to hate this "D"C, "D"H, "D"D business

[kitnkaboodle]

... and wonder if everyone else hates it too and is just to afraid to break the cycle! I'm a relative newcomer to posting on forums, and I'm sure there is some hilarious origin to the tradition. But:

• it now just looks and sounds twee
  
• it isn't humorous in any way
  
• you'd all save yourselves a keystroke if you just typed D, H, P, M, C, etc...?? Still perfectly understandable
  

There are some ambiguities I guess - S for son or sister? but that's still there whether or not you drop the D anyway ..

Go on .. I dare you ...

[yellowballoons]

I like it. Wasn't so sure at first. Was surprised, when I first came on here, to see it. Especially as a lot of posts are about relationship problems!

But it all seems more civilised to me, to use them.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Isn't Baby Dancing having sex?

I can't believe I have just typed that phrase.

[PissesGlitter]

I dont like it so i dont use it

But it doesn't bother me if anyone else uses it, its their choice

[exoticfruits]

Baby Dancing was having sex- they seem to have abandoned it- thankfully.

[JerseySpud]

I just looked at the acronyms for the first time ever

I'm sad :( ODFOD isn't in there

But i love it so!

[Kleinzeit]

I find the two-letter code handy ? it?s short and clear, and it?s a long-term convention so people know what it means. Using two letters clarifies that you don?t mean someone whose initial is H or D or S. After you?ve been doing it for a while chances are you?ll get fed up typing (and reading) ?my husband? or ?or my oldest daughter? all the time and you?ll start using the abbreviations too.

On Mumsnet people usually use DSis if they need to clarify sister vs son, because it?s a parenting board. I?ve don?t recall anyone using DSon here though it gets used elsewhere.

As for the slang, the euphemisms, and the long-standing jokes ? no-one seems to mind if you don?t get them. I?ve not seen anyone respond rudely when someone asked what they meant, but I've mostly been able to work them out just by reading along for a while.

[mrspremise]

I do think we should add KH (Knob Head) to the accepted abbreviations list...

[Tuppenceinred]

Yep, I hate it too. I don't often use it and wonder sometimes if this will eventually phase out.

[Littleen]

I really don't like all these mumsnet shortenings of words :P I'm alright with the standard widely used ones, but the DP DD DSIL etc... cringe! I have the acronym list short cutted, and don't use them myself, so it's not really an issue. But in general, meeeeh! :p

[SmiteYouWithThunderbolts]

IME, the inclusion of the "D" indicates that you're referring to someone's familial role and not their first initial. It may well be a little bit twee but it does help those of us that are too lazy to type husband, children, daughter, etc

My children are certainly anything but "darlings"

[exoticfruits]

I am starting to phase out from now.

[happygirl87]

AFAIK ("As far as I know" ) BD = baby dance = SWI = sex with intent = having sex with a view to conceiving a child. DTD = doing/did the deed = just sex.

I have no issue with "DH", "DCs" etc, but I am v interested in how use of language shapes our emotional responses (English grad- interesting to me ) and I have often wondered how significant it is that we don't use DMIL/DSIL (usually)- just MIL/SIL. Would we as a Mumsnet community get on with our in-laws better if we didn't segregate in our heads and online vocab our "own" nuclear/blood related families (who get the "dear" prefix) from our husbands' families who don't? Or have I just had too much bank hol ?!

[EnjoyEverySandwich]

I am another who thinks the DH, DS etc stuff is very naff. Never used it and never will, much easier to type out the full word, no fannying about with the shift key too.

It does get ridiculous. I've seen people on here say DDog. I mean, how is that any kind of shorthand?

[thatisall]

I like it. I find myself almost texting it too! It's just the way it is here. Also it makes it clearer for speed readers I suppose as just one letter is a bit out there. I'm so so institutionalised by this place,
Wine anyone?

[AcaciaRoad]

I realise I've been spending a little bit too much time on here when I find myself thinking "DS" or "DP" when thinking about my son or partner.

That's bad, isn't it?!

[exoticfruits]

Until you pointed it out I hadn't realised that it is only in laws who don't get D in front! It seems most unfair- if I wasn't phasing it out I would start on DMIL.

[GrandstandingBlueTit]

I remember someone referring to her sister-in-law as DSISIL, and it caused so much confusion on the thread that it totall derailed it.

[twistedtoffee]

YANBU. Very twee.

Laughing, though, at some of the defensive 'fuck off if you don't like it' responses. Some people take Mumsnet very, very seriously .

[charleslingus]

Twisted toffee agree.

Equally as bad is the patronising 'aww, newbies, you'll soon come around to our mn ways' attitude.

We won't, it's weird.

[Kleinzeit]

happygirl I was going to say that if you?re typing three initials already there?s no reason to add a fourth. But then again, people do write DSis. So OK, maybe we don?t expect SILs to be that dear? Though mine is of course

I don?t use AFAIK or OTOH here because they?re not widely used so I feel they?d get in the way of being understood. But as for twee ? well I?m game if anyone comes up with a set of cool abbreviations [sceptical] but meanwhile the twee ones will do.