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AIBU

Down With Acronyms

(112 Posts)
Gwoof Sat 17-Sep-16 11:50:46

Am I being unreasonable in disliking acronyms? Surely it doesn't take much effort or time to type in the full words. Without them the flow for the reader is so much easier. Frequent use of acronyms is like being in a special club where you have to keep up with stupid rules. Let's start a new fashion in Gransnet: stop overusing acronyms and make reading a pleasure again.

jinglbellsfrocks Sat 17-Sep-16 19:16:17

It meant 'don't be mean' (to the OP)

jinglbellsfrocks Sat 17-Sep-16 19:16:50

D'you think it will catch on?

No, neither do I.

grannylyn65 Sat 17-Sep-16 20:22:24

gringrin

kittylester Sat 17-Sep-16 21:46:47

I thought it was ' don't be mardy!'grin And I still don't know what Sudomin meant.confused

Wobblybits Sat 17-Sep-16 22:04:01

Too Long, didn't read -- You are being unreasonable Simples grin

Wobblybits Sat 17-Sep-16 22:04:40

Crossing out not intended.

misunderstood Sun 18-Sep-16 09:26:06

Totally agree but I think it's because many don't know how to spell correctly nowadays.

silverlining48 Sun 18-Sep-16 09:54:04

Just worked CBA out. Success. !!

Shelagh6 Sun 18-Sep-16 10:01:03

I absolutely agree with Gwoof and if we can just drop the 'D' for Darling which is totally unnecessary, the conversations would flow and I would easily understand who is who and I am surprised and think that is obvious to anybody - who on earth refers to their Darling Daughter in Law and Darling Granddaughter in real life - who thought this up?? Let's get real!

jinglbellsfrocks Sun 18-Sep-16 10:03:10

No! It's a long held tradition. The prefix stays.

kittylester Sun 18-Sep-16 10:07:58

You can do what you like even start your own blessed website where you ban the use of D! Then, after 3/4 years, we can come along and tell you that you've got it all wrong!

Grannygrumps60 Sun 18-Sep-16 10:19:10

LOL. I love the little song. TBH, I'm not keen on acronyms either, but I suppose it's just because I'm a grumpy old woman (or can I say GOW)? and I'll jolly well have to get used to it. Sometimes I quite enjoy the challenge of figuring out what a particular acronym means, but at other times I simply CBA, IYCWIM.

schnackie Sun 18-Sep-16 11:01:41

My American friend used TTYL at the end of an email and I wracked my brain but could only come up with "Ta Ta you loser". She, and every one she knows were in hysterics for ages over that! (Turns out to be "talk to you later")

NonnaAnnie Sun 18-Sep-16 11:06:20

After a prolonged bout of depression I'm still waiting for my memory to come back. I've given up trying to remember the acronyms. I read the post and if it doesn't make sense I move onto the next one!

BlueBelle Sun 18-Sep-16 11:24:52

Gwoof everyone's having a go at you so I ll stand up for you I hate them too especially the DD, DGS business but I like gransnet a lot, so I m staying and using the full word in my own posts, so I guess I never fully belong to the gransnet club, because let's be honest it's a ' belonging thing' it's nothing to do with writing the whole word at all its a 'message' and everyone will shout at me and deny it but it is and I read somewhere that it was copied from Mumsnet Anyway I m OK.( whoops there we go I ve let one slip )with that and I ll do it my way and continue mentally translating until one day I find myself saying ILYA and realise I ' belong' smile

Elegran Sun 18-Sep-16 11:26:37

Good idea, NonnaAnnie It is not necessary ro read every post, or every word of every post.

"DH" is often used satirically, about something annoying that Dear or Damned husband has done (you can take your pick which)

From a purely visual point of view, I think two initials (DH, DS and so on), are better than one, which can look like just a twitchy finger on the keys. Once you have worked out that any D could be superfluous, you can ignore it, it doesn't affect understanding the relationships.

However, I suspect there are people who can't ignore less relevant words while they grasp the rest of the sentence, so they get hung up at one bit (any sentence, not just ones with acronyms in), which would explain how much confusion there is sometimes about just what a post means.

Elegran Sun 18-Sep-16 11:38:10

I am not sure it is that "belonging" as you say, bluebelle. I sometimes use the abbreviations and sometimes not, depending on how much I feel like the chore of using two fingers to type out complicated relationships or long official names for organisations like UNESCO. Others do the same. A story about a family falling out, for instance, might involve several repetitions of several relationships.

I have never felt that I don't "belong" if I don't follow one convention or another. As for when I first joined and was unfamiliar with the acronyms - well, it does takes at least a short while to "belong" to anything, you are not bosom pals instantly you sit beside a stranger at a concert, are you, however much you have in common in your love of the music? Say you were to criticise her taste in jewellery at that first meeting, would that speed your friendship or delay it?

Ana Sun 18-Sep-16 11:40:49

Gransnet follows the same format as Mumsnet as it was set up by the same people. Why change what works?

sunseeker Sun 18-Sep-16 11:51:40

I was going to post a long reply but CBA!

Janelle Sun 18-Sep-16 13:09:19

I have to say I agree with Gwoof - can't stand the overuse of acronyms - drives me bonkers and yes if too many in a post I just CBA to read it. Reminds me of text speak of the mobile phone variety which I also can't stand.

henetha Sun 18-Sep-16 13:17:53

I don't mind acronyms, it's just that I am not very good at them. However, realising that GN is not run for my benefit alone I have made myself learn to interpret them.
In my teens I had an American pen friend (male) who always put SWALK on the back of his letters. I loved that!

anniesgrannie Sun 18-Sep-16 13:43:25

What does CBA mean? looked it up, but it wasn't there.

hicaz46 Sun 18-Sep-16 13:50:55

I so agree Gwoof whenever I write a post on Gransnet I get confused trying to remember the acronyms so usually write all words in full. I prefer this anyway and agree with you that acronyms make you feel 'not part of the club' and make reading posts much harder.

Legs55 Sun 18-Sep-16 14:04:22

It took me some time to "tune in" to the acronyms but now find them easy to use & read, perhaps my Civil Service background helps!!!!

Hope you stick with it & if you want to type words in full it won't stop me reading your posts smile

BTW I to dislike acronyms but they are easier than text speak - CBA to work those out. grin

thatbags Sun 18-Sep-16 14:05:17

I should look it up somewhere else then, anniesgrannie smile. I just typed 'cba' into my browser search box and the second entry (urban dictionary) told me what it meant.