To think 'hun' is less twee and sickly than using 'D' in front of all abbreviations for family members

[Bearbehind]

Spin off from another thread but it is a genuine question.

I don't really like the word 'Hun' and wouldn't say it in real life but I hate the use of 'D' in front of family member abbreviations ,DH, DD etc yet it is common place. I think this is far more twee, sickly and false than Hun.

Why is one acceptable but the other isn't?

Wouldn't people know what you meant if you just typed D, H etc?

Dunno but MN seems to be doing rather a lot of navel-gazing today

Unless you still quite like your Ex-H I suppose.

Fair point on the MH thing stretch. TBH I can't see why it needs a prefix anyway, as I said at the beginning, wouldn't H or D be sufficient?

Ex-DH is one of my biggest hates too Aboutthyme!

It's just a standard abbreviation used across Internet forums. The D doesn't necessarily mean anything anymore so don't let it bother you. It's easier to read a 2 letter abbreviation then a single letter. Barely any single letter abbreviations are used for this reason, for example in conception AF (aunt flo) is used not P for period.

What Hully said.

I agree wtih you Bear, I don't likes it!

Huns don't seem to be very nice.

People do use just H or Ex-H to make a point.

Hun is very useful in the following cases:

1. discussing Attilla and the Mongol hordes
2. First-world war contemporary slang for 'German'
3. The baddies in Mulan.

They're a bit too screamy and bloody for my liking.

Some very strange responses- it seems I was naive in thinking Hun was short for honey. Either that or i read less into these things than others

Americans sometimes use 'hon' as an abbreviation for 'honey' - more logical and without the barbarian connotations.

Yanbu. I hate it too.

How about 'Hubster' *joyfulpuddlejumper'. Has that settled your stomach?!

YABU. I hate 'Hun'.

I used to hate using dh, dd, ds, etc and just used to type out husband (or hubby - quickly realised that is frowned upon on mumsnet!), daughter, son but have since got used to it. I don't like hun.

Loathe hun. One of my friends used to call me that and it intensely irritating and patronising.

Initially found the whole dh, ds, dd thing confusing and odd but used to it now. Would never get used to being hunned by a stranger. Shudder.

Can't stand either! When would you ever in rl call the kids 'dear children'?

I actually like it when a poster types husband, kids etc.

YABU

Hun is a word so awful I had to bleach my fingers after typing it

Yes I kind of agree, it's all twee and has been irksome before. It's a MN thing. Hunz is a FB thing, so it's common. :-)

surely the 'd' thing is just mn and sets mnetters apart from them over there

YANBU. It's all crap. What's wrong with writing 'husband' 'children' etc?

Complete clarity and takes 0.2 of a nanosecond longer.

The word 'Hun' in Glasgow can be a bigoted term of abuse. But I can't stand it as it's just so fake.

Hon/Hun is what the waitress at the diner where we often get breakfast who sounds like she smokes and drinks too much calls you. That or darlin'.

What Pagwatch said. -->

But dh or ds is an endearment being used by a poster about a close relative.

Hun is usually being used by a virtual stranger.

One is a descriptor, the other is addressing a person. If you started calling the OP "DOP" that would be annoying too.

Terms of endearment used by a stranger to another person on the internet end up sounding sarcastic and/or just plain mean in a lot of contexts.

Hun is just grating regardless.

I really hate "hun".
I first encountered it in a novel as a derogatory term used for the Germans in the First World War and I just can't get past that.