Of "Squee" and "Guh"

[gnomi]

or, More Mental Meanderings related to process

(top-of-the-head, pre-caffeinated mental wanderings ahead; you have been warned)

While the above subject line might lead one to think I was pondering the concept of feedback, in fact I am not. Though that might be a topic for another time (gnomi files under "to ponder later"). Today I am wondering about vocabulary and the words/phrases that:

(a) have been created by fandom for fandom (and I'm talking not just about online or fanfic fandoms here. "Fanac," "SMOF," and "Fanzine" apply under these criteria)

and/or

(b) are used cross-fandom (see the subject line for two such examples)

I'd love to hear examples. I'm a sucker for neologisms.

Comments

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

it's not a WORD so much, but i've seen in discussions of HP stuff the adjective!proper noun construction (angsty!Harry)

and while we're on the subject of words, where did "squick" come from? i use it, and i've seen it in print, and apparently friends of mine from CSW were using it ten-ish years ago, but... yeah.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Description!Character started, I believe, in X-Files fandom on the alt.tv.xfiles newsgroup on Usenet. You had various Mulders and Scullys running around. It's a computer language formation, but it's since migrated to most fandoms as a sort of shortcut.

I first heard "squick" from friends of mine in the BDSM community (also back in the days when Usenet ruled the bandwidth) - a sexual activity that turns you off just to hear about it, possibly to the point of nausea. It was a natural to migrate to the more sexually explicit fanfiction genres.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Well, there's always the classic adopted-typo "filk." Online fanfic fandom appears to be adopting other typos, like "teh" for "the" and the self-parodying "!!!1!!1!"

I thought "squick" originated with alt.sex.bondage. I know that the official definition purports to involve an eye socket and a sound effect.

And -- CSW as in Cambridge School of Weston? Class of '87, here.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

> And -- CSW as in Cambridge School of Weston? Class of '87, here

yes. class of '97.

gnomi's husband mabfan was my physics teacher my senior year.

yeah, the typo thing i've seen a lot of.

[cellio]

I thought "squick" originated with alt.sex.bondage.

This is the earliest sighting I know about for the term.

[arib.livejournal.com]

From what I've heard, "squick" is the sound your brain makes as it escapes out one of your ears.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

A.s.b is certainly where I learned it.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Not sure what the origin of "squick" is, but it's very well entrenched at this point. I know a number of people who wouldn't know fanfic if it came up and did a little dance for them but who know what "squick" is.

As for adjective!proper noun construct, I first remember seeing it in Star Trek fandoms. My recollection is that it's from how field guides classify different species of bird, for example. So the angsty!Spock is related to but different from the angry!Spock, etc. And it became very popular in a number of fandoms.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... gafiate, fiowol? Or are those mere acronyms?

I'm told there's a separate fannish definition of "glurge", minus its usual negative connotations. "beta reader" and "Mary Sue" seem to have originated in fanfic fandom and migrated outwards. Also "wank" seems to have a separate fannish definition, or at least a definition gaining wide currency in fandom which I'd not previously encountered.

[zsero.livejournal.com]

Also "wank" seems to have a separate fannish definition, or at least a definition gaining wide currency in fandom which I'd not previously encountered.

Really? Do tell. What does it mean, in this new fannish context?

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

To tell you the truth I'm not sure I can define it. The first I encountered it was in the now-defunct LJ community fandom_wank, which has since moved to journalfen. The mission of these being to "point and laugh"
at fannish wank, (presumably but not, as far as I know, explicitly, derived from the meaning I already knew because such behavior is being likened to verbal masturbation.)

The meaning seemed to be roughly something like this:

To discuss something fannish in such a way as to either be or provoke a kerfuffle. (Kerfuffle in turn being defined as essentially a sometimes milder and more polite, or at least more passive-aggressive, version of the flame war as practiced by mostly-female online media fandom.)

To use it in a sentence: I'm interested in talking about the role of constructive critique in fanfiction, but by the time I saw the post the comments were already getting wanky, so I just backed away slowly.

Or: all [imaginary LJ user] does is make fun of the grudge match between [imaginary thing 1] and [imaginary thing 2]. I like bringing the wank as much as the next girl, but doesn't she ever get tired of shooting fish in a barrel?

See also, wanking, wankery, wanktastic, wankeriffic, etc.

Or possibly this is a totally usual definition, and I just live under a rock. :)

Mer

[tiptoe39.livejournal.com]

The fanfic staples:
PWP (porn without plot)
WAFF (warm and fuzzy feelings)(and its adjectival corrolary, WAFFy, as in "this fic is kinda WAFFy")
AU (alternate universe)
songfic
self-insertion (before fanfic, that just sounded... painful)
___verse (as in the Slayersverse, the Buffyverse...)
Sekkushuaru Roman (used by wannabe erotica writers to deny they were writing PWP, but I've never actually heard a Japanese native use it)
and the good ol'fashioned "slash"?

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I accidentally used "squick" and "beta" around my boss... and what was the other one? Aaargh, of course I can't remember, with you asking. At any rate, she said, essentially, "What about those of us who don't speak internet?" Oops.

Ones I've gotten used to:
Plot bunny (sometimes spelled as one word)
Shipping (as in not related to cargo)
Fanon
OTP
BNF
The immortal Mary Sue, of course, used as a noun and a verb--"She's a Mary Sue," "These guys will Sue anyone" (from pottersues's Sorting song).
Suethor (recent use originating on Pottersues)