With dictionaries beginning to add items such as LOL to their listings of words, it might be a good time to pose the question What is a word? Granted that aconyms have been coming into the language for a very long time: loran, radar, sonar, snafu, jeep, kayo, veep, emcee, and others. In most of such instances, the new "word" is a blending of the individual letters and is pronounced as a single lexical unit. Do LOL and such texting shortcuts qualify? When one sees LOL, isn't the mental response a return to "laugh out loud"? Words such as jeep don't (at least any longer) evoke "general purpose." I look forward to your feedback. tj To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/