23 Funny Ways Cultures “LOL” in Texts That Iowans Would Never Guess

Laughter may be a universal language when spoken in person, but online, it’s a whole different thing. In Iowa and across the United States, we say “haha” or “LOL.”

But other languages use different—and clever—onomatopoeias and acronyms.

Recent research from Preply shows the many ways other cultures express laughter online, and they’ll make you smile.

Mapping the World’s Laughter

Preply research examined 26 different countries to determine how they expressed amusement online.

Though acronyms like “LOL” and “LMAO” are used in several places outside the United States, many countries have their own distinct way of expressing laughter on the internet.  

1: Thai

“55555” is one way the people of Thailand show amusement through text.

This may seem strange, but it makes sense when you realize the number five is pronounced “Haa” in Thai. 

2: Portuguese

Portugal and Brazil use “kkkkk” to express laughter.

In Portuguese, the letter “k” sounds like “kah,” which helps explain “kkkkk.”

3: Turkish

Turkish speakers sometimes use “hahaha,” but they’re more likely to resort to a mix of random letters like “dhjkaiewshkl” to show they’re cracking up. 

4: Malay

You could shorten “hahaha” to “ha” times three, which is essentially what Malay speakers do.

If they think something is funny they might say “Ha3Ha3Ha3” or just, “Ha3.”

5: French

French speakers sometimes say “hoho” or “hihi” to show laughter.

Other times, they say “MDR,” which is short for “mort de rire,” or dead laughing. 

6: Mandarin

In mainland China, number slang is common, perhaps because pinyin, the Romanized system for typing Chinese characters, is hard to use.

Strings of numbers exist for all sorts of expressions, including laughter. Mandarin speakers often use 23333 to show that something’s funny.   

7: Hindi

Hindi speakers split their forms of laughter into gender categories.

Men tend to say “haha,” and women say “hehe.” Sometimes, they also use “EK number,” which loosely translates to “For me this is number one.” 

8: Bengali

Bengali is the second most spoken language in India, and its laughter looks nothing like the Hindi version.

In Bengali, “haha” looks like this: মজাই মজা. 

9: Urdu

Urdu is the official language of Pakistan.

To express laughter in Urdu, you’d write “ہا” which means “ha.” To laugh harder, just add more “ہا.”

10: Spanish

Spanish speakers write “jajaja” instead of “hahaha.” 

“Jejeje” expresses irony, and “jijiji” is more like a mischievous giggle. 

11: Arabic

Laughter in standard Arabic is “هههههههههه,” which sounds like “hahaha.”

Though each Arab nation has its own dialect of Arabic, “هههههههههه” is recognized across all of them. 

12: Ukrainian

Ukrainian speakers use “ахахаха” to show amusement.

To express sarcasm, it changes to “азаза.” 

13: Russian

Russians also use “axaxaxa,” to express laughter online alongside their version of “LOL,” which looks like “лол.”

Though it’s not on-trend to do so anymore, many Russian speakers used to use “ггггг.” 

14: Indonesian

Indonesian speakers often use a “k” instead of a “h” because “k” is easier to type.

Laughter in Indonesian is often expressed. “wakaka,” or “wkwkwk.”

15: German

German speakers tend to be fans of asterisks to denote expressions.

So, alongside “haha” and “lol,” they might type *lach* which means smile or laugh. 

16: Japanese

In Japanese, the words “smile” and “laughter” both begin with “w.”

So, Japanese speakers use “www” to show they’re cracking up. 

17: Korean

When Koreans use the Latin alphabet, they tend to express laughter as “k-k-k-k-k.”

In Korean, it would look like “ㅋㅋㅋ.”

18: Vietnamese

Vietnamese speakers use several forms of laughter.

“Hihihi,” which is the most common, but you’ll also find “hê hê” and “hì hì.” 

19: Persian Farsi

Preply researchers found Persian Farsi speakers use a “k” in their laugh.

It sounds like “kha-kha-kha” and looks like خخخخخخخخ.

20: Italian

Italian speakers don’t use a strong “h” sound, so their laughter expressions don’t start with the letter “h.”

Instead, they often write “ahahahah” or “eheheh.”

21: Polish

While “haha” is common in Polish, you may run into something more unique now and then.

“Heheszki” means “kicking and laughing” and was a favorite among many younger teens. 

22: Norwegian

Norwegian laughter sounds the same as American laughter when pronounced, but if you see it written, it might look strange.

People tend to type out “Høhøhø” and “Hæhæhæ” in Norway. 

23: Greek