They’ve already been ridiculed for their side parts and skinny jeans, but for millennials, the Ls just keep coming. Their latest crime? Ending every sentence with ‘lol.’
Featured VideoThis opinion on the generational typing quirk initially sparked debate on X, with user @gaulicsmith writing: “Millennials use ‘lol’ like STOP at the end of a telegram lol.”
At the time of writing, this post has amassed 3.8 million views — and the millennials quickly made themselves known in the replies.
Advertisement“Feeling attacked lol,” one wrote. “‘Lol’ is punctuation lol,” another insisted, while a third remarked: “Hold steady lads, in a culture that has taken everything from you, never let them strip you of your lols.”
@sailaunderscore pointed out, meanwhile, that “zoomers use ‘frfr’ like ‘loud and clear’ for radio comms.”
Millennials also provided their reasons for putting ‘lol’ at the end of sentences—all of which seemed to be related to easing the tension in conversations. As one millennial puts it, “We cannot abide someone thinking we’re mad at them.”
Millennials reacted badly on TikTok
But while the debate was more measured on X, millennials on TikTok were a little more passionate about their emotional security ‘lols.’ In one recent clip, which is addressed to Gen Z, @theklarification says: “You cant tell us what to do we invented text messages […] You don’t even know how to text, you don’t even know what text messages are.”
Advertisement@theklarification I will forever use Lol in my text messages lol . . #viral #fyp #millennial #lol #atl ♬ original sound – TheKlarification
Similarly, in her own TikTok, @mayainthemoment exclaimed: “We can’t have anything! I still use ‘lol,’ lock me up, guilty your honour. Guilty. I just feel like sometimes if I don’t use it, I’m dry.”
As for @shanethesupreme‘s video, the TikToker admitted: “I’m afraid if I stop putting the lols after my sentences y’all will be scared of me.”
Daria Bahtina, a linguistics lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, told HuffPost that “For millennials, it’s a way to either make a neutral message warmer and more casual or a way to make a more negative message polite. It’s like hedging or minimising a request with ‘no biggie if you disagree.’”
AdvertisementThat being said, it looks like getting rid of ‘lols’ as a millennial typing quirk is actually a real yes biggie.
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