For the purpose of this article, I'll be using the acronym LOL as a verb.

Earlier today, a friend  (let's call him John) and I had an intense argument that spurred some deep soul searching. I was lost in thought for a while and when I realized I was simply moving in circles in my head, I decided to write about it. Sometimes that slippery fiend called clarity can be found when you put your thoughts into words.
Back to the argument. John is a writer - a pretty good one I might add - while I deeply respect his work, our writings are polar opposite. While I write TV reviews, beauty tips and the likes, he writes about the environment and life. The kind of articles that really make you consider your life choices.

Early this morning, John sent me one of his recently written pieces and like every thing he has ever written, it was serious and meant to spur deep thinking. Imagine my surprise when I noticed halfway through the article that he used the "Lol" acronym. Even though it was published in one of the renowned journals, I thought it was an oversight. John would never lol in his article, he's way too serious. But then I saw it again and again. By the third lol sighting, it was pretty obvious that it was not an oversight.

I talked to John about his lols. I felt he shouldn't have loled in the article because of how serious it was. I mean I write about relationships and I'm too stuck up to lol in them. To defend his choice, John said there were no rules in writing other than the ones we made and as such he is free to lol as much as he wants in his pieces.

I was pretty adamant about it - I felt rather strongly that there are ways to lighten the mood of a serious piece without using chat room lingo. To give me perspective, John gave an example of a famous blogger who is breaking the rules of writing and loling all the way to the bank. This blogger uses words that I wouldn't even use when chatting with my friends but she is getting views in six figures (probably). His example made me think about my stance. Why did I feel so strongly about this? It was just a word after all.

Maybe it's because of that faithful day I got an earful from my former employer because I used the phrase "like it wasn't bad enough" in what was supposed to be a serious article. Imagine what would have happened if I had loled in the piece? I probably would have lost my job. But here was John the deep thinker loling all the way. That probably should have softened my stance. But it didn't. 

I thought about something else. "What if I was paid a significant amount to lol in my articles. Would I do it?"

Think about some tiny detail in your life you feel really strongly about - it could be choosing not to go out without underwear or choosing to squeeze toothpaste from the bottom rather than the middle. For a price, would you be willing to go out without underwear and squeeze your toothpaste nonchalantly? Would you?
 

John would probably have a response that would deeply resonate with you. But alas, I am not John and I did not get the answers I thought I would from writing this piece. But maybe you can help with that.
Image: Memegenerator