WORD ARCHIVE
LOL
LOL began as internet slang for 'laugh out loud' and evolved into a tone marker, a punctuation substitute, and an expression of mild acknowledgment. The Archive has given it 261 pages.
LOL's evolution
LOL emerged in the 1980s in online communities and became ubiquitous through text messaging in the 2000s. By the 2010s it had shifted meaning — 'lol' in lowercase often signals softening, irony, or mild acknowledgment rather than actual laughter.
LOL as literary subject
The Archive treats LOL as a word that carries an entire history of digital communication in three letters. A 261-page novel of LOL compresses and expands that history simultaneously.