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What is the meaning of STBW? Reddit user asking ‘AITA’ opts for acronym
We explore the meaning of STBW as the acronym trends on Reddit this fall.
If you’ve been on Reddit, it is likely you will have come across a subreddit titled AITA. In this forum, users post their real life dilemmas and seek judgement from other users.
On November 23, 2022, an AITA post caused quite a stir when the user asked: “AITA for asking my son and his STBW to pay to spend their honeymoon in my winter cabin?” As of publication date, there has been over 5,000 comments from Reddit users debating on the issue raised.
So, what’s a ‘STBW’? Let’s take a look at the acronym’s meaning and learn more about the Reddit thread’s history.
Reddit user asks ‘AITA’ over son and STBW dilemma
On November 23, 2022, a Reddit user asked the AITA thread their opinion on a family dilemma.
“My late wife and I invested in a small winter cabin years ago. I’m the owner now after her passing,” the original post reads. “My son (22) is getting married to his STBW in a month. They have no money for a destination honeymoon, they were barely able to plan the wedding. He asked if they could spend their honeymoon in my winter cabin and I agreed but under the condition that they pay me.”
The Reddit user then reveals that the son “got upset and accused me of being materialistic and selfish,” but the user said: “I did the same thing with his aunt and it wasn’t personal.”
The general consensus among Reddit users is that the original post creator was the one in the wrong. In response, they wrote to AITA thread followers: “I think that I may be the [a**hole] for asking them to pay for their stay at the cabin and making their already hard financial situation more difficult.”
The meaning of STBW explained
If you were stuck on the meaning of STBW, it is an acronym for “soon-to-be wife.”
In the recent AITA post, the Reddit user talks about his son’s upcoming nuptials with his STBW. Rather than explaining that she is his future daughter in law, the Reddit user opts for this handy acronym
It has also been defined as an acronym for “soon to be with,” although that is not its use in this instance.
AITA has been running on Reddit for nine years
AITA is a subreddit, thread created by Marc Beaulac, where users can put forth their real life problems for other users to offer judgement. The subreddit’s title is an acronym for “Am I The A**hole.” You can find the subreddit here.
The first post was made on June 8, 2013. Over the past nine years, users have been sharing dilemmas from problems with romantic partners to work struggles. AITA was founded by Marc Beaulac, to determine if he had been mansplaining in a debate with female coworkers about their office culture.
Reddit users give one of four verdicts in each AITA case: YTA (you’re the a**hole), NTA (not the a**hole), NAH (no a**holes here), or ESH (everyone sucks here).
This is not the first shocking AITA story we’ve seen on Reddit
Honesty is the best policy when it comes to the AITA subreddit. When users offer up their real life problems for judgement from the wider Reddit community, they do so in good faith that everyone’s honest opinion will help resolve their dilemmas and grow as a result.
Eleanor Gordon-Smith, an ethicist at Princeton University, shared with The Guardian her thoughts on AITA: Theres something almost thrilling about peeking behind the curtain into other peoples lives, hearing their weird thoughts what they think deep down of their partners, children, friends.
Given this level of honesty about one’s actions, you can come across quite the shocking stories on Reddit’s AITA. From a woman requesting to be called “grandma” during intimate moments with her partner to parents giving away one child’s college fund to their elder sibling, we’ve seen all kinds of intense family drama unfold on AITA.
