Even the Oxford English Dictionary is at it:
LOL, int. and n.2
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌɛləʊˈɛl/ , /lɒl/ , U.S. /ˌɛlˌoʊˈɛl/ , /lɑl/
Forms: 19– LOL, 19– lol.
Etymology: Initialism < the initial letters of laughing out loud; sometimes also pronounced as an acronym.The first Lof LOL is sometimes also explained as the initial letter of laugh.
colloq.
A. int.
Originally and chiefly in the language of electronic communications: ‘ha ha!’; used to draw attention to a joke or humorous statement, or to express amusement.
1990 Jargon File Draft, part 4 of 4 in comp.misc (Usenet newsgroup) 13 June, LOL‥laughing out loud.
1993 Re: Walking out of Movies in bit.listserv.cinema-l (Usenet newsgroup) 3 Aug., LOL‥. Damn, that’s even worse‥. Ba Ha Ha Ha ha ha!
2002 What Mobile Apr. 23/3 (heading) Wan2 go on a d8 2nite? LOL. Everyone flirts, but will people really do it on their mobiles?
2003 K. Sampson Freshers 100 ‘Wow, man! Are you, like, really from a council estate?’ ‘Yep.’ ‘Lol! Awesome.’
2006 J. Dibbell Play Money xxiv. 170 There was a pause, then finally: lol. i know what ur hintin at.
B. n.2
An instance of the written interjection ‘LOL’.
1993 San Diego Union-Tribune 14 Feb. d2/3 Someone who cracks a joke might get an ‘LOL’ in response—for ‘Laughing Out Loud’.
1995 RE: Polygonal shaped GIFs in comp.infosystems.www.authoring.images (Usenet newsgroup) 13 Aug., I got a LOL about ‘Geometrically challenged’.
2000 Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) (Nexis) (Three Star ed.) 7 Sept. d1 Last week‥, 14-year-old Caitlin Orlofsky and her friends caught up on it all, in a conversation punctuated by LOLs.
2009 R. V. Kozinets Netnography x. 183 All of it blogged and microblogged and promoted with lots of omgs and lols.
