LOL, ROFL, BRB: Where Did Internet Acronyms Come From?
The earliest known use of OMG isn't from a text message. It's from a 1917 letter to Winston Churchill, written by British admiral Lord Fisher: "O.M.G. (Oh! My God!) — Shower it on the Admiralty!"
Internet acronyms feel modern, but their story goes back further than you'd think. Here's where the most famous ones came from.
The Counterintuitive Truth: "lol" Rarely Means Laughing Out Loud
Most people who type "lol" aren't laughing. Linguists have noted that "lol" often works as a softener — making a message friendlier or less serious.
"ok lol" means something different from "ok." We call this tone particle: a word that adjusts mood rather than adding meaning, similar to "you know" or "like" in speech.
Why Acronyms Took Over
- Slow typing on early keyboards and phones
- Character limits — SMS messages allowed 160 characters
- Real-time chat rewarded speed
- Insider identity — knowing acronyms showed you belonged
The Classics and Their Origins
LOL — Laughing Out Loud
Spread through bulletin board systems (BBS) and online chat in the 1980s. Wayne Pearson has claimed to have popularised it in a 1980s chat group. By the 2000s it was everywhere.
ROFL — Rolling On the Floor Laughing
Grew out of Usenet and chat culture as an "upgrade" to LOL. Variants include ROFLMAO and ROFLCOPTER.
BRB — Be Right Back
A practical chat-room and gaming acronym for stepping away briefly.
AFK — Away From Keyboard
Common in multiplayer games and chat.
OMG — Oh My God
First recorded in 1917, popularised online and added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011.
IMHO — In My Humble Opinion
From Usenet discussions, where tone was easy to misread.
TL;DR — Too Long; Didn't Read
Popular on forums in the 2000s — now often used by writers to introduce their own summaries.
GG — Good Game
Gaming etiquette, now used ironically for any failure.
Modern Acronyms
| Acronym | Meaning |
|---|---|
| NGL | Not gonna lie |
| FR | For real |
| IYKYK | If you know, you know |
| ICYMI | In case you missed it |
| FOMO | Fear of missing out |
| SMH | Shaking my head |
Convert plain text into chat style with the Discord Shorthand Translator.
Acronyms That Changed Meaning
| Acronym | Original meaning | Common modern use |
|---|---|---|
| LOL | Laughing out loud | Softener, "haha" |
| GG | Good game | Irony: "it's over" |
| OMG | Genuine shock | Casual excitement |
| TL;DR | "I didn't read it" | "Here's a summary" |
We call this acronym drift: short forms shifting meaning as they spread beyond their original communities.
Retro Internet Styles
- AOLer Text Translator — 1990s chat room energy
- B1FF Translator — the classic Usenet newbie
- WoW Slang Translator — MMO gaming abbreviations
- Leet Speak Translator — hacker style
Acronyms Before the Internet
Acronyms weren't invented online:
- SOS — a Morse distress signal from 1908 (not originally an acronym)
- Radio operators used codes like 73 ("best regards") in Morse
- Military acronyms like AWOL and SNAFU
Explore those roots with the Morse Code Translator.
What Experts Say
Linguist John McWhorter has argued that texting is "fingered speech" — closer to spoken conversation than traditional writing. From that perspective, acronyms like "lol" behave like spoken reactions, not written sentences.
Where Acronyms Are Heading
Voice messages and video reactions are replacing some typed shorthand. We predict new acronyms will increasingly be born in video captions and gaming voice chat, then move into text — the reverse of how LOL and BRB spread.