lol is one of those annoying internet lingo things where the original inherent meaning degrades and even an accronym can end up meaning something other than what the letters stand for. As much as I may hate it, I use lol as a general term of ammusement and have even been known to say "lōl" out loud to indicate mild amusement . . . Yeah, I'm eccentric; get over it.

If I state lol, I may actually be laughing out loud, but if I state ROFL or LMAO, you can be sure that I'm at least LOL.