Are You Confused About AIF? (acronyms in forums) Join the Crowd!

As a reading teacher, I spend a great deal of time adding responses and ideas to online parenting forums and bulletin boards, mainly if they’re on the topic of reading issues their children have.

But I will never forget the first month or two I spent there when at least once a day I’d come upon a post so obscurely foreign to me that I’d almost weep.

Why? These places are filled with capitalized groups of letters that seemed to make sense to the other readers—parents, I must add, which I am not. And they’d reply using the same abbreviations, and adding in new ones of their own!

I wracked my brains. I like a word or letter puzzle as much as the next gal.  But seriously…when I see ‘BM…’ Well, I know where my mind goes.

Finally I broke down and asked. And some kind soul on some board somewhere far, far away on the webz and internetz, finally broke some of them down for me.

Want to see them? Sure you do! At least, you do if you’ve ever been as bewilldered as I was in those damn forums!

I don’t use the little devils myself, but that’s because I don’t have  a DC. I have never BF. Never had a chance to EP. And I’ve been divorced so damn many times that I can barely remember having an H, much less a DH.

And they don’t even have an acronym for Pseudo-Husband! Now what the hell is up wit’ dat?

I’ll continue on in the forums, as I love answering questions, especially for the parents who really need some fresh ideas on kids who are really struggling with reading problems…

But don’t be surprised if I start inventing some of my own here. And maybe they will even apply to you. The problem is, you’ll never know, will ya?

DANG! Another good idea gone wrong.

Catch you later! Oh, yeah. Here are the deep meanings, but please: keep ‘em under your DH.

Oops. I meant damn hat.

DH dear husband  (haven’t heard “dear” since the Cleavers)

DC dear child  (perhaps…sometimes?)

DD dear daughter

DS dear son

SIL sister-in-law (also MIL, BIL and FIL for the other in-laws)

WD working dad

WM working mom

SAHM stay at home mom

WOTM – work out of the home mom

WAHM – work at home mom

PT – part-time or potty training (meaning ‘same difference’?? Surely not!)

EP – exclusively pumping (like…BP in the Gulf Coast?)

OP original poster

PP previous poster

CIO cry it out  (Should I really??)

ETA edited to add

TIA—-thanks in advance

TTC—trying to conceive (Whew! Thought it might be ‘trying to comprehend.’

IMHO — in my humble opinion (Not so often, though, is it?)

FWIW – For what its worth (Buffalo Springfield?)

HTH – Hope this helps

BTDT – Been there, done that (story of my life)

BF – Breastfed or Breastfeeding

BM – Breast Milk

EBF – Exclusively breastfed

Say, got any quick comebacks for any of these? I know they’re there, but I’m TTC of some and can’t.  <shrug>

Disclaimer: These forums are excellent places for parents, and they offer wonderful support to other folks with similar situations and problems, and are a great place to socialize and meet like-minded people.

I’m just teasing about it a bit because a) I’m an old poop, and b) It struck me as funny once I finally understood. My dumbness, not the peeps there!

Truth or Dare: Now, tell the truth. Did I disclaim hard enough?? Sheesh, this blogging stuff is tricky.