Japanese for Gamers da lulz 101

Want to learn how to “lol” in Japanese? Read on, and you’ll be lol-ing all over Xbox Live in no time.
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Word: ワロス
Romanization/phonetic: warosu/wah-ross
Etymology: Corruption of the Japanese verb 笑った (waratta –past tense of warau, to laugh).
Origin: Probably 2ch slang.
Definition: The Japanese equivalent of a “lol”.

According to an informative article on the Daily Yomiuri Web site, the expression warosu was formed by removing the glottal stop (the っ) from 笑った (waratta) and typing the word phonetically in katakana as ワラタ (warata). As with the Japanese word for noob, frequent mistyping led to the word’s transformation, first to ワロタ (warota) then to ワロス (warosu).

The Yomiuri article also mentions that there are several gradations of of warosu, which were illustrated by this awesome cartoon. From least to most intense, these are: Picowarosu, Warosu, Megawarosu, Gigawarosu and Terawarosu.