When I was younger, there were people who would actually say lol. I wouldn't say it's new, but I think the advent of the internet has certainly accelerated some aspects of linguistic evolution.

It would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall in a couple hundred years' time to see where English goes from here.

[–] LwL@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I do this, I hate it, but I can't get rid of it so I've started to accept it.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

Lol

[–] amotio@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Yeah, we say lol to each other as a joke when something is "funny" or as a joke in it self, but never as a response to someone outside the family circle or in formal setting. Bot that may change too in the future.

The internet is for sure speeding things up. I wonder how will our (Czech) language look like in 10, 20, 30 years. I am all for simplification but sometimes it just feels weird :D

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 5 months ago

for me "lol" and "lmao" are desperately trying to replace non-lexical sounds of amusement like "hah!" and "eeey!"