Everyone knows that LOL is Laugh out Loud and ROFL is Roll on Floor Laughing.

But where did these acronyms come from and what the heck are ASCII art, smilies and emojis?

These questions and a few more will be answered on this page with some smiley faces, some ASCII emoticons and maybe an emoji or two.

The use of language is constantly changing whether by typo or design.  It is no bad thing but can be confusing when confronted with a new TLA (three letter acronym).  This can be important in conversation on social media where an accidental slight can be taken oh-so-seriously.

Here is a growing collection of some of the more popular acronyms and emojis beloved by the social media butterflies.

Even before the Wayback Machine.

There were bulletin boards and modems and people talked about 300 baud rate.  Computing and more specifically electronic communication was for geeks.

This was even before mobile phones.  We have come a long way in a few decades. Curiously, although we now have far much more computing power, our emoticons and acronyms have barely altered.  We still want to use as few characters and symbols to express as much as we can in a short time.

The "LOL" is as popular as ever as a shorthand signification that you got the joke, you think it was funny or you find the other person's comment ridiculous.  L.O.L - laugh out loud.

At a baud rate of 300 even LOL was a bit long.  How about this...

:)

The ASCII Smiley.  The ultimate emoticon shorthand which dates back way before internet times.

The Smiley that we know and love was created for a marketing campaign by some guy who made fifty dollars out of it.  It went on to be one of THE most recognisable images on the planet.

There are now millions of images calling themselves Smilies that play on the same simple theme.  A round human face with a smile and eyes.  Sometimes they might be a sad or angry expression but they are all called Smilies.

If we want to fancy up the Smiley and use a long word we could say it was an emoticon.  That is an internet word that combines icon and emotion.  

It helps to move along from the Smiley idea and into the range of simple images that can convey emotions.

The emoji is a Japanese name for a souped up Smiley.  It has a little more graphic detail, a tiny bit more definition.  They are like sophisticated Smilies.

It means that people can add some pep to their Twitter comments by choosing from an ever-growing collection of emojis to show how briefly hip and trendy they are.

The retro people will respond with a

:(

and fewer and fewer people will know what they mean.

The graphic shows the journey from ascii smile to emoji happy.  The only real difference is more pixels to play with.

An acronym is a series of letters that generally stand for words.  Sometimes the acronym in itself can be meaningful, sometimes it acquires its own meaning with frequent use.

Some people today use LOL in actual speech - it has become so much a part of the language.  Instead of saying "funny" or laughing - they just say "LOL" and people understand.

Here are a couple of common laughter acronyms.

LOL Laugh Out Loud
ROFL Roll on Floor Laughing

Blah means anything where it is not worth saying or trying to understand.  A 24/7 culture of garbage creates a stream of blah into our minds.

Blep. It means a tongue sticking out, particularly a cat. Love the specificity of this word. Hence Blep Cat below!

Derp is what it sounds like.

Derp.

Inspired by the Big Lebowski where "The Dude" is the hero.  So many great quotes in this movie.  The Dude abides.

Duh.  It's obvious what it means.  You must be stupid.  Duh.

Give someone the middle finger, flipping the bird - a rude way to send a message.

Not really an internet expression.  Comes from the 17th century!  Nice to see it making a comeback.

The Greatest Of All Time - G.O.A.T.

Presumably the greatest goat of all time would be a G.O.A.T. goat.

Hello means hello.

It's the obvious greeting.  No acronyms or clever business required.  Only here because I don't know where else to put it.

The acronym means In Case You Missed It.  Used to attract attention to something the spammer, advertiser or social media influencer wants you to view.

It is a form of clickbait implying there is something you may have missed. 

In an unprofitable world for media the pleading gets louder.  ICYMI is an addition to the armoury.

Keyboard Warrior is a generally derogatory term to describe people who act tough on the internet.  They use words and harsh tweets as their main weapons.

