LOL: for some time I had no idea what on Earth this meant. I thought it could be Lots of Laughing Lunatics or possibly Lolita, Oi, what a Lovely film! Then a friend informed me, smugly, that it actually meant Laugh Out Loud. I was baffled, honestly I was. So I made a pact to myself: I won’t use this absurdity ever, I thought. It’s daft and this email / texting laziness will never replace laughter at the end of the phone!

Fast forward five years and I have used LOL about 15,674 times. I know–I know. The worst thing? Well, I stopped caring. The old saying If You Can’t Beat Em Join Em really is true–

Then, last week I noticed another worrying trend. I was sitting in the pub when someone made a joke and a (usually) very reliable friend of mine, a friend who wouldn’t be caught dead not wearing skin-tight jeans and donning a fashionable hair-do, said, “LOL, that’s funny!”

I exploded! “Just laugh!” I said, “If you think it’s funny please JUST LAUGH!”

He shook his head, thinking I was over-reacting I suppose. “I am laughing,” he said.

“You’re not!” I exclaimed, really putting emphasis on the E, C and D at the end. “You’re laugh out louding!”

Suffice to say I was eventually forced to leave; everyone thought I’d taken it all a bit seriously.

At the bus-stop I was suitably riled enough to bring this up with a total stranger who was drinking booze from brown paper. The man, a vagrant, agreed with me wholeheartedly. By the time I stepped on the bus I was convinced of my mission. To speak up whenever anyone spoke the LOL in real life. It’s only for texting, people! It’s only to be used when you can’t actually laugh!

Before I go, I need to relish in a new purchase. I have just bought the smartest saucony running shoes that I have ever owned. Toronto Marathon, here I come!