Nobody wants to be the person asking: what does lol mean? Or caught searching Google for the answer. But internet slang, unless you’re familiar with all the acronyms new and old, can be confusing as hell.
Browsing the internet and stalking social media is like swimming in a bowl of alphabetti spaghetti sometimes. It’s another language.
And sometimes it’s just too embarrassing to ask what someone means. Well, be shy no longer: here’s a simple list of some of the most popular internet slang acronyms being tossed around right now.
You’ll soon be a master of arguing on the internet — HTH.
lol
Laugh out loud
lmao / lmfao
Laugh my (f**king) ass off
rofl
Roll on the floor laughing
iirc
If I recall/remember correctly
ikr
I know, right?
wdyt
What do you think?
ICYMI
In case you missed it
jfc
Jesus f**king Christ
ffs
For f**ck’s sake
tl;dr
Too long, didn’t read
LRT
Last retweet (a reference for Twitter)
AFAIK
As far as I know
FWIW
For what it’s worth
btw
By the way
smh
Shake my head
ftr
For the record
imo / imho
In my (honest) opinion
noyb
None of your business
gtfo
Get the f**k out
OTOH
On the other hand
OP
Original poster/post
WRT
With regards to
mfw
My face when (usually accompanied by a gif or image)
TTYL
Talk to you later
TYVM
Thank you very much
HTH
Hope this helps
lmk
Let me know
wywtta
What you want to talk about?
Who invented lol?
If you’re interested, here’s the history behind lol from a guy called Wayne Pearson who claims to have invented it back in the 1980s:
“LOL was first coined on a BBS [bulletin board system] called Viewline in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in the early-to-mid-80s. A friend of mine who went by Sprout (and I believe he still does) had said something so funny in the teleconference room that I found myself truly laughing out loud, echoing off the walls of my kitchen. That’s when “LOL” was first used.”