to really, REALLY hate the acronyms here?

[miseriecorde]

They don't make even the most convoluted anecdote any less confusing and they're cutesy nonsense. I've never called anyone "dear" in my life and I doubt most of the people here have either unless they're over 60.

Why do they persist? It just seems like a really embarassing fad that somehow stuck and has become a weird calling card of mumsnet. It literally takes seconds to type "oldest son" or "partner" instead of "DS1" or "DP" and it just sounds so much nicer and more human.

On a positive note, it does amuse me to picture everyone's family as R2D2 type robots with these little code names.

[MagicFajita]

The only thing I find confusing is the dear father / dear fiance thing.

I do give up reading if I can't tell after a few sentences

[TizzyDongue]

Good point HaHaHmm!!

[ReasonableLlama]

It is a bit cringe but I can’t get too worked up about it. It’s not going to change so just get on board with it. DH thinks it’s cringe to, as does DMIL, DSIS, and DM

[guilty100]

It takes a while to get used to, but it's part of the tone of the site. The "D" in DP, DS, DD is v much ironic, verging on sarcastic, in my head - the whole point is that it's anachronistic. It's a right nest of vipers on here, OP/

[Ifailed]

maybe it started in N Korea?

[ElizabethShaw]

They're not specific to mumsnet - they're used on pretty much every parenting forum and often on parenting related Facebook pages too. I think its too late to abolish usage now!

[pinkingshears]

I thought STBXH meant stupid bastard ex husband, not soon to be ex husband

They are ok. My baptism of fire was joining a Fertility site about 14 years ago and working out what 'frosties' and 'rainbowbubs' meant. The site was hugely informative and I made good (RL) friends there, but I could never bring myself to use the word 'frosties' somehow.

[HaHaHmm]

It is interesting from a linguistic point of view, though. The various abbreviations form a sociolect which creates a sense of commonality between total strangers. They are a sort of shibboleth to put off outsiders and to make the language users feel part of a social group. Humans have been doing this for as long as there as been language; this is just what it looks like on the internet.

But to respond to your point, OP - this is probably the reason why you (and many others) find it so irritating. Sociolects are specifically designed to shut out outsiders, in the same way that teenagers use incomprehensible slang to differentiate themselves from adults.

I have a friend who I presume MNs a lot, although I've never recognised her on here. I find it really jarring when she uses the initialisms in text messages, out of the context of MN.

[Grumpyoldpersonwithcats]

I thought that DH meant 'dear half' so have been happily using it completely incorrectly .

[The80sweregreat]

It is confusing at first, but there is a list to refer to and after a while your brain just clicks into what it all means. At first i hated it though, but i don't really go on many other forums so i wasn't used to seeing it typed like that.
The thing that does annoy me is when people do not use paragraphs _ i know that sometimes on phones its hard to put a space , but when its in a block without any pauses I lose track of the narrative sometimes.

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Yes I always assumed the D was sarcastic too!

[NerrSnerr]

DS makes me laugh because it's so much more effort to write son. DDog and DCat are daft as well.

[miseriecorde]

I've been using this internet thing for longer than some of you have probably been alive, however I don't tend to frequent any other places with a lot of user interaction (fora/comments sections/etc) so I just don't run across these in the wild too much. While I know the initialisms exist elsewhere and long pre-date Mumsnet, I don't see them used with quite the same... intensity as on Mumsnet.

The thoughtful/funny/brilliant responses to this are great (a linguistics lesson! I love it!). For the person who thinks I should go back to bed, joke's on you because I AM in bed and my DBAHSH (that's dear beloved amazing hot sexy husband) just bought me some toast with PBAB (that's peanut butter and banana) because we both WFH (I'm sure you can figure that one out) and I'm SBIWLLN (skiving because I worked late last night).

[Believeitornot]

LOL

YABU

WTF

Sorry couldn't resist. Hate is quite a strong word. Save your energy for things that really deserve it, surely.

what is it that causes the hate? It's shorter to type D than daughter and also reduces the chance of people thinking that D is typo if you just used one letter.

And it isn't exclusive to MN. Sorry, I mean Mumsnet.

[orzal]

What does BIB mean.? I read this on a few forums.

[Believeitornot]

maybe it started in N Korea?
^

[blueshoes]

I don't know about sociolects but I do it because dh, ds, dd is much easier to type than spelling out in full. It is also faster to read once you get the hang of it.

If you read long threads (RTFT), you are processing lots of info and opinions at top speed. It is irritating to see "husband" spelt out in full because it is less easy to pick out in a paragraph. Many times, it is significant whether it is a DH or DP.

Acronyms exist in the workplace too, often as expertise- or company-specific jargon, as a quick way to communicate within a defined group. It is not necessarily to exclude, though twats do use it for that purpose.

[Merrylegs]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/a2037648-Bloody-acronyms-on-Mumsnet

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2240992-to-hate-acronyms

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/513118-to-be-hate-the-constant-use-of-acronyms-on-this

[miseriecorde]

From one of the old threads that Merrylegs linked: "I often read dh as dickhead rather than darling husband."

That's going to make things a bit better anyway.

[Coastalcommand]

I hate it too. Horrible and twee. Can we all stop using it please?

[Nanny0gg]

I don't use Dear or Darling in real life but I am used to these (and other) acronyms and have no problem with them. They go back to the days of Newsgroups.

I have to stop myself using them outside of forums now (clearly spend too much time on here)

[KityGlitr]

Yes I hate it too. It makes it really hard to read people's posts sometimes when there are loads. For example who knows whether DF is father or fiancé, is DD daughter or dad, many times I've thought GP means doctor when it means grandparents!

But it's completely entrenched in most online forums related to relationships and family and isn't gonna go away so not worth getting stressed about. It is very silly though

[Nanny0gg]

I hate it too. Horrible and twee. Can we all stop using it please?

No.

HTH

[Cromwell1536]

I find the DH/DS stuff twee and so don't use it. I will use OP/PP for ease of reference. And I quite like LTB. My family has adopted SBD since an (unintentionally) hilarious thread in which a poster was spitting feathers about her ex who had 'sunk ball-deep' into someone. I know, I know, adultery isn't funny, but the turn of phrase was.