LOL, an abbreviation for laughing out loud,[1][2] or laugh out loud,[3] is a common element of Internet slang. It was used historically on Usenet but is now widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication, and even face-to-face communication. It is one of many initialisms for expressing bodily reactions, in particular laughter, as text, including initialisms for more emphatic expressions of laughter such as LMAO[4] (“laughing my arse/ass off”), ROTFL[5][6][7][8] (“roll(ing) on the floor laughing”) or ROFL[9] (“roll(ing) on [the] floor laughing”), and BWL (“bursting with laughter”, above which there is “no greater compliment” according to technology columnist Larry Magid).[10] Other unrelated expansions include the now mostly historical “lots of luck” or “lots of love” used in letter-writing.[11