HoYay!

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 10:23:38 -0500, Martha Barnette <martha at FUNWORDS.COM>
wrote:

>Newsweek reports this expression from the blogosphere denoting "awkward
>glances or sexually ambiguous dialogue between guys" (short for
>"Homoeroticism Yay!"), usually exclaimed while watching TV programs
>featuring romantic tension between male characters.
>
>http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6827282/site/newsweek/

Well, it's a bit inaccurate for Newsweek to say the term is from "the
blogosphere", since it originated in the fan forums for the TV show
"Angel" on the website Mighty Big TV (now called Television Without Pity).
 (Or perhaps "blogosphere" is now being extended beyond blogs to any
online chatter?)

Sadly, MBTV/TWoP regularly prunes the forum archives, so the original use
of "HoYay!" may be lost in the mists of cyberspace.  The earliest
salvageable cites appear to be from Spring 2001.  Tim McDaniel did some
sleuthing:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.tv.angel/msg/e859caac95f5c5b3

More MBTV/TWoP terminology listed here:

http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/faq.cgi?show=0&q=1766

Some of their other terms have become popular on the Net, e.g.:

----
Anvil/anvilicious: Used to indicate obvious or heavy-handed writing that
has no regard for the viewer's intelligence, thus bludgeoning them over
the head with parallels et al. in the manner of Wile E. Coyote and his
Acme Brand anvils
----


--Ben Zimmer