To LOL or Not to LOL

That is the question. Or that is a question, anyway.

I saw lol for the first time two years ago. Since then I've seen it more and more often. Most recently David has started saying it, "LOL!" Or more often, "Oh, LOL!" But only when he's speaking Polish. He says it when someone shows him a cool magazine or toy, or when he's crossing the street and a car zooms quickly by right behind him. "Oh lol!!" Yes, hilarious, David. So funny. You almost got run over by a car.

I don't ever remember writing lol except for when I was talking about the acronym and not using it. Instead, I will write old fashioned things like:
Hilarious!!
SO funny!
I laughed out loud!

BORING, I know. I'm going to start using new ones like:
Hysterical!!
So comical!
How humorous is that!
Very amusing.

But I just can't bring myself to do the LOL thing. Maybe it's partly because I have felt that, like David, many people just kind of use it as a catch-all phrase. A thing to type. Like at the beginning or end of a sentence, or just on it's own with an exclamation point or two. I personally don't have a problem finding things to type and therefore don't really need random acronyms, like some might.

I am coming to grips with the lol phenomenon, though. I must say I like seeing those three little letters in comments here on my blog. When I do, I imagine that the commenter actually laughed out loud. I'm sure it's not always the case, or maybe it's rarely the case, but I have a good imagination.

I talked to my husband about this last night and he said that he thinks a lot of people use it in place of a smiley face. Now THAT makes some sense. No, it doesn't make sense, I mean that it helps me make sense of people using it when I can't imagine what could possibly have made them laugh out loud. But a friendly smile? Those fit in anywhere. LOL!

And before you exit the blog, would you mind answering the poll in my sidebar?
*Those of you who read the dear Annie Valentine over at Regarding Annie, please know that I was planning on writing a post about this before I read hers. What can I say? Great minds think alike. And for the record, I didn't re-read hers before I typed this up to keep copying at a minimum.
Update: I just peeked over there to make the link, and remembered that she gives some excellent alternative acronyms.