Fannish vocabulary

[selenak]

After finishing the third season of Deadwood (excellent, except for the finale, which has all the symptoms of "show axed by network without being told in time") and starting with Blackpool (just watched the pilot, and any show which has David Morissey and David Tennant engaging in a literal dance while singing These boots are made for walking when their characters are suspect and detective is clearly a must!), it occured to me how fandom enriches one's vocabulary but can also cause misunderstandings for people not sharing one's fandom. So, some favourite examples for today's linguist from various fandoms:

To joss: as in "my story is going to be jossed next week". Refers to new canon of an ongoing show/book series/movie series rendering fanfic based on previous canon AU in various degrees. Attempts to use names of people other than Joss Whedon for this activity (as in Abrams'd, Kringe'd, Kripke'd and what not) haven't quite caught on. Now theoretically this activity could have been called "Lucas'd" or "paramounted", as new additions to Star Wars and Star Trek canon causing shock/wailing/delight on the fanfic front definitely predate Mr. Whedon producing addictive tv shows, but what can I say? His name is magic, clearly.

Handporn: refers to completely respectable handholding between two people while running. One of them is usually a body-switching centuries old alien. Now it could be pointed out that holding hands while running is actually making the running less effective, but who'd want to? It's fun. It's also the Dr Who depiction of physical intimacy. Not coincidentally, the spin-off Torchwood has on screen sex but no handporn; also not coincidentally, Torchwood is (so far) way less fun.

(Being) Italian: a very handy term for two very different viewpoints on fictional sibling relationships, as it can be used either in sentences like "they're just Italian, damm it!" or like "hmmm, they're definitely Italian." Also a useful term to describe actors of fictional siblings doing photo shootings and giving each other fashion advice.

ETA: Katana Space: it's a kind of magic, to say it with Queen. Refers to the mysterious place the Immortals of the tv show Highlander hide their swords if they are NOT wearing those handy coats. Buffy, Faith and other Slayers must know the secret, as they obviously hide their stakes in the same spot. They probably learned it from Captain Jack Harkness.

Anyone else has any favourite fandom-coined words?

Comments

[bimo.livejournal.com]

Anyone else has any favourite fandom-coined words?

Yup. "Scruffington" (often abbreviated as "Scruffy") and "Admiral IKEA" as perfectly legitimate terms to describe the specific qualities of a certain Commodore's varying states throughout all three PotC movies.

Didn't know "(Being) Italian", btw. and am now off again to watching "Highlander". It's so much fun to indulge in all those episodes I had previously ignored :-)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*makes note of "Scruffington" and "Admiral IKEA".

Speaking of HL: how could I forget: KATANA SPACE!

[bimo.livejournal.com]

how could I forget: KATANA SPACE!

Or KIMMIE! *g*

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

...I was rewatching the s7 opener of BtVS, with the commentary track wherein Joss commented on the absence of pockets for a cell phone in Buffy's skin-tight pants.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

There's lots of fanspeak, indeed. Starting from "non-con" for everything from dubious consent to rape, over "flame" and "fluff" to "Mary-Sue" and "shipping." I'd try my hand at fun explanations if I didn't have to study so badly.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, "slash" is the oldest fannish term, after "Mary Sue", but these are already too universal; I've been wondering more about favourite expressions that came up more recently, in the last decade or so. And fun explanations are, well, fun.*g*

[svilleficrecs.livejournal.com]

May I add that "handporn" is also sometimes used in reference to Austen-type moments of momentary, UST laden hand contact between the principals in question, and occasionally in reference to film or video in which the hands of the actor (usually actor) are fetishized or displayed prominently. At least I have used and heard it used that way.

[cadesama.livejournal.com]

I've definitively seen that. I personally coined boatporn to describe the Master and Commander movie to my family, since it was full of explicit and endless shots of how sailing a ship actually works. I think whatever-porn is a pretty common usage in fandom.

[gelliaclodiana]

Actually, people in SPN use "Kripke'd" to refer to new canon of the show doing exactly what one is writing or has written -- so "My story was just Kripke'd" means that Kripke just used exactly the same plot twist/character moment I did.

But that's the kind of show SPN is.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

So noted; see, that's another case of linguistic misunderstanding between fans if one isn't up to speed with the terminology.*g*

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Mary Sue!

Though this one is annoying, when it gets misused to refer to any female character who is extremely competent at what she does (especially in cases where, if such heroine were male, she'd simply be called a "hero" or a "man".

But the whole Mary Sue/Gary Stu concept (if properly applied, and you sort of know it when you see it) can be a useful one in figuring out why certain characters or character types just don't connect with an audience.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I'm also fond of "bromance," though I'm not sure that really comes from fandom.

[penknife.livejournal.com]

Well, there's the Revolving Door of Death from comics fandom, describing a setting in which characters can be counted on to regularly return the dead having barely had time to get some rest and work on their tans in the afterlife. Also "has a season ticket," to describe a character who will always return from the dead sooner or later.

[penknife.livejournal.com]

... return from the dead, that is. Although some of them seem to return to the dead with the same depressing regularity.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

"Has a season ticket" is great. *adds to vocabulary*

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

(Being) Italian: a very handy term for two very different viewpoints on fictional sibling relationships, as it can be used either in sentences like "they're just Italian, damm it!" or like "hmmm, they're definitely Italian." Also a useful term to describe actors of fictional siblings doing photo shootings and giving each other fashion advice.

I *heart* Dennis Hammer, forever and ever, for giving us this bit of fannish vocabulary. Heh.

Anyone else has any favourite fandom-coined words?

