It seems amazing to me that with all the years of written communication and all the years of internet chatting like this, we still have not settled on an acceptable way to express laughter in the written form.

Yes, we have LOL, but it is highly disliked by many. Tee Hee, ha ha, heh heh, etc etc etc have not sufficed either. Somehow they all seem to convey something other than the spontaneous laughter we produce when we are enjoying ourselves.

Is there a more acceptable way of saying 'laughter is happening now'?

Smile emoticons only work until someone uses them in a sarcastic or teasing context, after that they are forever slightly ambiguous. And besides, some people don't like those emoticons either!

What is your preference?

Bwahaha!

Or Mwahaha if it's ghoulish.

Or Bwahahakerplunk if you're laughing your head off.

I suppose eventually there will be a little sound bite thingie that you can click on and the sound of real laughter comes out.(or maybe there is already).
I agree, I really hate all the options so far.

I really don't mind "haha" or "lol", though I never think "laugh out loud". I definitely say "lawl" in my head every time I see it.

I usually use 'lol' myself... ditto what trident said about it.

One I don't like is 'hehe' just because someone I don't like uses it at the end of every single sentence she posts on Facebook.

I tend to use or - sorry if that annoys you Sara.

No I think those are much better

As for ROFL, say it straight...sounds like Scooby Doo saying "waffle"!

I tend to say something like "that made me laugh out loud". To show I was amused but didn't actually laugh, I usually say "heh".

I will never, can never, nor have ever been amused by anything on the net. Title-ee, te-hee. Tremendous belly laugh ensues... Oh well.

The use of language is for communication. So, if LOL, Tee Hee, Haha, etc. gets the point across that you are amused or laughing, your communication is successful whether are not others are annoyed. Yuk Yuk!

Lol!

Maybe it should be Ho ho ho! at this time of year.

Duralph with your woes so blight, won't you slay yourself tonight? Bah humbug.

Guffaw, guffaw.

Once I was tempted to say "lol" out loud, in normal person to person conversation.
And then I though how dumb that would sound.

I like the idea of a soundbite file.
Wonder if that's doable?

Of course it's doable.


Here's a few links:

http://soundbible.com/tags-laugh.html

http://www.findsounds.com/ISAPI/search.dll?keywords=evil+laugh

http://www.shockwave-sound.com/sound-effects/laughing_sounds.html

Google's a wunnerful thang : )

Personally, I don't mind LOL or ROFL, or any of the others. Usually though, whenever I'm laughing or doing some other action or 'emote' in an instant message or other online text, I use asterisks to demarcate it from what I'm saying. My online chat-based Dungeons and Dragons group uses this convention too, to avoid confusion.

Examples:
- *laughs happily* Nice joke there, Chavs!
- It may be important to our quest! *picks up item and examines it more closely*