuesday, December 05, 2006

My Confession. LOL

Disclaimer: I know at least several of you are "guilty" of this. Please don't be offended as this is just my (over opinionated) opinion.

After several years of silence, I can't take it anymore. As much as I hate laugh-tracks on tv, I can't stand the usage of LOL to signify a joke. Seriously, there's not that many things out there that bug me more than people using this word when they crack a joke. I don't mind it when someone is "laughing out loud" at someone else's joke. I think that's a different. I consider laughing at your own jokes a minor social fopah, and a little insulting.

Laugh-tracks on TV are there because studio execs don't think people are intelligent enough to get the jokes (ironically most laughtracks anymore are on low-brow comedies). A LOL in written conversation often projects a similar idea to me.

Anyway, I guess I shouldn't run my mouth because I do use an occasional ;) in a letter to make sure someone gets that I'm not being serious because I'm not sure how my sense of humor projects in writing sometimes which is similar I guess, but I don't see it as offensive as LOL.

Anyway, this post has been a long time coming. I've tried to keep my mouth shut, but I can't any longer. Anyone else have an opinion about this?

12 comments:

Sparklebot said...

IMHO, it's not so bad ;)

I say it just to annoy people!

Joy said...

The whole time I was writing this post, I thought to myself, 'hmm, if it was possible to tease myself I'd totally use lol in every sentence for a few e-mails.'

Rae said...

Hmmm...interesting opinion. This is one acronym I use frequently; mostly as a designation of humor as you use a ;). I tend to be a bit sarcastic in my humor. I often fear that with out notating the humor it will get lost in translation. Once lost the exchanges tend to have a bite to them as opposed to a laugh and then someone ends up with hurt feelings. Who wants that? I think a smiley face at the end of every line would probably aggravate just as many people. What else could be used to differentiate between seriousness and sarcasm? Thought provoking...thanks.

HOO said...

I have a tummy ache right now and it is sapping all my concentration, so I can't really respond to this post.

erinannie said...

I'm right there with you. To me the overuse of LOL in writing makes me think the other person is stupid, like only they think they are funny. Either that or it comes off as totally arrogant like the rest of us aren't smart enough to catch their jokes. Either way, it kills the joke.

aisy said...

i hate lol. i'm not a myspacer (my friend is) and when we read things on there it seems like all the teens put lol beside practically everything. i think if someone knows you well enough you don't need the lol, and really, it should be more like SRN (smiling right now)... cause how often are we really laughing out loud???

tara said...

i use it all the time and i don't feel one bit guilty or unintelligent because of it. i use it to acknowledge to the other person that i think what they said is funny, and i don't think i'll be changing my responses to 'i think what you just said is funny' aytime soon.

:)

Joy said...

Tara, I addressed that in a sentence in my blog but elaborated a little on that just for you. That's different than laughing at your own jokes.

Jesse Harris said...

LOL is the new "Eh".

Seriously though, it bugs me too. Especially when you see the person on a webcam with a dead sober expression and they type that. What *is* their major malfunction?

Anonymous said...

Yes, yes! When you use LOL as an appendage to something you yourself have written, that's the same as laughing at your own joke. So very lame.

The use of LOL is such a slippery slope, my friends. I'd avoid it all together because otherwise LOL will someday not be enough for you. Then you'll have to start using the more potent LMAO. And when that's no longer giving you what you need, you'll have to graduate to ROTF...quickly succeeded by ROTFLOL and then...sadly, ROTFLMAO.

Sickeningly enough, there's a site called net lingo where all the sad sacks go to get their shorthand fix. It's a tragedy, really.

Good post, though, Joy.

Steve said...

WTF? Using emoticons is definitely more abuse then letters. I'm also a big fan of using "haha" on my own jokes to ensure a jokey mood.

NIFOC. SWDYT? TTFN! :-P

Actually, I prefer l337!!!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's overused...but I've actually *heard* people say LOL instead of laughing at a joke. It's bothersome when people use it instead of actually making an intelligent comment on what you just said. Still, I probably won't stop using it when IM'ing anytime soon. I have few intelligent contributions to add, anyway... (Now imagine me smiling at my own self-deprecating humor.) See? The little annoying smiley face is easier.