Grumpy old woman

I'm another who dislikes the initials, although I have used them in the past. It can't be too hard to tap out granddaughter, grandson, niece, nephew, husband etc. It would make reading messages a lot easier, especially if you are like me and don't understand all the initials. There was a recent thread on mumsnet where the poster used YDD, EDD, etc. It made for very difficult reading.

I completely understand your opinion on all the DIL's etc. There was a post yesterday that was full of really confusing acronyms which, unfortunately, made it really difficult to understand and there were some rather negative comments to boot.

Whilst it might be quicker to type an acronym some thought has to be given to avoid overuse surely?

Ha! Have just seen that mysterious abbreviation again but fear I got the wrong end of the stick. WP, it seems, stands for Wonderful Person.

Despite what others say I still find the abbreviations irritating. Some posters add new ones to the list, if I see a long post with many abbreviations I generally give up on it.
I agree Gwyneth by the time I have sorted out the initials I've lost track of the post.

I have never used the F word in my life. My father never swore so neither did I until I had left school and entered the big bad world. I was convent educated and in the mid to late 50's one did not swear, end of!

smoothie

I like the abbreviations, they do save me time in the long run as it does become repetitive typing it all out over and over.

The “acronyms” are used all over the web though, on some forums they have been around for years and years.

Some acronyms have entered the lexicon, think, radar, sonar, scuba. But some are gross, especially the ones that replace a profanity.

When I first saw WTF I had no idea what it stood for, my giggling Godson put me wise. I didn't tell him that I was unfamiliar with FFS, but knowing WTF, I was able to deduce FFS.

If it's too rude, vulgar, offensive or objectionable, abbreviating it doesn't lessen the crudity.

Feelingmyage55

“‘varsity” - a more refined abbreviation doodledog.

It’s nothing to do with being ‘refined’. As varian says, it’s devaluation, and (to me) it’s conspicuously ‘trendy’, particularly when said by people who were adults when the trend started.

I’m pretty sure it came in with the Australian soaps in the late 80’s. You never heard it before then. It’s just one of those things that grates on me.

I like the abbreviations, they do save me time in the long run as it does become repetitive typing it all out over and over.

The “acronyms” are used all over the web though, on some forums they have been around for years and years.

Any posts with lots of acronyms I give up on. It takes too long to decipher the meaning. I then lose track of what the post is actually about! Thought it was just me so pleased to know other people have the same problem!

Who on earth were they all on about? Dim Harry? Dopey Herbert?
Witzend Perhaps you were closer to the truth than you realised!
Wot! no Henriettas, or would they be too posh for GN?

“‘varsity” - a more refined abbreviation doodledog.

I agree about "uni" which seems to me to devalue the whole concept- but I may be a tad old fashioned, using whole words like "university" and "television", but not "omnibus" or "perambulator" which were before my time.

I find it odd to hear "coding" now used for what we, in the 1960s, used to call "programming" although I have got used to "IT" instead of "computing" .

I also dislike "chair" instead of "chairman" which I would always use regardless of the gender of the chairman. As far as I'm concerned a chair is a piece of furniture.

Oh, for the good old days of WordPerfect, where you could easily get the program to write out a long word, when you typed the abbreviation.

It is well nigh impossible to do in Word.

There’s one that appears occasionally (but I’ve forgotten what it is, naturally) which stumps me and doesn’t appear in the glossary. I think it must refer to a same-sex relationship but I haven’t queried it at the time in case I appear to be disapproving. Which I’m not!

Many years ago, I was bemused at all the dhs on the first forum I ever joined.
Who on earth were they all on about? Dim Harry? Dopey Herbert?

It didn’t take too long to sink in, TG. (Thank goodness.)

It’s the ‘dear’ bit that I find cheesy. I try to avoid using them as much as possible as I too find them irritating. No pleasing me though because I don’t like ‘hubby’ for example.

❤️ your wit MissA. Stellar.

Next time something makes your blood boil to the point where you might just utter the profane 'F' word. You might like to know that it's an acronym.

Back when adultery was on the statute, those guilty of that crime were known to be:
Found
Under
Carnal
Knowledge.
So now you know.

I have predictive text switched off cos it's so useless at predicting what I'm trying to say.

Did anyone else try predicting what a teacher was going to say when she was dictating? I used to, and to write it. I usually got it wrong . Fun to do though if causing messy notes. At least I was alert.

I found the abbreviations extremely irritating when I started on gransnet especially the cheesy “dear” tacked on to almost everything.
Frankly I became oblivious to it after a while as you will KaEllen.
Welcome.

PS Morning, folks!

I don’t understand why use these acronyms anyway as using predictive text is the automatic spelling of words , so why not use that instead ?
Baffles me .

Yous should try reading a botany book. Whole new lingo. Glossary permanently bookmarked.

There's a glossary of abbreviations somewhere on GN.

Pretty much every subject area has its own jargon and abbreviations. Shrug. Switch brain on. Sorted.

Doodledog. With respect a bit of an over reaction to the abbreviation “uni”. Surely ? You would not expect them to say they were off to a science lesson in the “laboratory” every time ? Or wheel the baby in the “perambulator”?,

I’ve been using these acronyms for many years and I don’t notice them any more than I notice acronyms such as NHS, GCSE or SNP. They’re a word in themselves. Unless a poster writes a family saga type message, it seems easy enough, to me.

I almost never use acronyms on Gransnet. It doesn't take that much longer to type things out in full and doing so doesn't interrupt the flow of the post.