What is the deal with "DW"?

Discussions about the forum and contents
Topic Author
dumbmoney
Posts: 2419
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:58 pm

What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by dumbmoney »

Help me scratch this itch..."DW" is used all over the forum despite
(1) being very obscure - Wikipedia has never heard of it. You have to go to the Urban Dictionary to find out what it means.
(2) being used nowhere else - bogleheads is the only place I've ever seen it

This is not a forum where people use a lot of obscure slang, so what can explain it?
I am pleased to report that the invisible forces of destruction have been unmasked, marking a turning point chapter when the fraudulent and speculative winds are cast into the inferno of extinction.
User avatar
greg24
Posts: 4511
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:34 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by greg24 »

Dear Wife
Dear Husband
Dear Son
Dear Daughter

I agree it is a little odd how prevalent this usage is on a forum that doesn't use much slang.
z0r
Posts: 244
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 12:50 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by z0r »

boomers, my dude
tim1999
Posts: 4205
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:16 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by tim1999 »

I hate the terms "DW" "DH" etc. and have literally never heard someone in real life outside of internet forums frequented by the age 40+ crowd refer to someone as "Dear Wife" etc. in my entire existence on this planet.
User avatar
Stinky
Posts: 14149
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2017 11:38 am
Location: Sweet Home Alabama

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Stinky »

All such secrets are revealed in the super-private “Boglehead Initiation Ceremony”. :D
Retired life insurance company financial executive who sincerely believes that ”It’s a GREAT day to be alive!”
surfstar
Posts: 2853
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2013 12:17 pm
Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by surfstar »

I had to adjust to seeing the D_ used on BH.

I much prefer it to "hubby" though - I cringe when I read that

Boat forum had SWMBO - I had to look that one up
Starfish
Posts: 2996
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:33 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Starfish »

greg24 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:37 pm Dear Wife
Dear Husband
Dear Son
Dear Daughter

I agree it is a little odd how prevalent this usage is on a forum that doesn't use much slang.
Why are all dear? Why do I have to know that they are dear to the poster? When the dear part becomes default doesn't lose all the value? So many questions!
User avatar
Scott S
Posts: 1937
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:28 am
Location: building my position

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Scott S »

greg24 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:37 pm Dear Wife
Dear Husband
Dear Son
Dear Daughter

I agree it is a little odd how prevalent this usage is on a forum that doesn't use much slang.
I've seen "D" used to imply another word if the poster wasn't feeling as generous... ;)
Last edited by Scott S on Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Old value investors never die, they just get their fix from rebalancing." -- vineviz
jarjarM
Posts: 2511
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2018 1:21 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by jarjarM »

surfstar wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:46 pm I had to adjust to seeing the D_ used on BH.

I much prefer it to "hubby" though - I cringe when I read that

Boat forum had SWMBO - I had to look that one up
Have to google that one too and so true :P
as9
Posts: 447
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:26 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by as9 »

tim1999 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:41 pm I hate the terms "DW" "DH" etc. and have literally never heard someone in real life outside of internet forums frequented by the age 40+ crowd refer to someone as "Dear Wife" etc. in my entire existence on this planet.
Agreed, it's awful. It's used heavily on parenting forums. Just say wife/husband/daughter, etc.
User avatar
Watty
Posts: 28859
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:55 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Watty »

Stinky wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:42 pm All such secrets are revealed in the super-private “Boglehead Initiation Ceremony”. :D
They give you this magic link.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Abbrevi ... Acronyms#D
User avatar
arcticpineapplecorp.
Posts: 15080
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:22 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by arcticpineapplecorp. »

greg24 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:37 pm Dear Wife
Dear Husband
Dear Son
Dear Daughter

I agree it is a little odd how prevalent this usage is on a forum that doesn't use much slang.
Apparently DH also stands for Diehards as in Vanguard Diehards (just saw this recently):
The Morningstar Diehards forum remained open for quite some time (years?) after the Bogleheads was established. Taylor, Mel, and others still posted there frequently and there were a few who did not move to BH as near as I could tell. I used to go to DH frequently often just to check on BH when they had an outage or some similar thing. My visits got less frequent and the recent times have been somewhat of a disappointment in that it was just not the same forum.

viewtopic.php?p=5840132#p5840132
It's hard to accept the truth when the lies were exactly what you wanted to hear. Investing is simple, but not easy. Buy, hold & rebalance low cost index funds & manage taxable events. Asking Portfolio Questions | Wiki
MishkaWorries
Posts: 1362
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2019 4:39 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by MishkaWorries »

I don't like DH or DW. I'm trying to get "my boo" to trend on Bogleheads but no luck yet.
We plan. G-d laughs.
Normchad
Posts: 5648
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:20 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Normchad »

Do we have equally strong feelings for other abbreviations used commonly here, but less common in other places? TLH? SWR? SS? RSU? CC? PTC? AGI? XIRR? IRMA? NITT? Etc.

