The Origin of ROFL
No smiley in the history of smileys has perhaps had a greater impact than the smiley commonly known as "ROFL". With its humourous depiction of the modern-day term it has cemented its place in pop culture, and it has also been reborn many times over in different forms. ROFL of course being an acronym for "Rolling on the floor laughing."
So where did it come from?
Well, the very first version to appear was the Yahoo Messenger version (shown above), for the Yahoo instant messaging program.
Later it was remade by the artist Just Cuz in 2004,[1] and its popularity spread like a wildfire throughout the internet. 
It got a lot bigger when Smiley Central remade it... 
And then smaller again when Kolobok artist Connie made a mini version... 
Balamm made a Female ROFL, which was described by one person as "Little Orphan Annie",[2] due to her big red head of hair. 
Now there are even seasonal variations available as well, such as the Xmas ROFL[3][4] 
and St. Patricks Day ROFL. 
It seems as though there is not a smiley program today that does not provide their own version of the ROFL smiley.
References
- ^ Just Cuz, July 2004. 1 Hysterical Smiley!,
- ^ Klea, (2008-04-08). Female ROFL.
- ^ Balamm, (2006-12-23). Xmas Remakes.
- ^ Balamm, (2006-12-26). XmasROFL.
| Article Information | |
|---|---|
| Author: | BradLee |
| Date Published: | Article has not been published yet |
| Other Contributors: | None |
| Last Modified: | September 17, 2019 |
***All images used by permission***
