Dh?

maman

heartbreak_star wrote: »

I think the only abbreviation of husband I hate is "hubzy" or "hubsy".

:mad:

For some reason (even odder as I'm CFbC) I detest any alternative form of "pregnant" though - prego, preggers, even pg!

HBS x

I know exactly what you mean. I think we all have our dislikes. I loathe people talking about hollibobs when they mean holidays. Hols is just about acceptable to me. And the other is people who post about their mom when they aren't American (or from the US;)) and wouldn't dream of going on vacation or changing a diaper.:rotfl:

missbiggles1

onlyroz wrote: »

I was taught that use of exclusive terminology that only members of the "in" club would understand is a form of bullying.

Imagine you had just started a new job and everybody was using abbreviations and terms that you didn't understand, and they didn't make any effort to explain what they meant?

Apart from that, it's just lazy. How much longer does it take to write "husband" rather than DH? And how much less time do other users have to spend scratching their head trying to figure out who you're talking about, whether it's OP, DD4, DS2 etc etc.

And as an aside, what is the world coming to when even papers like the Financial Times start using ridiculous phrases like Grexit and Brexit?

I agree with you completely.

In addition, if brevity's what's wanted, why DH rather than just H?

Gigervamp

onlyroz wrote: »

I don't recall saying I was offended, just reporting what I was told in a training session by a former employer. Continue using whatever abbreviations you like, but I thought it worth mentioning that it's not very welcoming to outsiders if you treat these forums like a private club and use language that is only understandable by existing members.

But they've been used online for years. Certainly since I first started using the net back in '97. It's universal, not exclusive.

Ames

onlyroz wrote: »

I was taught that use of exclusive terminology that only members of the "in" club would understand is a form of bullying.

Imagine you had just started a new job and everybody was using abbreviations and terms that you didn't understand, and they didn't make any effort to explain what they meant?

Apart from that, it's just lazy. How much longer does it take to write "husband" rather than DH? And how much less time do other users have to spend scratching their head trying to figure out who you're talking about, whether it's OP, DD4, DS2 etc etc.

And as an aside, what is the world coming to when even papers like the Financial Times start using ridiculous phrases like Grexit and Brexit?

I'm not sure that the whole of the internet since it was invented counts as an 'in club'. It's a pretty big club if it does!

When I started my voluntary job there were loads of abbreviations. I asked the ones I couldn't figure out in meetings, or if they were in documents did some research. It would have been ridiculous to ask everyone to suddenly stop using them, and would have made meetings twice as long.

onlyroz

Gigervamp wrote: »

But they've been used online for years. Certainly since I first started using the net back in '97. It's universal, not exclusive.

Interesting article here on internet slang:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_slang

My own view is that, like txt spk, use of slang anc shorthand just results in a dumbing-down of our language. Some of the stuff that my 21-year-old niece churns out on Facebook are barely intelligible, largely because her primary means of communication for the last 10 years has been via input into her mobile phone. I think it won't be long before our youngsters will have lost the ability to write more than a few lines of text at a time.

onlyroz

Ames wrote: »

I'm not sure that the whole of the internet since it was invented counts as an 'in club'. It's a pretty big club if it does!

When I started my voluntary job there were loads of abbreviations. I asked the ones I couldn't figure out in meetings, or if they were in documents did some research. It would have been ridiculous to ask everyone to suddenly stop using them, and would have made meetings twice as long.

To claim that the "whole of the internet since it was invented" knows that DH refers to "Dear Husband" is blatently incorrect - otherwise there would be no need for this thread at all.

And I'm not saying that we should never use abbreviations, but we should only use them in a context where all readers are clear about their meaning. For example if you're talking about an acronym used in a specific work context then we should ensure that all new staff know how to find out their meanings easily.

Gigervamp

I don't think acronyms are the cause of dumbing down. They've been used outside of the net for donkey's years. EG, the TUC have been using that one since I was a kid back in the 70s.

Flyonthewall

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I agree with you completely.

In addition, if brevity's what's wanted, why DH rather than just H?

DH just makes it more obvious what you mean, especially as people don't always capitalise letters. People make typos so it allows people to know you did mean DH rather than them thinking you meant husband when it should have been something else (e.g. He but missed the e or I but hit the wrong letter). If we made everything one letter it'd be really confusing.

onlyroz

Gigervamp wrote: »

I don't think acronyms are the cause of dumbing down. They've been used outside of the net for donkey's years. EG, the TUC have been using that one since I was a kid back in the 70s.

But an abbreviation of DH for "husband" is hardly an improvement, particularly when the letters bear no resemblance to the actual word you're trying to shorten. Whereas it does make sense to shorten Trade Union Congress to the TUC, particularly when the people attending a TUC meeting will all understand the definition.

From the wiki link above, it says that using internet slang makes it quicker for the writer, but it takes twice as long for the reader to understand. So arguments of time-saving are a bit redundant.

Flyonthewall

onlyroz wrote: »

And I'm not saying that we should never use abbreviations, but we should only use them in a context where all readers are clear about their meaning. For example if you're talking about an acronym used in a specific work context then we should ensure that all new staff know how to find out their meanings easily.

So...never then.

There will always be someone who doesn't know what something is short for/stands for. Even in a work place if you deal with customers (for example, you have a menu with abbreviations on) you could get those that are confused. Even with images or * and an explanation further down you'll always have those that don't read properly or are too stupid to realise what it stands for.

If you can find your way to a forum to read a topic you can find a way to ask what it means or google it. You can't expect millions of people not to use abbreviations just because not everyone will know them.