LOL is the well-established acronym indicating an amused response to something communicated in a text message or email. However it had a life of its own long before the advent of electronic communication, and still causes momentary discombobulation when used in communicating with people of a certain generation, especially in Ireland.
One area of life in which the letters have long been used to indicate something far from jocularity is in the area of accommodation for elderly people, Nursing Homes, Retirement Homes and the like. In these institutions staff members often use the acronym to refer to “Little Old Ladies”.
Staying in Ireland, and going back a few hundred years in time, LOL has long stood for “Loyal Orange Lodge”. The Religious/Political/Paramilitary “Orange Order” is a body existing to protect and further the cause of a Protestant understanding of the Christian Faith and the maintenance of the Union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Order has branches in all parts of Ireland and these are known as Lodges (Loyal Orange Lodges), and they don't cause anyone to Laugh Out Loud, especially if they are neither Protestant nor Unionist.
LOLs also pop up in Scotland, Canada, USA, Australia and even in India, founded no doubt, by loyal subjects who don't really want to live in the blessed Kingdom.
The members of the Lodges demonstrate regularly. These demonstrations take the form of a military-style march along main roads by hundreds of members making a nuisance of themselves and preventing people from going where they want when they want. They dress up in black suits, bowler hats, and they wear orange sashes round their necks. Bands kitted out in colourful uniforms usually precede the marchers, with pipes, accordions and drums. They often play Christian hymns as they lead their suited brethren. It's all a bit dark and menacing but part of the culture, and if you take it a certain way you probably would laugh out loud.