Hmm. Does "Eyesex" count? XD

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I think so (heard it the first time from people in Smallville fandom some years back), but that one is obvious enough that mundanes will get it, so it's not really fannish secret lingo.*g*

[cadesama.livejournal.com]

I've always been very fond of the anime variant on Katana Space, which is Hammer Space or Mallet Space, since so many female characters can pull mallets out of nowhere. I love the adjective/noun!character name denotation. Especially because I can actually hear it in other fans' voices when I'm talking to them IRL. Oh, and the fannish definition of crack. Versatile, yet endlessly confusing to outsiders.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Crack: yes indeed. I've just started a show and have described it to a non-fan as crack, only to be asked whether I don't like it, and she was confused that I meant the opposite.*g*

[par-avion.livejournal.com]

Kripked means something different than jossed. When your fic gets jossed, it's because the show went and did something inconsistent with the fic. When your fic gets Kripked, the show went ahead and did the exact thing that you were going to put in your fic. (Er, as far as I know).

I'm fond of gafiate (getting away from it all) as a fandom word.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Kripked: vaznetti explained it to me above, and 'tis indeed fascinating.

Gafiate: priceless.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I've just finished a Highlander crossover in which for various reasons the main immortal character decides that there's too much risk of detection if a sword is carried, and resorts to weapon caches instead. It makes for some interesting complications.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I bet. Which fandom was the crossover with?

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

I had to laugh about the Katana Space term, especially as Highlander was my show prior to BtVS.

In S4 AtS, as the shaman was removing Angel's soul and he had to fantasize "perfect happiness" which included obtaining the sword to kill the Beast, when Cordy said it was in a dimensional hub, accessible from hundreds of different points, my daughter and I looked at each other and she said "Oh, so that's where Duncan keeps his sword when he's out jogging in a T-shirt! They keep the swords in a dimensional hub." Hee!

An additional term I've used/heard quite a bit is gangs on PCP to mean an implausible explanation for a deus ex machina or plot point.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Dimensional hub: that figures.*g* Ah, Highlander. *has moment of very fond nostalgia*

Gangs on PCP is new to me. Interesting!

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

During the first three seasons of BtVS, everytime something weird happened, like Spike and his minions invading Parent/Teacher night, or werewolves ripping people to shreds, or swim team members turning into creatures from the Black Lagoon, Snyder and the Mayor blamed it on "Gangs on PCP!" and the Sunnydale citizens apparently bought it. *g* Looks like there was a bigger river of De Nile running through Sunnydale than through Egypt. *snerk*

[anenko.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's still in use, but in OZ fandom, HML used to refer to "hot monkey (alt: manly) love."

Do people still use 'uc (as in unconvential 'ships)?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

UC: I remember it from seven or so years ago when I first went online, but haven't heard/read it for a long while - maybe because by now, most 'ships are?

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Well, there would be the - presumably TWOP born? - "Hoyay" and all the variations thereof: "Inyay" (for Carnivale and Arrested Development), "Lesyay" (less often used than hoyay, though) and of course the newest incarnation, "broyay" (speaks for itself I think).

In Heroes, I find it hilarious that not only is Adrian Pasdar often called The Pasdar (while Milo is Milo, and Hayden is Hayden, and even Jack is Jack), but his facial hair became The Beard.

Oh, and I love the impression *headTARDIS*.

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

How could I have forgotten HoYay? Bad TWoP-er!

Well, there would be the - presumably TWOP born? - "Hoyay" and all the variations thereof: "Inyay" (for Carnivale and Arrested Development), "Lesyay" (less often used than hoyay, though) and of course the newest incarnation, "broyay" (speaks for itself I think).

Heroes has also given us: MeYay, because of time-traveling characters, and FoeYay, usually used for Peter/Sylar because of the whole light/dark opposition. :D

Milo is Milo to us fans, but The Pasdar calls him "Mi." *flails*

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

and FoeYay, usually used for Peter/Sylar because of the whole light/dark opposition. :D

I've met FoeYay under different circumstances, which will probably be more to selenak's liking: Doctor/Master! :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You know me well! *adopts FoeYay for Doctor/Master*

[cadesama.livejournal.com]

Greg Grunberg is also The Grunberg. I personally prefer Pasbeard over merely The Beard, though.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

I personally prefer Pasbeard over merely The Beard, though.

That one's good, too!

And, unrelated, although it's old, I always had a fondness for the term "technobabble."

[cadesama.livejournal.com]

And applied phlebotonum! That one is great too.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

And Heroes-related of course: Clairebear! (Although that was admittedly stolen from the show)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The Pasdar: this additionally cracks me up because in colloquial German, we of course insert a "der" in front of a name all the time.

I'm with cadesama on The Beard versus Pasbeard, though.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I like "curtainfic" (incidentless, sentimentally domestic fanfic about two characters buying home furnishings or something). Usually slash but have seen it ironically applied to het pairings where neither character is particularly domestic in canon.

Also "fanwank" in the Doctor Who fandom sense (which predates and is different to "wank" in the feud sense) referring to entirely gratuitous and obscure continuity references or incredibly complicated explanations for minor continuity inconsistencies between stories.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

"Curtainfic" is new to me and shall be adopted at once. And speaking of DW, I wouldn't be this shameless with anyone else, but you're the biggest Whoverse expert and you like DS9 - have you read my Multiverse story yet?

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I haven't had time to read it in depth yet. I liked it from my initial quick reading, but will tell you more later.

[sarkastic.livejournal.com]

In Oz fandom, "we sing in the choir together" is prison slang for guys who've had sex together. So, of course, it can be used to refer to any two men (from any fandom) who one believes are secretly sexing each other.