Would someone finally clear this pervasive mystery?

Laugh out loud

lots of luck

living on laughter

In the days and years before the internet LOL used to mean Little Old Lady. The kind you'd help cross the street. Or does no one do that anymore either?

LOL = Laughing Out Load

LOL is the mother of all Instant Message shortcuts. It means Laughing Out Loud, but it has spawned several siblings, or children, or whatever you want to call them.

ROFL = Rolling On Floor Laughing

LMAO = Laughing My A** Off

and the ever-popular

ROFLMAO = Rolling On Floor Laughing My A** Off

Like you, the first few times I saw these I was heard to mutter "WTF?"

Laughing Out Loud = lol

Rolling on the floor, laughing out loud = rotflol

Laughing = :-D

Winking = ;-)

Smiling :-)

lol means 'laugh out loud', or funny. Using capitals (LOL) usually means saying it loudly so I suppose it could be to laugh out very loudly. Did you mean to capitalize it?

Lots of luck

lol= laugh out loudly

by the way, lmao= laugh my *** out

when you read something and actually chuckle aloud, because what ever what written was either funny or so amazingly stupid that you had to laugh. that is LOL