Gen Z cancels LOL in favor of new acronym: IJBOL

That is no laughing matter.

Gen Z has canceled the fan-favorite acronym LOL.

As an alternative, the slang-savvy generation has coined a more complicated term in lieu of snicker out loud: IJBOL.

For the uninitiated, which means “I simply burst out laughing.”

Not like the so-called strictly “Millennial” LMAO (“laughing my ass off”), ROFL (“rolling on the ground laughing”) or LOL, IJBOL — pronounced “eej-bowl” — doesn’t fairly have the identical je ne sais quoi.

But, the widely-used acronyms a part of web tradition for many years have been trashed by Gen Z-ers, very similar to the thumbs-up emoji, skinny jeans and blond hair.

“I don’t LMAO. It’s simply not what I do,” 27-year-old Michael Messineo, a Melbourne-based content material creator, informed the New York Times.

“I affiliate LMAO with Millennial humor. However then I affiliate IJBOL with Gen Z humor, which is funnier.”

The novel acronym IJBOL first appeared in City Dictionary in additional than a decade in the past, based on the Instances, however resurfaced within the Okay-pop group in recent times — and eventually caught.

Effectively, type of.

“Today Show” hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager admitted they “weren’t conscious” of the brand new slang time period, whereas haters on TikTok argued that it’s “too lengthy,” “seems to be silly” and “the letters simply don’t go collectively.”

However naysayers of IJBOL is likely to be SOL — the time period seems to be gaining reputation on-line, with the hashtag hovering previous 2 million views on TikTok.

“My mates, we’re throughout the identical age, like 18 to early 20s,” 20-year-old Sebastian Champagne, a Massachusetts school scholar, informed The Instances.

“So a whole lot of us had been like, ‘That is going to be our phrase now!’”

Michelle McSweeney, a professor on the Metropolis College of New York Graduate Heart, stated IJBOL is a corporate-friendly different for different youthful slang that may not be as buttoned-up.

“You’d completely use LOL along with your boss. I’ll say that I’ve used LMAO with my boss, however like, that’s so far as I escalate,” McSweeney informed The Instances.

“That’s why we have to convey new phrases into circulation, since you’re not going to put in writing to your greatest buddy the identical factor they’re going to put in writing to your boss.”