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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to not entirely understand MN....?

282 replies

PuppyMonkey · 21/02/2008 19:49

I mean the Scuttlebugging, FLY things mostly. And the thing where they always make a song out of fruit and veg.

..But also how I always manage to kill stone dead every thread I go on.

Is there a manual somewhere?

OP posts:
stuffitllama · 22/02/2008 08:01

though you might want to before long

fryalot · 22/02/2008 08:09

to answer the question about scuttlebugging - there is a verb "to scuttlebutt" which means to gossip. Someone used the word "scuttlebugger" to describe those that post on that thread instead (freudian slip or witty pun - I don't know ) anyway, it stuck, so scuttlebuggers (almost) literally means buggers who gossip a lot

ibblewob · 22/02/2008 08:42

Also, re: 'FLYing' - comes from the lady who started the concept (Marla Something), one of her hobbies is Fly fishing so her nickname is the 'Flylady' and people who follow her system are 'Flybabies', hence FLY and FLYing.

Sounds really boring once you explain it! Her website is here

Original poster
PuppyMonkey · 22/02/2008 08:55

Squonk and Ibble, you are most helpful ta. It's all becoming a little clearer now...

De-cluttering for 15 minutes a day indeed..

There ought to be a little section on the main page of MN explaining all these interesting historical things!

And just to point out, I personally was never offended by the use of the c-word last night, that was some of the others. I thought it was quite funny meself...

OP posts:
fryalot · 22/02/2008 09:02

Whatever you do, do NOT sign up to the flylady email thingy... she bombards you with hundreds a day and you spend so long reading the emails telling you what housework you should do, that you don't have any time left for the fecking housework itself!

If you really want to do the flay lady thing, join an MN fly thread instead - you don't get the emails, you just get the advice.

How long have you been here now? it's a bit addictive, isn't it?

Sarahjct · 22/02/2008 09:06

This thread got too long and my tea is getting cold so I've had to skip to the end. I just wanted to say;

  1. Hello. I've been around for about 6 months or so and love it here.

  2. I like the fact you can swear on here because I'm a bit childish and it's real. Poncy boards that pretend no one uses bad language get on my tits.

  3. Sometimes I feel a bit bolshy and actually post what I think and disagree with people. Then I get too scared to see what they wrote back in case they were beastly to me. Am I a coward and is anyone else such a scaredy-cat??

  4. Lovely to meet you all x

yama · 22/02/2008 09:06

White Duchess - your husband make me laugh.

(yes this thread but from last night)

Original poster
PuppyMonkey · 22/02/2008 09:12

I've been here since November!

Some of us have only just got this broadband malarkey you see.

Yes, I am an addict already... usually end up on the bottle and breastfeeding secion and get into all sorts of arguments with people who know far much more than me. Ah well, i can't help myself!

OP posts:
yama · 22/02/2008 09:12

Yes Sarah I do that but rarely is my fear justified.

Then there are other times when someone has misinterpreted something I have posted and I am taken by surprise by their 'beastliness' (good word btw).

fryalot · 22/02/2008 09:24

Sarah - the number of times I have typed something that said what I wanted to say, then deleted the whole lot because I got a bit too scared to actually post it...

(just be careful that if you do this, you don't 'cut' it and then accidentally 'paste' it into another thread - you look like a twonk when you do this )

Sarahjct · 22/02/2008 09:36

LOL Squonk. Someone told me once, whenever I had to deal with a complete/cow/psycho/nutter at work that I should write the email/letter that I really wanted to write and send it to someone else, then write the polite response. Poor DH went through a stage of getting the most abusive emails and letters with no idea of the background story.

Works though but, as I'm such a cowardy custard and jinxed, I would write it in Word rather than here just in case...

Yama, my fear has never been justified either. Everyone is too lovely, if a little potty...

Wotzonked · 22/02/2008 10:14

I can't count the number of times I have typed something really witty, intelligent and outstanding and deleted it before posting.

You'll never see all the funny and insightful things I delete! they must be in the trash with yours squonk.

fryalot · 22/02/2008 10:18

my recycle bin's sides are splitting

Wotzonked · 22/02/2008 10:21
Grin
Clarabumps · 22/02/2008 10:31

i know what you mean squonk...i type hundreds then get the "first day of school feeling where the cool kids might ignore you" jitters and delete it all.. some threads seem a bit scary as everyone knows loads about each others lives..eek!!!also there's the witty things i write, then i think my sarcasm might not translate and i just end up offending people...

BecauseImWorthIt · 22/02/2008 10:34

Don't bother with the deleting - just jump in!

DumbledoresGirl · 22/02/2008 10:39

People don't necessarily know as much as about others as you might think. I can remember feeling that way when I started Mumsnetting, and sometimes even now I think that people know each other in RL, but then I discovered 2 things:

  1. Some of the people I thought knew each other in RL have never actually met at all and don't even know the other poster's real name.

  2. Some posters talk to me as if they know me in RL, and they do indeed know details about me but that is only because I have posted lots and gradually people have remembered things about me. No matter how friendly some people here appear to be towards me, let me assure you, not one of them has met me or knows me in any real sense.

In other words, a lot of the seeming cliquiness is actually a sham. Once you realise that, you might gain the confidence to join in with threads.

BumperliciousIsOneHotMother · 22/02/2008 10:41

Sarahjct, I'm LOLing at "beastly" I've only ever read that in Enid Blyton books and Penny Vincenzi novels

I don't think they say "gets on my tits" in those books though!

fryalot · 22/02/2008 10:44

yeah, dg's got a point. When I first joined, I lurked in the coffee shop for weeks and never had the nerve to post - everyone obviously knew everyone else and I imagined them all meeting up in the evenings to discuss the upstart newbie who had the temerity to try to join in with them!

Of course when I did pluck up the courage to go in and say hello, nobody knew anyone in RL and they were all absolutely lovely and welcomed me with open arms.

(and I'm sure some people have one of these where they write every thing ever posted by a MNer so they can refer back to it in subsequent threads...)

BumperliciousIsOneHotMother · 22/02/2008 10:44

Sometimes I want to post more inflammatory and daring posts as that seems to be the way to get noticed round here

BumperliciousIsOneHotMother · 22/02/2008 10:46

LOL squonk, it's like when people name change and and the other posters go "oh XXX I knew it was you". How??!!!

DumbledoresGirl · 22/02/2008 10:48

Some posters's knowledge of everyone else intimidates me sometimes as I am virtually incapable of remembering anything about anyone. But then I comfort myself with the thought that to know so much about everyone else, they MUST be spending a large section of every day on here - well how sad is that?

fryalot · 22/02/2008 10:49

Bumperlicious - you do the same as me when you name change - you keep the essential bit of you in the name. There's always a Squonk in there somewhere if I have a different name...

fryalot · 22/02/2008 10:50

DG - you mean you don't spend all day here? you mean there is a life outside of mumsnet?

DumbledoresGirl · 22/02/2008 10:53

LOL, I was going to put at the end of my last post