I know that 笑/草/w are just different ways to type out "haha" or "LOL", but is
there a nuance between using which one? In English, "haha" is more casual and
laid-back while "LOL" is a more energetic and chaotic laugh. What's the nuance
for the Japanese slang?
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question
internet-slang
Is 笑 more like "LOL" or "haha"?
笑{わら}い means "laughter" and 笑{え}み means "smile". When used like this
specifically with brackets (笑) it's short for laughing on social media,
similar to LOL, in that refers to the meaning of laughing not the sound.

Since 笑{わら}い is reads as "Warai" it's become casual to write "www" for
laughter. This looks like grass so (草) using 草{くさ} can be used in place of
(笑). Variations like "field" (大草原{だいそうげん}) are also used. It's a fun internet
culture, wordplay is popular in Japanese humour since there are many
homophones.

For the sound there are many 擬声語{ぎせいご} Japanese onomatopeia くすくす or ハハハ. Using
these is common in manga or variety shows.

I wouldn't read much into the difference in meaning. That depends on culture
and the individual. In my opinion, there is not much difference in emphasis,
meaning, or usage in English either. This is subjective and out-of-scope of
StackExchange but hopefully this vocabulary and kanji helps to understand how
it's used in Japanese.
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笑 is the oldest. 笑 was used before the advent of the Internet.

Even today, this is probably the most common way for interviews to appear in
magazines and other publications as [Jimmy
commented](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/80131/is-%E7%AC%91-more-
like-lol-or-haha/80134#comment130659_80134).

Basically, the Internet became popular in Japan in around 1995（This is after
the release of windows95）.

There are a lot of typing in 笑. So, I don't know who started it, but they took
the first letter of "wara" and started to use "w".

The number of "w" is a good way to express how funny it is.

  * いいねw
  * おもしろいwww

"w" was initially used only by people who were interested in the Internet and
had a small presence (mainly in chat rooms)

By the way, I was a college student studying computer science when "w" started
being used. It was a special feeling to use "w" to chat and talk to my
friends. I feel like I'm on the cutting edge of a tool
LOL（訳:最先端のツールを使いこなしている気分でしたwww）. It's a little after 2000.

Over time, the expression "草生える（growing grass）" started to be used because the
appearance of the "www" looks like grass.

By the way, I see "草" a lot these days, but I'm not a young man anymore, so I
don't know how to use it well.

Just don't forget the purpose: the arrival of "w" is to reduce the number of
types. In "草(kusa)", the number of types has increased again! So I think "w"
is still the most popular choice for chatting.

I don't think "草" is a substitute for "w" in all cases.

I used to type "www" instead of "面白いね！" when someone said something funny. but
now I see that sometimes they return "草" instead of "www".

Often I see "草" used in a critical sense rather than a funny sense.

  * ミスをしたのに開き直るのは草（批判的な"おかしい"の意味）

If you do a search on "開き直ってて草", you'll find examples of it being used.

Incidentally, the one that was in similar usage before "草" came along is
"ﾜﾛﾀ". (In most cases, half-width characters are used.)

  * ミスをしたのに開き直るのはﾜﾛﾀ（批判的な"おかしい"の意味）

"ﾜﾛﾀ" was also used when it was really funny, just like "草".

In addition to "ﾜﾛﾀ", "ﾜﾛｽ" was also used.

There are tons of these types of variations.

It's in Japanese, but if you're interested in more, you might find the
following resources interesting.

  * [ネット上にまだ「草が生えていなかった」頃の話 - ITmedia PC USER](https://www.itmedia.co.jp/pcuser/articles/1608/22/news031.html)
  * [SNSなどネット用語の「草」ってなに？ その表現で年齢がバレるって知ってた？ - OTONA LIFE | オトナライフ - OTONA LIFE | オトナライフ](https://otona-life.com/2019/06/09/13387/)
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