Comments

LOL

LOL

I text people a lot on my mobile, but have a problem with some abbreviations. LOL is used a fair bit by people in discussion threads on this site. A friend reckons it means Lots of Laughs, or Laugh out Loud, and I originally thought it meant Lots of Love. Zina Lee, you've used it a couple of times, but I can't divine your meaning from the context.

Please could I be enlightened? Thank you.

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by petemay

Re: LOL

when Zina uses it it ALWAYS means lots of love and don't you dare doubt it or she'll break both of your legs.

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by showaddydadito

Re: LOL

Where I come from it usually means Loyal Orange Lodge!!

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by Feargal French

Re: LOL

I thought it was about that bloke from 10cc....what's his name Creme...the 70's Manchester band, who had hits with Oh Donna and Lazy Days...no?

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by Nick Splease

Re: LOL

Like Or Lump it?

Leave Or get Lacerated?

Lush old Loser?

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by Joe Quinn

Re: LOL

Lick One's Lips
Lesions On Legs(?)

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by Ottery

Re: LOL

Lashings Of Lager?

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by Joe Quinn

Re: LOL

Legless On Lager?

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by GraemeO

Re: LOL

Low Ornery Layabout

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by Joe Quinn

Re: LOL

Luminous Orange Leggings - to go with your boots, Joe?

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by Q

Re: LOL

Nice one, Matthew.

Joe

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by Joe Quinn

Re: LOL

That's cleared that up then!

# Posted on July 7th 2004 by rosenun

Re: LOL

I use it to mean Laugh Out Loud! But one time I sent an email to a friend and used "LOL". His wife read the email and was furious cuz she thought it meant Lot's of Love...ooops ;-)

Joyce

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by JMH

Re: LOL

ROFLMAO -- you guys are fecking hilarious. Yes, Pete, it's Laugh Out Loud. ROFL = Rolling On Floor Laughing

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by Zina Lee

Re: LOL

And what's the "MAO" for Zina? Does it mean chinese communist party leaders rolling on the floor laughing?

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by Phantom Button

Re: LOL

It means I have an affinity for cats. *grin* My A** Off, of course. Which you knew already.

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by Zina Lee

Re: LOL

I know *wink*

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by Phantom Button

Re: LOL

LOL

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by Zina Lee

Re: LOL

LOL

That about wraps it up I'd say.

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by Phantom Button

Re: LOL

I like to LOL around as a drunkard, as you know, Pete, especially in Shillelaghs after the Catford beer festival. It's a hard life, but that's the way it is. I have been known occasionally to play some tunes on the flute. So you can cherry pick the bits you like and leave the unsavoury bits, without complaining. Everyone else does so without making it a problem. That said, it'd be nice to see you around again and we have tentative plans of making a raid on kent sometime this summer - and if I'm driving, there won't any LOLling :~}

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by Nick Splease

Re: LOL

Good men yerselves, LOF, (+Sarah), twould be good to see you, there's a freeform Fri night session in Rochester we could usefully meet at, it would turn totally Celtic instantly! Like last Friday when Me and Andybanjo tried it out.

Thanks to you all for the enlightening interpretations of LOL; I did indeed LOL (it does seem to be a verb) at some of the originals, viz Lashings of Lager (to go with the tongue sandwiches no doubt- did E Blyton realise the sexual imagery she was immortalising? Mmmm nice licky dog Timmy!)
My best LOL was for Sexy Tunes - My Darling's a Sheep, thank you whoever that was, I love a good belly laugh.

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by petemay

Re: LOL

Why am I in brackets???????
LOL

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by Sarah the Flute

Re: LOL

Guys, can you help me with this one:
MAO ZE DONG

= ????

jOE

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by Joe Quinn

Re: LOL

Leaving of Liverpool?


AAAAAAAAAAAGH

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by showaddydadito

Re: LOL

MAO TSETUNG, surely?
If not, the Little Red books must constitute the biggest proof-reading error in history(!)

Yours pedantically, etc...