The internet and social media are ideal battlegrounds.  No need to leave your house or sofa while putting other people in their place.  And unlikely to receive much pain given the anonymity and remoteness afforded by invisible surfing. 

Some Keyboard Warriors are doing God's work.  By hunting down and destroying the bad guys they arguably make the world a better place.

Not an acronym at all but I have nowhere else to put it at present.

A fun design for people who are legends in their own lunchtime.

​Or maybe for real.

I really like "meh".  It means how it sounds, an expression of distaste or disinterest.  "Meh", I am not buying your offer, posting, advertising, political message, whatever you are selling me.

​Meh.

Nah is a more dismissive, slightly rude way of saying No.  The person can't be bothered to say "no thanks" or even "no" with correct enunciation but prefers to just say "nah".

Not today, not bothered, whatever.

​Nah.  Let it linger on the tongue.

Noob or newbie means a newcomer.  Usually not very good and expected to lose bigly.

Sometimes noobs are cut some slack for a brief while to give them a chance of finding their feet.

​Sometimes.

Just a casual way of say "no".

NPC means non playable character.  The game play people who wander around with limited options for interaction.

To be fair to them they do serve some sort of purpose.

​Of course, games are nothing like real life.

OMG means Oh My God.  Preferably spoken on trash TV with a gap of about five seconds between each letter.  "O"... "M"... "G".

Sometimes people say "Oh My Gosh" instead.    That is the safe non-offensive way to express surprise or astonishment.
​
​The British version is sometimes "Oh My Days".

Discomfort, surprise or dismay.  Means what it sounds like - an oof as the air escapes you.

Originally a disparaging term, Plebian was used in Roman times to describe commoners.  This continued for thousands of years.

​For some it can be a badge of honor.  Yes, I'm a Pleb.  Decent working class citizen.  What's your problem?

Angry, upset or hostile is the definition.  But for me it means a little more than that.  Someone who is not going to take it lying down anymore.

​So yeah.  Feeling a little salty.

A shrug indicates a lack of interest.  It has existed for ever and is a natural human state.

In the ongoing infantilisation of our world we need a shruggie to indicate the same thing.  A cuddly way of saying the user could not care all that much.

Here is a text shruggie - ¯_(ツ)_/¯.  It is not much fun to type.

Army expression - Situation Normal All F Up.

To Swipe Right on a dating app indicates you like the person.  Time was when you might have tried to catch their eye or jog their elbow as you queued for the bar.  Not any more.  No need to even leave your office chair to make your next move in the dating game.

Not listening, not interested, talk to the hand.

Feel the vibe.

​An old term that sticks around and gets a new lease of life every now and again.

Another expression of excitement - Wahoo!

And another way of showing words in a design, this time with colourful lettering overlaid and at differing heights to create a fuller style which takes a moment to figure out what it's saying.

Why oh why do people need to change the language?

Because it is a fluid and flexible thing that grows.  The internet would be hard work if the common form of communication was the language of Shakespeare.

Welp is an alternative to 'well'.  A means of saying - welp that's it for now.

Woohoo, or woo-hoo, even woo hoo - is the opposite of "meh".

It signifies encouragement, applause, recognition of achievement.  "Well done"... "woohoo!".

It is the opposite of a more reserved English way of speaking which might raise an eyebrow slightly and say "Admirable". 

​Here are some other "oohoo" words which may be useful.

Boohoo - sad face
Yoohoo - HELLO!
​Moohoo - internet cows

A way of expressing happiness or excitement, Woot! is an online word of delight.

In old English, the type favored by Shakespeare, woot would be spelt with extra letters, none of which help to make the sound.

​No need for any of that nonsense.  Woot!

Yay means a celebratory yell of delight.  Short and very easy to type.

You only live once.  One of those expressions that sticks for a while until they become so overused that most people move on.

YOLO will have seen its best days which is somewhat ironic as it did indeed only live once.  Time and fashion pass quickly on the internet.