These are all used in other places, but they aren’t that common; most of my aquaintenamces wouldn’t know any of them. They would throw a lot of people. But I can say the same for DH, DD, etc as those are all over places like collegecinfidential as well.....
TravelGeek
Posts: 4902
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 3:23 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by TravelGeek »

as9 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:52 pm
Agreed, it's awful. It's used heavily on parenting forums. Just say wife/husband/daughter, etc.
I don’t know that I have ever used it. And while I have known the meaning and generally don’t struggle with it, I do think the unnecessary use of abbreviations and acronyms doesn’t help with making posts more readable. I am not reducing my wife to DW.
sailaway
Posts: 8215
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by sailaway »

MishkaWorries wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:56 pm I don't like DH or DW. I'm trying to get "my boo" to trend on Bogleheads but no luck yet.
I could get on board with this one.
jarjarM
Posts: 2511
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2018 1:21 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by jarjarM »

sailaway wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:01 pm
MishkaWorries wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:56 pm I don't like DH or DW. I'm trying to get "my boo" to trend on Bogleheads but no luck yet.
I could get on board with this one.
Why can't we just use "hon" :twisted:
Ramjet
Posts: 1464
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2020 10:45 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Ramjet »

I admit, I had to look it up too at some point

Has to be a 55+ thing, right? Whatever :|
SrGrumpy
Posts: 1477
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2015 3:21 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by SrGrumpy »

tim1999 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:41 pm I hate the terms "DW" "DH" etc. and have literally never heard someone in real life outside of internet forums frequented by the age 40+ crowd refer to someone as "Dear Wife" etc. in my entire existence on this planet.
It's obnoxious, patronizing and lazy. I stop reading the post when I see it (except in this thread), and the author gets entered in my black book.
jibantik
Posts: 568
Joined: Fri Nov 24, 2017 12:05 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by jibantik »

z0r wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:39 pm boomers, my dude
^
SundayMorning
Posts: 55
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:04 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by SundayMorning »

All this time I thought I was reading "Darling Wife"... :oops:
User avatar
ResearchMed
Posts: 16795
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2008 10:25 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by ResearchMed »

jarjarM wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:04 pm
sailaway wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:01 pm
MishkaWorries wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:56 pm I don't like DH or DW. I'm trying to get "my boo" to trend on Bogleheads but no luck yet.
I could get on board with this one.
Why can't we just use "hon" :twisted:
OMG... "don't get me started!"
Grrrrr.

Anything other than "hon". Anything...

(At least you put the little "evil" emoji in there. Thanks! :wink: )

RM
This signature is a placebo. You are in the control group.
User avatar
TomatoTomahto
Posts: 17158
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:48 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by TomatoTomahto »

dumbmoney wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:37 pm 2) being used nowhere else - bogleheads is the only place I've ever seen it
I first encountered it on College Confidential.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
User avatar
TheTimeLord
Posts: 12130
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2013 2:05 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by TheTimeLord »

dumbmoney wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:37 pm Help me scratch this itch..."DW" is used all over the forum despite
(1) being very obscure - Wikipedia has never heard of it. You have to go to the Urban Dictionary to find out what it means.
(2) being used nowhere else - bogleheads is the only place I've ever seen it

This is not a forum where people use a lot of obscure slang, so what can explain it?
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/dw
IMHO, Investing should be about living the life you want, not avoiding the life you fear. | Run, You Clever Boy! [9085]
loghound
Posts: 368
Joined: Thu May 09, 2019 7:01 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by loghound »

literally, I've gone years, sort of inferring it must mean "Dear Wife" without being 100% certain, and yesterday I finally googled it (to verify that)

I did this before I saw this post (great minds think alike!).

as an aside: I sort of can't stand it and don't understand why people don't say 'wife' or 'husband'
I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time. | - Blaise Pascal
User avatar
greg24
Posts: 4511
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:34 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by greg24 »

