LOL! Or Equivalent!

LOL! Or Equivalent! Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 29, 2009 in Esperanto Language

A few days ago, somebody requested a post on how to use the American-English acronym “LOL.” For those of you who have never encountered it, “LOL” is a common bit of Internet slang that means “laugh out loud” or “laughing out loud.” While I haven’t been able to find a common Esperanto equivalent, I thought it would be pertinent to attempt to show a possible acronym that could be used instead.

To begin, let us take the Esperanto verb for “to laugh,” “ridi.” The word for “out,” in this instance, would need to be an adverb, so let us use the word “ekstere.” Then, we need a word for “loud.” Here, “lauxta” is an appropriate translation. Thus, we have the acronym “REL.”

Whether or not other Esperantists would know what you’re saying, I do not know. But hey, go ahead and use it. Maybe it will catch on!

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Comments:

Nicolas Maia:

Thanks for sorting out this request! I’ll start using it, maybe it’ll catch on
Tim Westover:

An interesting post. I’m not sure “ridi ekstere laŭta” really captures the sense of “laughing out loud” — “out loud” is an idiom that means “audibly” rather that “outside and loudly”. That being said, an acronym doesn’t have to make perfect logical sense to catch on.

Esperanto has lived on chat rooms and forums for as long as those things have been in use — I wonder if the community has already picked something to mean “LOL.” I don’t frequent enough of these places to know!
Bergino:

The normal acronym for LOL in esperanto is “MDR” = multaj da ridoj.
But best understood is simply “hehe”.
Gunnar Gällmo:

“Ekstere” means “outside” rather than “out”; “eksteren” (directional) would be slightly better, but hardly understandable to non-anglophone Esperantists – too literal. A more idiomatical Esperanto translation for “laughing out loudly” would be “ridegante” – perhaps not a good basis for an acronym…
Benny the Irish polyglot:

Esperanto already has LOL. It’s MDR – everyone I chat with knows of it, although this is influenced by the French. You can see a discussion on this on Lernu
remuŝ:

LOL signifas : Mi Ridegas
Tute komprenebla estas:
(RIDO) aŭ (RIDEGO) aŭ (RID’) aŭ (RIDEG’)
Multaj simple uzas 🙂 aŭ :-)) kiuj estas internaciaj
Capital Z:

MDR is the standard. It can mean “Multe Da Ridoj” or “Mi Devas Ridi”
Schneider:

Mi kredas ke “laugh out” estas adverba frazo kaj ne devas esti tradukita, ĉar prezentas specialan signifon.
Mi ne scias, sed mi kredas ke MDR devus esti defaŭte, mirinde.
Keith:

I’m not into chatrooms and such, but I’d use “ridige.” It seems “to laugh out” would be “elridi.” Literally, “to laugh out loud” would be “aŭdeble ridi,” ĉu ne?
Neal McBurnett:

I just heard a hilarious and mortifying story on National Public Radio. A minister thought that LOL meant “Lots Of Love”, and that does fit not infrequently. But it is a real mistake to write “So sorry to hear your cancer has returned. LOL”.
Lex:

I’ve heard a similar story from someone on a plane trip. Receiving a text message from his mother, the note read, “Enjoy your flight, LOL.” Sounds rather sinister, no? Of course, his mother was thinking the same thing as the minister in your story!
Garbhan MacAoidh:

Kia stultajho! “Laugh out loud” estas “laŭte ridi” en Esperanto.
Fi:

Hello. How about “hahahaha” how would that be in Esperanto? I’ve been searching for this for a while now. I hope you guys can help. Thanks ☺

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