# Posted on July 8th 2004 by Ottery

Re: LOL

MAO TSE-TUNG is the Wade-Giles transcription, which they still use in Taiwan but rarely use elsewhere nowadays; MAO ZEDONG is the modern pinyin transliteration for Mandarin Chinese. So you're both right, but if you want to get with the times you write ZEDONG. And working with both is an absolute nightmare. In Taiwan they can't quite decide which one to use, and sometimes you can walk along a street and see signs with 4 or 5 different spellings of the street name. You've gotta feel sorry for the postmen!
Yours even more pedantically... :-)

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Dow

Re: LOL

(Ever looked at your Chinese takeaway menu and wondered why it says "Szechwan" when the one next door reads "Sichuan"? That's why.)

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Dow

Re: LOL

(And it's why "Peking" is now "Beijing". Okay I'll stop being an Asianist geek now)

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Dow

Re: LOL

God, trust me to start talking about the transliteration of modern Mandarin Chinese (like: *yawn*) when everyone else is getting "Legless On Lager". I'm awaiting a decent answer to Joe Quinn's question. I made one up myself but it's too rude to print, and contains the words "Zebra's Erection".

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Dow

Re: LOL

But, Dow, surely street names in Taiwan will be written up in Chinese characters, unless of course they have the pinyin transliteration written underneath, if that´s what you mean. But that shouldn´t cause any problems for the postmen who would, presumably, read it in Chinese characters ?
My Chinese goes no further than a brief "Ni How" when going into a Chinese restaurant which, more often than not, is met with a withering smile :-)

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by murfbox

Re: LOL

A lot of the street signs have the romanisation underneath. It causes problems for postmen if they have letters from people who can't write Chinese (there are a lot of expats there too remember, and foreigners with Chinese friends), or taxi drivers driving foreigners who can't speak or write Chinese. Hey murbox, next time you go to a Chinese restaurant, try this phrase: "cao ni!" [pron. tsow ni], it means "how are you?".

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Dow

Re: LOL

Of course all this has nothing to do with the music for most people, but for me, 3 out of about 7 or 8 people out of our regular session lot in Sydney speak Mandarin by pure coincidence, and they're all Caucasian. Go figure...

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Dow

Re: LOL

Yeah, I see what you mean. I thought "Ni How" meant How Are You? No wonder I´ve been getting some funny looks!
ITM content: Do you like "The Chieftains in China" album? :-)
Mike

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by murfbox

Re: LOL

Dow, you're only so gung-ho for the 'MAO ZEDONG' version so you can get your zebra's erection in(!) Why not use the other spelling and go for a 'Termite's erection' - they are more impressive than the Zebra's and never subside, unless knocked over by a hungry ant-eater...

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Ottery

Re: LOL

Surely lads being a question shouldn't it be "Ni how mah" and "cao ni mah"

yours
extremely pedantically

Joe

P.S. Go on Dow whaddidya work out mah

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Joe Quinn

Re: LOL

Actually, it depends on whether you speak Mandarin or Cantonese, Mike. My family speaks Cantonese, and we do indeed say "ni hao?" or "hao ma?" for "hello, how are you today?" But let's face it, it's possible not be able to speak "Chinese" with someone from the next village over. It's a really big country -- imagine Irish over a country the size of China, and you'll pretty much have the idea.

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Zina Lee

Re: LOL

Fair 'nuff, Zeens.

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Joe Quinn

Re: LOL

How did this thread get to China?

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Phantom Button

Re: LOL

Zina started it with LMAO.

Squealer : - )

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Joe Quinn

Re: LOL

It wasn't me, it was Jack. I simply was laughing. heh.

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Zina Lee

Re: LOL

Wow Joe I'm impressed. Yes, "ni hao" means something like "hello", "ni hao ma?" means "how are you?", and "cao ni" means, um, "show me the menu pls".

# Posted on July 9th 2004 by Dow

Re: LOL

Don't be, Mark. I have an unfair advantage, I run a school for Chinese students of English. Any more offers on Mao Zedong?

# Posted on July 10th 2004 by Joe Quinn

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