SrGrumpy wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:09 pm
tim1999 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:41 pm I hate the terms "DW" "DH" etc. and have literally never heard someone in real life outside of internet forums frequented by the age 40+ crowd refer to someone as "Dear Wife" etc. in my entire existence on this planet.
It's obnoxious, patronizing and lazy. I stop reading the post when I see it (except in this thread), and the author gets entered in my black book.
username checks out
lessismore22
Posts: 281
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2018 8:02 pm
Location: USA

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by lessismore22 »

Normchad wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:59 pm Do we have equally strong feelings for other abbreviations used commonly here, but less common in other places? TLH? SWR? SS? RSU? CC? PTC? AGI? XIRR? IRMA? NITT? Etc.

These are all used in other places, but they aren’t that common; most of my aquaintenamces wouldn’t know any of them. They would throw a lot of people. But I can say the same for DH, DD, etc as those are all over places like collegecinfidential as well.....
IANAL seems to be one that nobody would miss if it went away.
mushripu
Posts: 170
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:26 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by mushripu »

I have my suspicisions that my wife uses DH as dou**eb*g husband... :twisted: :D
stoptothink
Posts: 15368
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:53 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by stoptothink »

tim1999 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:41 pm I hate the terms "DW" "DH" etc. and have literally never heard someone in real life outside of internet forums frequented by the age 40+ crowd refer to someone as "Dear Wife" etc. in my entire existence on this planet.
Ditto. I have though found myself almost using it on this forum, just because I am so used to seeing it here.
sport
Posts: 12094
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:26 pm
Location: Cleveland, OH

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by sport »

I think the DW and DH abbreviations are popular because they are short, thus avoiding extra key strokes. A single letter might not be understood, but these 2 letter designations seem to be generally understandable. They are also popular here because there are many financial subject/questions/concerns that apply to married couples. So, they appear often.
SundayMorning
Posts: 55
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:04 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by SundayMorning »


IANAL seems to be one that nobody would miss if it went away.


Usually goes away when you get married... :twisted:
User avatar
Svensk Anga
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2012 4:16 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Svensk Anga »

FWIW, DW, DH, DD, etc are common on early-retirement.org. This site and ER share a good number of members I think.
User avatar
Mlm
Posts: 613
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2016 6:00 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Mlm »

SundayMorning wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:23 pm
IANAL seems to be one that nobody would miss if it went away.


Usually goes away when you get married... :twisted:
WTF
Mary
tim1999
Posts: 4205
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:16 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by tim1999 »

SundayMorning wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:10 pm All this time I thought I was reading "Darling Wife"... :oops:
When I first started reading this forum more than a decade ago, for awhile I thought it meant "dead wife" or "deceased wife" until I googled it.
tibbitts
Posts: 23716
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:50 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by tibbitts »

It seems appropriate to retire it from the forum.
User avatar
Stinky
Posts: 14149
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2017 11:38 am
Location: Sweet Home Alabama

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Stinky »

tibbitts wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:33 pm It seems appropriate to retire it from the forum.
If you retire it, please tell the author of this current thread.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=341134
Retired life insurance company financial executive who sincerely believes that ”It’s a GREAT day to be alive!”
User avatar
Kenkat
Posts: 9549
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:18 am
Location: Cincinnati, OH

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Kenkat »

greg24 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:17 pm
SrGrumpy wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:09 pm
tim1999 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:41 pm I hate the terms "DW" "DH" etc. and have literally never heard someone in real life outside of internet forums frequented by the age 40+ crowd refer to someone as "Dear Wife" etc. in my entire existence on this planet.
It's obnoxious, patronizing and lazy. I stop reading the post when I see it (except in this thread), and the author gets entered in my black book.
username checks out
Yeah, and SW (Snow White) says you best get the cottage spruced up by dinner time or there’s not going to be any dinner time.

I’ve pretty much given up trying to follow all of the abbreviations. Worst in my mind is the ticker symbols - I just learned VTSMX and VFINX and now it’s VTI and VOO. I too skip many of these posts.
AlwaysaQ
Posts: 624
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2007 7:37 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by AlwaysaQ »

Is 'my boo' the one who scares you?
absolute zero
Posts: 1244
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2016 3:59 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by absolute zero »

DW is almost as weird as the term “megacorp.”
yules
Posts: 637
Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:31 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by yules »

SrGrumpy wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:09 pm
tim1999 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:41 pm I hate the terms "DW" "DH" etc. and have literally never heard someone in real life outside of internet forums frequented by the age 40+ crowd refer to someone as "Dear Wife" etc. in my entire existence on this planet.
It's obnoxious, patronizing and lazy. I stop reading the post when I see it (except in this thread), and the author gets entered in my black book.
Okay, but a "black book" (especially one of a smaller size) has different connotations too!!! Every generation, and subsets within a generation, have their own abbreviations, slanguage and short-hand.

