Do we need an FAQ?

[florenceuk]

I know there is going to be a Mumsnet book, but I wondered if it might be useful to put an FAQ on this site - in particular I was struck by the number of times we see questions on expressing, breastfeeding, trying to solve the early-waking problem, experiences with GF, what do the little abbreviations mean like DS and DD, etc etc. Anybody agree? I was just thinking a few years down the track (if I'm still as addicted as I am now!) it might be more difficult to keep pointing to old threads, and some of our resident experts might have gotten a bit fed up with posting the same answers!!

Maybe a list of commonly-used abbreviations could be included in the "getting started" section.

I must admit to liking the twists and turns that an apparently boring thread can take- it would be a shame to lose them altogether. Also, as new people come to the site, they may be able to contribute, when an old hand has seen/heard it all a number of times before.

What do all the abbreviations mean? I'm assuming ds means "dear son" etc. How did they get started? And how come everybody else seems to know about them? I'd love to find out - it makes me feel I'm not one of the mumsnet "gang" not knowing.

Carolin

I suspect they are a newsgroup thing - they turn up on most internet boards. Here are some of the main ones:

DD, DS, DH etc - dear daughter/son/husband etc
GF - Gina Ford!
LOL - laugh out loud
IMO - in my opinion
IYKWIM - if you know what I mean
HTH - hope this helps!

A few more:

AFAIK As Far As I Know
AFAIR As Far As I Remember
BF Breast Feeding
BFN Bye for Now
BTW By The Way
CC Controlled Crying
FIL/MIL/PIL/BIL/SIL Father/Mother/Parents/Brother/Sister in Law
HV Health Visitor
IIRC If I remember correctly
IMHO In My Humble Opinion
MW Midwife
PG Pregnant
ROTFL Roll On The Floor Laughing
SAHM/SAHD/SAHP Stay At Home Mum/Dad/Parents
TIA Thanks in Advance
TTFN Ta Ta For Now

BM = Breast Milk and also Bowel Movement!