From LOL to SMH: How Internet Slang Evolved Over 30 Years

The internet has done a lot for humanity—connected us across the globe, democratized information, and gifted us endless cat memes. But perhaps one of its most entertaining contributions is the quirky, ever-evolving world of internet slang.

From the early days of dial-up chat rooms to TikTok comment sections, internet slang has grown from simple abbreviations to a rich linguistic ecosystem. Let’s take a nostalgic, and sometimes hilarious, stroll through 30 years of online expression and decode what it says about how we communicate, think, and vibe.

The 1990s: The Birth of Keyboard Culture

Ah, the 90s. When your internet made beeping noises and you couldn’t use the phone while surfing. Online communities were forming on AOL, IRC, and bulletin boards, and people were figuring out how to talk online.

Slang of the Era:

LOL – Laugh Out Loud (but also, sometimes, Lie On Line?)
BRB – Be Right Back
TTYL – Talk To You Later
ROFL – Rolling On the Floor Laughing
AFK – Away From Keyboard

These early acronyms were practical. Typing was slow, so shortening phrases was about efficiency. They also mimicked real-life pauses and reactions—giving tone to flat text.

The 2000s: Emoticons, Forums, and Leetspeak

This decade saw the explosion of forums, LiveJournal, Myspace, and early memes. It also brought us 1337 speak, aka leetspeak, where numbers and symbols replaced letters.

Example:

“I pwned u n00b!”
Translation: I defeated you, beginner.

Other icons of this era:

XD – A laughing face
<3 – A heart (before emoji made it literal)
FTW – For The Win
FML – For My Life (when things go terribly wrong)

The 2000s were playful and expressive. Emoticons gave emotion to the text. Typing quirks like “rawr” and “omgwtfbbq” defined niche subcultures and identity.

The 2010s: Meme Culture Takes Over

This is when internet slang went mainstream. Twitter, Tumblr, and later Instagram introduced new rhythms of communication: short, ironic, and self-aware.

Key phrases:

SMH – Shaking My Head
IDK / IDC / IKR – I Don’t Know / I Don’t Care / I Know Right?
TFW / MFW – That Feeling When / My Face When
YOLO – You Only Live Once
Bae – Before Anyone Else, or just, “babe”

It wasn’t just what you said—it was how you said it. Lowercase for indifference. ALL CAPS FOR DRAMA. Irony dripped from every post.

People began writing in memes, not just in words: using reaction images and short formats to convey complex feelings. You didn’t explain—you just posted the perfect GIF.

The 2020s: Slang by Algorithm

Now, TikTok drives the bus, and slang evolves in weeks—not years. Trends rise and fall on the For You Page (FYP) before Boomers can Google them.

Popular slang:

No cap – Seriously, no lie
Bet – Okay / deal / “I’m in”
Sus – Suspicious (thanks, Among Us)
Slay / Ate / She ate that – Performed extremely well
It’s giving… – It evokes the vibe of something, usually used humorously or exaggeratedly
Rizz – Charisma, game (flirting skills)
Mid – Mediocre, not worth the hype

What’s new here? Slang isn’t just written—it’s visual, musical, and performative. It spreads through video, tone, facial expressions, and shared sounds.

You don’t learn slang—you absorb it, like WiFi.

From Code to Culture

What started as practical shorthand has turned into full-blown linguistic subcultures. Gen Z’s irony-laced, layered speech reflects a world saturated with content, confusion, and contradictions.

Internet slang does more than save time—it builds identity, signals in-group membership, and reflects how we see the world. Sometimes playful, sometimes political, sometimes both at once.

Why This Evolution Matters

Language reflects culture. As our online spaces grow and shift, so does how we talk.
It’s democratized. Internet slang isn’t made in ivory towers—it bubbles up from teens, fandoms, gamers, and creators.
It changes fast. Blink and a phrase that was fire yesterday is cringe today.

Final Thoughts: TL;DR

From LOL to SMH, we’ve come a long way. Internet slang has moved from basic abbreviations to full emotional expression systems—shaped by our need to connect, react, and make sense of the absurd digital world.

So whether you’re flexing your rizz or just vibing, remember: the internet is not just changing how we talk—it’s rewriting the dictionary in real time.

And if that’s not worth an OMFG, we don’t know what is.