Yules
ZinCO
Posts: 359
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2015 8:42 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by ZinCO »

arcticpineapplecorp. wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:55 pm
Apparently DH also stands for Diehards as in Vanguard Diehards (just saw this recently):
The Morningstar Diehards forum remained open for quite some time (years?) after the Bogleheads was established. Taylor, Mel, and others still posted there frequently and there were a few who did not move to BH as near as I could tell. I used to go to DH frequently often just to check on BH when they had an outage or some similar thing. My visits got less frequent and the recent times have been somewhat of a disappointment in that it was just not the same forum.

viewtopic.php?p=5840132#p5840132
I STILL go to diehards.org to end up here...
User avatar
TomatoTomahto
Posts: 17158
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:48 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by TomatoTomahto »

I find myself using DW as an abbreviation more when I’m typing on my phone. When at a proper keyboard, I don’t mind spelling things out.

My personal pet peeve, which I’ve seen here, is “the wife.” I have theories about why it bothers me, but better not to go there.

I get more bothered by bad grammar than abbreviations. That’s what makes horse races.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
User avatar
Scott S
Posts: 1937
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:28 am
Location: building my position

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by Scott S »

lessismore22 wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:19 pm
Normchad wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:59 pm Do we have equally strong feelings for other abbreviations used commonly here, but less common in other places? TLH? SWR? SS? RSU? CC? PTC? AGI? XIRR? IRMA? NITT? Etc.

These are all used in other places, but they aren’t that common; most of my aquaintenamces wouldn’t know any of them. They would throw a lot of people. But I can say the same for DH, DD, etc as those are all over places like collegecinfidential as well.....
IANAL seems to be one that nobody would miss if it went away.
Maybe it should be replaced by "IANAC". ;)

Image
"Old value investors never die, they just get their fix from rebalancing." -- vineviz
qwertyjazz
Posts: 2000
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2016 3:24 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by qwertyjazz »

It is really quite simple - we all should move away from looking at the Dow or DW as listed here - SP 500 is simply more useful (probably should spell out the word five hundred for completeness)
Boomers - you know

Because DW as dear wife is clearly for younger people given current thread talking about wife graduating from school

:oops:
G.E. Box "All models are wrong, but some are useful."
littlebird
Posts: 1868
Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:05 pm
Location: Valley of the Sun, AZ

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by littlebird »

I usually say “spouse”.
DesertDiva
Posts: 1555
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2018 11:49 am
Location: In the desert

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by DesertDiva »

TomatoTomahto wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:49 pm My personal pet peeve, which I’ve seen here, is “the wife.” I have theories about why it bothers me, but better not to go there.
Same here... and I never hear women referring to “the husband”! :?
tim1999
Posts: 4205
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:16 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by tim1999 »

ZinCO wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:40 pm

I STILL go to diehards.org to end up here...
So do I. I never visited the Morningstar forum, but I think diehards.org was the common way to visit this forum back in the 2000s when I found it.
bloom2708
Posts: 9859
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:08 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by bloom2708 »

I am amazed what can offend people. :D Virtually everything. Which is part of the problem today. So many are perpetually offended.

I wouldn't think twice about "Dear Wife" or "Dear Husband". Even if I wouldn't say it. :?

One friend will not use his spouse's name or "wife" or "spouse". He says "her" or "she" when referring to his wife. Which "her"?

Maybe "schmoopie" would be better? I'm sure Joe Schmoop would be offended.
User avatar
winterfan
Posts: 826
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 10:06 am

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by winterfan »

I'm not a boomer, but I say DH. I didn't know it was so hated! It's just easier than typing out "my husband." I hate "hubby" or "hubs" though. Just using H seems weird.
megabad
Posts: 3638
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:00 pm

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Post by megabad »

Totally agree. We should forget about DW and DH and stick with VTI, VTSAX, BND, FZROX, HSAs, SS, FICA, and the other super clear non obscure stuff.
Locked