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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Does the F in RTFT stand for full or ‘effing’?

47 replies

roshi42 · 15/07/2026 09:52

Didn’t swear in the title just to avoid upsetting anyone!

I feel like RTFT started out as meaning Read The Fucking Thread, but now most people seem to think it means Read The Full Thread.

Which do you read it as?

Poll:
YABU = Full
YANBU = Fucking

OP posts:
TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 15/07/2026 09:52

Fucking.

Mikkol · 15/07/2026 09:53

Yanbu It’s always been read the fucking thread

LaliqueSaltGrinder · 15/07/2026 09:53

Either.

Patrickpickthepepper · 15/07/2026 09:53

This is Mumsnet, of course it’s fucking!

Arregaithel · 15/07/2026 09:56

Just fyi @roshi42

AnonymityAnonymity · 15/07/2026 10:07

Shocked! Totally shocked!
Always assumed it was Full.
Busy clutching my pearls now - to coin that awful phrase only ever used on MN.

firstofallimadelight · 15/07/2026 10:14

I assumed full as in go back and read it properly

paulinespecial · 15/07/2026 10:15

I always read it as Fucking but then realised it was probably ‘Full’.
For quite some time I thought STBXH meant ‘shoot the bastard ex husband’ 🫤

StabiaGirl · 15/07/2026 10:17

Well you learn something every day

Ethelspagetti · 15/07/2026 10:17

Full

DramaAlpaca · 15/07/2026 10:18

I see it as 'read the full thread' as in read it all to see what you missed because you couldn't be bothered to read the whole thing.

But in some contexts, 'read the fucking thread' is perfectly apt.

MagpiePi · 15/07/2026 10:19

I've always thought it was so you could say 'I haven't Read The Full Thread...' and then add a comment that may have been made (numerous) times before.

@paulinespecial I will now never be able to not see 'Shoot the bastard..' Brilliant!!😂

roshi42 · 15/07/2026 10:27

paulinespecial · 15/07/2026 10:15

I always read it as Fucking but then realised it was probably ‘Full’.
For quite some time I thought STBXH meant ‘shoot the bastard ex husband’ 🫤

For some reason I can’t help but always read that as ‘shit the bed ex husband’! I don’t know why!

OP posts:
OttersOnAPlane · 15/07/2026 10:28

Full really, but Fucking when the poster is being an utter numpty.

CustardySergeant · 15/07/2026 10:29

OttersOnAPlane · 15/07/2026 10:28

Full really, but Fucking when the poster is being an utter numpty.

Well according to the MN acronyms list linked in a previous post, it's fucking.

Edit: Here https://www.mumsnet.com/i/acronyms

BauhausOfEliott · 15/07/2026 10:30

That abbreviation has been around in internet forums for decades and pre-dates Mumsnet. It's 'fucking'.

randomchap · 15/07/2026 10:33

rtft read the full thread

RTFT READ THE FUCKING THREAD.

qwertylal · 15/07/2026 10:35

I always thought STBXH was stupid twt bstard ex husband lol

JumpingJimny · 15/07/2026 10:37

“Fucking”

It comes from the old “read the fucking manual!” (RTFM) when someone online asks a simple question that they could have found out themselves about the item/car/whatever if they’d read the manual or done some basic info checking 😂

OttersOnAPlane · 15/07/2026 10:44

CustardySergeant · 15/07/2026 10:29

Well according to the MN acronyms list linked in a previous post, it's fucking.

Edit: Here https://www.mumsnet.com/i/acronyms

Edited

That's rather cheered me up. I like us better when we're a sweary nest of vipers.

AnonymityAnonymity · 15/07/2026 10:44

CustardySergeant · 15/07/2026 10:29

Well according to the MN acronyms list linked in a previous post, it's fucking.

Edit: Here https://www.mumsnet.com/i/acronyms

Edited

Oh thanks for that link.

Just had a wee read if it.
MMTI caught my attention: what a horrible picture that conjours up!

Whorulestheroost1 · 15/07/2026 10:48

Fucking always has been always will be.

maudelovesharold · 15/07/2026 10:54

But so many people use it to say they haven’t read all of the thread, and I’m sure they don’t mean ‘fucking’, in that context!

EndlessWeeding · 15/07/2026 10:55

I thought it was 'full'.

WerewolfOfLoudon · 15/07/2026 10:59

BauhausOfEliott · 15/07/2026 10:30

That abbreviation has been around in internet forums for decades and pre-dates Mumsnet. It's 'fucking'.

Absolutely. RTFM! (Manual for those who have only ever seen the T)

So many exasperated techies 😂