Illustration by Yan Wu/The Washington Post; iStock
September 6, 2026, at 7:00 a.m. EDT

A colleague of ours shared a story about his mother responding to a Facebook post about a friend’s pet passing away. She replied with ‘lol,’ intending to send ‘lots of love.’ She learned the true meaning later. This is a common error for those who consider themselves fluent in textese.

The acronym LOL, first used in 1989 in the FidoNews newsletter, was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011. Despite this, many people mistakenly use it today. In fact, variations of ‘LOL meaning’ are searched approximately 16,800 times monthly in the United States, according to Unscramblerer.com’s analysis.

Some acronyms are less known than LOL, yet they are frequently used in texts and social media. Many recipients, however, don’t understand them. People often find these acronyms unappealing, contrary to the light and friendly intention behind them. The issue arises when a message intended to be efficient and cool is received differently.

Confusion isn’t the only issue. Acronyms can imply a lack of effort, raising questions about sincerity. Research supports this claim. A study by Stanford and the University of Toronto examined over 200,000 Tinder conversations from 686 users, revealing a pattern: acronyms suggest low effort, making senders appear insincere. This reduces replies and engagement.

Even when familiar parties exchange acronyms, ignorance prevails. The study found 84 percent of senders believed recipients were unbothered by abbreviations. On Discord, a platform for internet natives, abbreviation use also decreased reply chances.

Could AI change this trend? AI tools simplify full-length replies. Thus, abbreviations might signal a real person’s input. However, Eileen Zhang, one of the Stanford researchers, has reservations. She argues that if spelling out phrases becomes easy, choosing abbreviations may stand out more.

“If spelling out a phrase becomes nearly effortless,” she said, “then choosing the shortcut may stand out more, not less.”

Not convinced about txtspk issues? Take our quiz and see if you end up SYH (shaking your head).

• What is your OTP? What does the sender mean?
• Sorry, we can’t invite you to dinner What does the sender mean?
• We are all celebrating! WYD What does the sender mean?
• I told my friend about you … WYLL? What does the sender mean?
• We’ve been talking all day … WYF What does the sender mean?
• HMU when you get home What does the sender mean?
• I didn’t expect that, ICL What does the sender mean?
• My cat is LOML What does the sender mean?
• IIRC, the meeting is at 3 p.m. What does the sender mean?
• He is DTM What does the sender mean?

Your score: 0 of 10

You must answer all questions to see your result.

Methodology: Unscramblerer.com utilized Google Trends to identify trending texting acronyms. It used Ahrefs to determine the monthly search volume, capturing 100 variations of texting acronyms.