Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. Have you seen someone use “IJBOL” in a group chat or something and you’re wondering what the heck that means? We’re here to help.
That’s right, friends. I’m here to clear up some confusion about internet slang, which makes me feel triply old given that I was using LOL before you were born (get off my virtual lawn!!).
But here we are. There’s a new piece of internet slang for laughter that’s being used. Let’s dive in and walk you through this:
Wait, what? IJBOL?
That’s right, friends. I didn’t know this was a thing, but now it’s VERY MUCH A THING:
WHY DID I JUST FIND CILLIAN MURPHY IN A RANOM MUSIC VIDEO IJBOL pic.twitter.com/LXIQ702ppf
— lou ✩ (@regentalia) August 18, 2023
When I say ijbol this is what I mean pic.twitter.com/B2BKxM2KqE
— Holekage of the Hidden Bussy Village (@CAdreamboy) August 17, 2023
Fine. What does that mean?
That would be: I Just Burst Out Laughing.
I just read an article that said gen z is saying IJBOL (i just burst out laughing) instead of LOL and i’ve just had enough
— Louie Wein (@louiewein) August 17, 2023
LOL, HAHA and now IJBOL? OMG.
To be honest, I had to look up the definition of IJBOL when I saw it, which stands for "I just burst out laughing."
As Shirley Wang writes in the @nytimes, "Though the acronym IJBOL was entered into Urban Dictionary in 2009, it picked up in 2021…
— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) August 14, 2023
What's wrong with good old LOL?
Every generation needs their own slang, right? And also, maybe it’s specific to a certain reaction (I can tell you I use lol when I don’t actually laugh out loud).
Ellie Jocson, a 25-year-old bank analyst in Manila, uses IJBOL instead of LOL, because she said it more accurately reflected what happened “behind the screen” while scrolling through social media. “I’m usually just quiet,” Ms. Jocson said. “And then I let out a snort.”
For Gen Z-ers, it comes as a timely replacement for a slew of terms that no longer feel fitting. “I don’t LMAO. It’s just not what I do,” said Michael Messineo, a 27-year-old content creator who lives in Melbourne, Australia. “I associate LMAO with millennial humor. But then I associate IJBOL with Gen Z humor, which is funnier.”
Do I have to start using this?
My take: No. You do you. You wanna do LMAO or LOL or ROFL? Fine.
But you may end up sounding … old.
You used to see a lot of ROFL. Maybe even a ROFLMAO. ROFL and LMAO were the coke and pepsi of l33t speak. Now you don’t see ROFL anymore. Refinement culture. pic.twitter.com/ZVDUsCh3sO
— egirl 🦧 sokolov (barrhaven phrenologist) (@johnnycakes91) August 12, 2023
