I'm new to being a mom. Well, on this website and many others, I have noticed a sort of ... lingo being used. People are using abbreviations left and right. I am trying to decipher things in order to understand what is going on and take in advice but all this lingo is confusing because it's not common internet abbreviation, it is rather specific to the mom websites and blogs. What the heck is going on? I have been able to figure out that "S.O." is "significant other"... and "L.O." is "little one (baby)"... but there's a lot more that still have me confused. Could some of you please comment your most commonly used abbreviations here and explain what they mean?!?! Trust me, I tried to find some sort of glossary here for all the slang and abbreviations but I couldn't find anything of the sort. I would think that the website would keep a lingo glossary here since it's so common in just about every thread... not understanding things can really leave people feeling left out, helpless and embarrassed to even ask.
welcome to mamapedia.
ETA - Edited to Add
SWH - So what happened
SIL - Sister in Law
DIL - Daughter in Law
DD - dear daughter
DS - dear son
DH - dear husband
MIL - mother in law
FIL - father in law
FWIW - for what its worth
IMHO - in my humble opinion
J. - good question.
When I first started, I had no idea what DD meant either. (so googled). I could figure out MIL because of context. I think Wild Woman covered the most used ones here.
Oh - JFF is just for fun (sometimes at the start of a question)
SWH is So what happened - if people add to their question or provide an update
I'm glad you asked! We've all had to decipher things too. I find some of the abbreviations annoying, but I think it's part of the reality of people working on their phones and trying to save space. You'll also note some new people keep their questions so brief that there's no real info - but they think they have to do it in 140 characters. (They don't.)
A couple of other hints - it's helpful when people use paragraphs and punctuation, especially on more detailed posts and answers. People also shy away from using their kids' names, so they'll either use A, B and C or make up clearly fictitious names like "Petunia" or "Fauntleroy." It's a way to protect kids especially if people are using their real names and cities.
If you like an answer (either o your question or to another question you are following), you click "send a flower." You can't reply individually on the main page, so you can either comment in your SWH section if it's important, or message someone privately. You cannot "flame" people though - so don't call someone out by name if you're going to be highly critical. Clarifying their question or thanking them is fine. Usually, people just write, "Thanks to all" or something like that.
If something is questionable, report it. Usually those are spam/troll posts or people trying to get free advertising or lead you to a website of theirs. Sometimes they are obscene. The moderators take care of those pretty quickly.
Also, do go back and look at responses you've already read - if they are substantially edited, the responder will add "ETA" for their edits, but you won't get a notification from Mamapedia as you do for new responses. You can miss helpful information if you don't go back and check. And if you see stuff repeated, it's just because the site was slow to upload and the person clicked "post" more than once, so the info is repeated!
I know what you mean, I had no idea what DD meant, and DS, things like that, but looks like Wild Woman has covered every single abbreviation, or pretty much all of the ones that show up often and might stump us!
The only one that came to mind that I didn't see below was SAHM (stay at home mom).
I have googled plenty of abbreviations, but I think I've also posted questions asking about one or two :-) How else are you going to learn, right?
TIA- Thanks in advance
