...to not want to call anyone "Dear"?

[Panjita79]

Who started that nonsense?

Salutation in a letter?

Been around for centuries.

I like it.

YABUD

Or do you mean the MN 'D', as in DH, DD, DBIL etc?

If you mean in the MN sense, I don't think anyone reads it as 'dear husband', just as shorthand for husband.

On, MN acronyms again?

I read it as Dratted usually.

Dogbreath on a bad day. Dickhead sometimes.

It's a very versatile letter.

I much prefer your version of the MN 'D' AuntieStella

Beats 'Dear' hands down

Yes, who is responsible?

I found myself doing it at first because i thought it was the law. Not so much now.

It could be darling as well, but that is worse in my head.

I don't like using it either, but it feel like it comes across as if I'm pissed off with my husband or children if I don't use the d!

I've said it myself. It's pure laziness as far as I'm concerned. Isn't difficult to type daughter, husband, ect. Other forums take the mick out of mumsnet's twee language, however I find the pregnancy part of the site very useful so I'm learning to overlook it.

Who cares if some people consider the use of abbreviations 'pure laziness'? And who cares what other forums think?

Use them, don't use them. It's no biggie.

MN twee?

That's a first

But yes, it does have its own jargon; communities do.

Other Internet sites are available if you don't like this one.

Yes, I mean in the abbreviations. I'm new to Mumsnet and had to ask someone (too lazy to find the "jargon buster") what it meant. I don't like the term "Dear" or "Darling" TBH and never use either in real life. It's very twee indeed. I quite like my husband and daughter, will people on here assume I hate them unless I call them DH and DD?

People won't care. Honestly.

I often read the 'D' as 'damned'.

D, such a versatile letter.

I think most people won't give a shit either way. That's why I love mumsnet!

So what's the point in it then?

The point is that it saves time.

It's not exclusive to MN and as far as I'm aware mn did not invent it

No one cares whether you use it or not

I really don't care. This thread was just a "toe in the water" to see what the Mumsnet posters are like. Seems right up my street.

People are always using it as a reason to sneer at MN but it's used on many other forums

Just ignore it and write in full- I often do.

Does Mumsnet get sneered at? I really have no preconceptions, no idea what goes on, today is the first time I've ever looked at it,

The point is that a shared social dialect builds and binds communities.

You can join in or not.

Both the site itself as well as its norms.

If you want different, in terms of speech habits, or tickers, or particular functionality, it might be better to look for a site that already offers them. It's not as if MN is the only parenting site.

It's just one of those things on certain parts of the Internet, not specifically MN. No one will bat an eyelid if you write husband/daughter.

On another note, why does my autocorrect insist on capitalising Internet?

It's a common forum convention. It's not as daft as it first appears, and you'll quickly stop reading it as Dear Whatever, and just see 'son', 'mother' etc.