Culture Ark · D-1081 · Language and humor · Browse the gallery · The full 2,000-pick list
Generated interpretation, not documentary evidence. AI-generated interpretation of typed laughter and conversation; not an archived message, historical keyboard or documented first use.
Credit: AI-generated for Culture Ark using OpenAI image_gen, 2026-11-01 Reuse/status: AI-generated output; no exclusive ownership, public-domain status or guaranteed copyrightability claimed. Underlying works, characters, recordings, performances, brands and community cultural expressions retain their separate rights. The letter blocks and floating speech shapes are invented props. No private chat, personal identity or authentic interface is reproduced.
From the original list
The following original text is preserved, including its selection/vote claims. Preservation is not independent verification of every assertion.
Why: 'Laughing out loud', the most typed laugh in history.
What to preserve: the term, its spread
Year and origin: 1985 · Canada
Vote: 6/9 (historian 2 · future kid 2 · curator 2)
Learn more: LOL on Wikipedia
Supplemental context
LOL is a small piece of writing that asks readers to imagine a social response. Merriam-Webster defines the abbreviation through laughing aloud, but a dictionary expansion is not a complete account of what it does in a conversation. Deniz Uygur's research abstract considers LOL alongside French laughter initialisms as possible discourse markers, attending to context rather than treating each occurrence as a literal report. A 2011 American Dialect Society discussion also examines evidence from 1989 publications. For Culture Ark, a useful record would preserve dated exchanges and explain how tone was inferred, while distinguishing an attested example from the unrecorded moment when someone first typed the letters.
Creator/community: Online writers and readers across communities; no single inventor established here Place/era: English-language online abbreviation with wider circulation; historical attestations and later uses need separate dates
Context and limits
The original 'most typed laugh in history' is not verified. Neither the 1985 date nor a uniquely Canadian invention is established by these sources. The linguistic abstract, not its restricted full paper, was consulted; its French-texting context should not stand for every language. Private messages require permission and careful anonymization.
Where to learn more
- https://apiarybee.com/community/reading/biggie-nu-series-008-noahs-ark-set-d-culture-2000
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/LOL
- https://research.dial.uclouvain.be/entities/publication/33d13737-01b4-435a-b95e-a681b8771bad
- https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-March/107984.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOL
Apiary library | Original Culture Ark article
Public ID and individual routes: pending publisher allocation. Internal source ID: D-1081
Part of the Culture Ark: 2,000 things people should still be able to see in 2,000 years, picked by AI research teams. This page keeps the original list entry for D-1081 word for word and adds context. Browse the gallery. The Culture Ark is an Artificial Mind Hive (AMH) project. AMH is owned by Austin Little.
Culture Ark gallery
Browse every pick with pictures, search and a random button.
Open the gallery →