Did I dream this? Does anyone else remember?

[OldEnoughToHaveReadBunty]

I first joined MN 12 years ago (have had maybe 4 accounts since due to changing e-mail addresses etc).

Back then, did DS12 mean my 12 year old son or my 12th born son? I'm absolutely convinced it was the latter.

Somehow over the years, and I'm not sure how, the number seems to have morphed into the age.

Just returning to MN after a gap & it's really noticeable.

I've always said ds2 who is 19 if age is relevant

It wasn't all that long ago. When I first joined around 6 years ago, there always used to be questions asked about this. So on a thread if the OP wrote 'DD3' at least a couple of people would ask, "Do you mean your third child, or she is three years old?" So there was some confusion about it.

Now, it's always accepted that the number refers to the child's age.

People use it both ways now I think but you're not wrong it used to always mean birth order.

I loved Bunty. The whole experience of waiting each week for the new edition then rushing to the newsagents where they had my copy under the counter with my name on it. Thrilling. Then I'd buy a quarter of sweets and hide in my room til I'd finished reading it. Happy memories, thanks OP 😊

Did anyone else have Princess? I really used to look forward to Monday mornings because that was when it would be delivered.

I used to buy Look In, then I moved on to Smash Hits. As I got older u loved Look magazine for all the beauty pages, then Minx came out and that was a firm favourite for a, while too.

*I loved

The use of a comma would clarify matters, as in DS,12.

My older sister had Bunty and I had a slightly inferior clone called Judy, which didn't have the cut out dolls and clothes. 🙁

I had the Dandy, then Misty - which was all about witches and ghosts.

OP

You didn't dream it.

I was just thinking this the other day! DD1 would definitely mean first born daughter, DS2 would mean second born son etc

Haha this made me laugh.

My dm used to buy me Twinkle. I’m sure it had those paper dress up dolls.

Dd1 means first daughter now in general chatting

I have just woken up to read this thread and completed the whole thing being none the wiser as to why the very first reply was about Bunty. I went back to the OP and finally read it carefully 😁

I was traumatized by a story in just 17 (perhaps on the advice page) about someone losing a tampon during sex. I was terrified of the idea of tampons and even more terrified of the idea of sex for many years afterwards.

Oh! I started with Twinkle (my big brother had a paper round and it astonished me that he knew what was on the front before I received mine).
Then I got bigger and got Bunty on a Monday, Judy on a Wednesday and Tracy on a Friday. Misty sometimes on a Saturday (great freebies). Then moved up to Jackie (don't know what day!) and then J17.

I joined in 2008 ish and DS was my son (he's an only) and if you wanted to put age it was DS (4)

I remember it meaning the order of birth as well. I was on Damsels many years ago, and I think that's where I learned all the abbreviations.

Team Bunty here too, been on MN since I was pg with a child who will be 14 next week!

I believe that, strictly "DS3", should mean third born son, and "DS(3)" means 3 year old son. But I also think that it can take a while to work it out, or other forums might use different nomenclature, and actually it's usually pretty easy work out what a poster means from context, or ask for clarification.

I think it is still mainly used to mean birth order with DD,17 or DD(17) meaning age, though some people do use DD8 to mean age.
Usually you can tell from context or logic though, so after a bit of surprise that someone has had 8 children I usually work it out.

I went from Bunty and June and Schoolfriend to Diana, which no one else seems to have mentioned. Just looked it up and they definitely had a bit of a thing about Sacha Distel in that office. There was also one called Romeo which was printed on the cheapest possible paper and the ink came off, leading to that being banned by my mother ( fair enough) Thence to Jackie and then a complete change to Melody Maker and NME.

Mandy was my favourite - it didn't prepare me for J17 filth (in comparison!)

This.

I love Bunty! Sad it's not around to buy for DC1 (who is both first child, and also aged 1, ha)

I agree with you regarding the DD1, I’m sure I would denote age in brackets if it was relevant e.g. DD1(5)

More importantly:
Twinkle
Beano
Whizzer and Chips
Jackie
My Guy
Blue Jeans
Just Seventeen
Mizz
More

I still have the freebie afro comb from one of the teen ones, which I still use.

To be honest, I think that they got worse as I grew up. I used to re-read the comics so often as a youngster, but the magazines were thrown away after one look through the photo stories and the removal of the Tom Cruise posters for my wall (I didn’t even fancy him, but was following the crowd, I loved River Phoenix and Corey Haim).

@JestersTear Was the story that upset you 'The girl who gave babies away' - a teenager (maybe18/19 in the Victorian days maybe) who looked for new homes for her siblings as her mum was dying - but didn't tell them why they had to go!
They all went to lovely homes ie the one who loved dancing went to live with a dancer.
Each story ended with her looking through the window at them and their new family.
Then at the end SHE died and the siblings all found out how good she was as they stood around her grave!
That story gave me nightmares for years (I was v sheltered!)

I still have a Twinkle from 1976 - loved it!