Okay I have to ask . . .

[pegkerr]

What does the designation "DH" mean in Internet speak, anyway? I've seen it for years but never known. It seems to refer to the poster's significant other (is it always male?). Why not use SO? What does it stand for, specifically? Dear Honey? Dorky Hug-a-lot? Dense Homeboy? What???

Comments

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Dear Husband.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

It really does seem to be ubiquitous. I wonder when it first appeared.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Knitters and crocheters were using it on mailing lists before 1997, for sure.

K. [I bet it came over when AOL was ported to the Internet in 1994 or 1995, but I am just supposing]

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

In the same context, "stash" does not refer to drugs. (looking nervously at her three Tupperware crates full of fiber)

Speaking as one who fully understands the concept of 'stash'

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I packed my fabric stash last night for my move in June--I think I have half as much fabric as clothes now, which is really, really, really a lot of fabric.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

I don't know...I ran into it on indiebride.com, where people also used "DF" (Dear Fiance) and such, but luckily someone else asked "What the heck?" and I got my explanation. *g*

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Dear Husband.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Useful Internet Acronym Dictionary: http://www.gaarde.org/acronyms/

[tinymich.livejournal.com]

This DH appellation can get confusing when Singaporean women - who often have maids to help them with chores and childcare - use it, because some seem to use it to mean Domestic Helper.

But in the case of people who are using it to mean Dear Husband, I suspect that often Dense Homeboy would work just as well. ;-)

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I wonder if DH has the same sort of double-usefulness as DPO, which can mean either "Dear Previous Owner" or "Damn Previous Owner" depending upon what sort of household find you've just made.

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

Yes! Exactly.

[klostes.livejournal.com]

Due to the toxic sucrose level on several e-mail lists I was on years ago, I substitute "damn" for the "d" by habit. It can be just as affectionate without sending everyone reading it into insulin shock. ;-)

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

I ran into it first on a pregnancy forum. Then later on a religious forum. I've also seen DW, DS, DD, and then MIL and FIL. (You can probably guess what all those are...)

The pregnancy forum also had AF (for Aunt Flo) and any number of other "cute" acronyms.

It kind of bugs me for personal reasons, like borrowing somebody else's nickname to hang on your significant other, so I would never use it. But...different strokes and all that.

[misia.livejournal.com]

I love you for asking it this way. I will now be thinking of it as "Dense Homeboy" forever, and that makes me happy.

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

Dear/Darling Husband

Similarily DW, DS, DD are often used for Dear/Darling Wife, Son and Daughter.

I tend to use DH, because I'm not too sure how he'd feel having his name on the web so often. A bit silly perhaps, as I'm not careful about writing my own name. I might as well write SO, but have just gotten used to DH. I've been on an L.M. Montgomery mailing list since 1995 and people there have always used DH rather than SO - it's become a habit.

Rats!

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

I was so hoping "DH" meant "Deer in the Headlights"...

[mayakda.livejournal.com]

D__ Husband, where D can mean Dear or Damn or Dense, depending on one's mood.

[wilfulcait.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who uses "MLW" for "My lovely wife." I think he's usually being serious.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I used to use "Biblically-ordained Head of the Household" on my husband to annoy him. Then I absent-mindedly used it on somebody who wasn't in on the joke. You should have SEEN the eyebrows; I think they nearly separated from the body entirely.

[tinymich.livejournal.com]

I'm stealing that! :D

[naomikritzer]

I use "dh" to refer to Ed while posting to message boards. I try to remember to just call him Ed when posting to my LJ but sometimes I slip up.

I've also seen so, dw, dp, and df. Also xh. For kids there's dd and ds, and if you're a blended family there's dsd and dss. And of course there's MIL and FIL and SIL and BIL and X can be appended to any of those, as need be. Or STBX (soon-to-be-ex) or "future" (which usually seems to be typed out, rather than abbreviated to F). Which reminds me, I have on a few occasions seen FH when someone is really fed up.