To think mumsnet abbreviations...

[Nearlythere1]

Am i being unreasonable to think mumsnet abbreviations are utterly moronic at best, bordering on.. i don't even know at worst. Does it not take most posters more time to look up which idiotic abbreviation they need than it would to just write it? And the sheer saccharine "D" prefix. Come on. It's laughable, and sickening. It sounds like school children talking in code, but without half the moral and emotional discrimination. Everybody is a "dear" something no matter what.

Snuffalo
Your last comment is definitely NITS

Abbreviations (initialisms in particular)
Swearing
Americanisms
Txt spk
Racist/sexist/ageist/disableist language
Poor spelling and grammar
Could of etc
Lack of paragraphs
Lack of function to quote or edit
Strikethrough
Emojis
x after a post
@ing and #ing

The above are among the most common language ‘sins’ I’ve seen people complain about here, to which I’ll add a couple of pet ones of my own:

Apparent inability to use the shift key to make first person pronoun ‘I’ instead of ‘i’ - just try using your fingers to make it a capital letter, OP!

“... “ used incorrectly especially when a poster, like the OP, comes up empty for an analogy; and also, after a thread title, again like the OP, when the first line of the post repeats the title instead of just following on; and worse, when the OP shows no consistency in the number of .s used.

“YABU for using ” then no attempt to address the actual post.

See, we all have our dislikes but isn’t it hypocritical to complain when we all do one or more of the things that others dislike? Mostly we maybe chunter a bit internally and move right along because it would be an exercise in futility to police or attempt to stop them. Starting threads in which we get frothy at the mouth, spew vitriol and call fellow posters morons, among other things, for expressing themselves in a way we don’t like? No.

The OP’s rage here seems a just a bit excessive and that’s most often a sign that it’s contrived ie just some GF trying to start a bunfight.

GF = Goady Fucker for those who don’t know and can’t be bothered to look it up.

@bialystockandbloom Oh god, hubby and other half make my skin crawl.

I have a sort of friend who refers to her 3 children as 'littlies'. Aaaaarrgggghhhh. 😄

Ach you know of all the things you could have to worry about, this really isn't one of them, either use them or don't
The only one that stands out for me is DNiece, I just think of a little girl called Denise

I agree with you, but I don't expect you to receive much support in this thread.

People are tribal, and feel like the need to belong. They love to create cliques and Mumsnet is an extension of that, together with the use of unique language.

It's EXACTLY the same as people starting sentences with "So" or saying everything so it goes up at the end? There's no need for it, it's simply learned behaviour and people are petrified of missing out.

They love to feel different, the irony being they all sound EXACTLY the same.

More broadly, the use of text slang made sense when there was a character limit when sending text messages and another text message would cost 10p! Those restrictions don't exist anymore but people still love to talk in slang.

Have a great Sunday!

I found them a bit confusing when I first joined mn but if you use your brain it really doesn't take a great deal to work out what most of them mean.

They're a means by which people can communicate speedily on the internet, it's hardly great literature.

If I were to pick up a book and found it was written with them scattered all through it I would be pretty irritated, as I am with glaring grammar mistakes in books, of which there seems to be more and more.

When people are exchanging opinions on the internet I couldn't care less about their grammar or their spelling and I certainly couldn't get worked up about a few abbreviations.

If it bothers you so much OP don't come on mn.

And another thing, you'll get told "of all the things to worry about - you choose this". It's an obvious defence mechanism of those that use it, and take objection to being called out.

It's exactly the same as people who say "here come the grammar police". They're embarrassed and their natural reaction is to deflect or lash out - anything other than admit they were wrong. It'd be more admirable if they said "I don't give a f**k what you think of my spelling" but by doing that they'd indirectly admit they were wrong, and people HATE being wrong.

Some people don't like anything about MN and yet they are still here.

Well aren't you coming across as superior a little bit twatty Janedoe Why are you using MN and not some far more intellectual forum instead?

@Stardustinmyeyes if we’re going to be pedantic, they’re initialisms. An acronym is pronounced as a word (‘NASA’, for example) while an abbreviation is just a shortened version of a single word (like ‘Dr.’ or ‘Blvd.’).

It's ok Snuffalo
You don't need to explain the difference to me, I'm not a moron. But thank you so much

@Stardustinmyeyes moron isn’t a very nice word, is it? You pedantically corrected my casual usage with incorrect information so it wasn’t at all clear that you actually DID understand the difference. No harm done, in any case. I don’t think you DID know, but you do now.

Janedoe5000 defense mechanism maybe but more often used by other posters on behalf of the users of offending language construction rather than by the ‘offenders’ themselves in my experience here. I’m one of those who will call it out when I see it because I often perceive bullying, elitism and intellectual snobbery behind the grammar policing. And when a poster, who’s maybe not quite as literate as some but has still managed to communicate their meaning effectively, is picked up on for not knowing the ‘correct’ forms it is a form of bullying.

It’s petty and unnecessary and, to me, far more exclusionary than the use of abbreviations particular to a given community to belittle people in public for perceived deficiencies in their language skills. It also signals to me that the self-appointed corrections officer has no valid argument or contribution to make to the topic at hand and deflects attention from that by derailing the discourse with a SPAG criticism.

@Snuffalo*
As I said, thank you so much for the grammar lesson. I'm so pleased that you were able to correct me.
I know that moron isn't a nice word. I used it about myself so I don't understand what that has to do with you

I remember an entire post about how OP caught DF sending flirty messages to DBF and how she was going to end her relationship. I read it as friend sending to boyfriend and was a bit confused. Turns out her fiancé was sending messages to her best friend.

Also hate when the OP starts with NCed but penis beaker etc. as if any troll couldn't say that after reading a couple of posts.

To be honest I had never ever heard of AF for period and reading a thread when I was new I was most perplexed about this AF who kept arriving or visiting the posters, they all seemed to mention it and were quite upset with AF whoever she was

Zoflorabore
That's really funny and true. I wondered who AF was as well

www.mumsnet.com/info/acronyms

HTH

The abbreviations are pukeworthy

Nice.

Is it 'Dear'? I aleays though it was 'Darling'...which I like because makes me feel like i am in a Cary Grant and Mryna Lot film.

My favourite is STBXH - which in my head is Shitbag Ex Husband.

I wondered who AF was as well

Clearly it's the well known pp, Any Fucker.

I prefer to imagine the D stands for 'dickhead' or just plain old dick to amuse myself a bit and make everything less cringey.

I wonder if the OP is coming back?

I would imagine the OP is having a lie down after getting so annoyed by everything.