Then of course there is LOL, for “laugh out loud,” which actually means the opposite, because nobody using LOL has actually laughed out loud since at least 2015. LOL was among the most common online “laughs” used on Facebook, according to a 2015 study by the company. There’s ha ha ha (note the spaces) as a way to indicate what my 13-year-old self might have referred to as “hardy har har” — or, very funny — NOT. It’s striking how little of this online “laughter” has to do with humor. “So online laughter is very much like a fingerprint, which is actually very much like real life.

Source: New York Times July 08, 2017 10:00 UTC