[Ads-l] ship, v. (2000-01)

[Ben Zimmer]

On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 10:36 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> OED3 has a first cite of 2005 for the verb "ship" = 'To discuss, portray,
> or advocate a romantic pairing of (two characters who appear in a work of
> (serial) fiction), esp. when such a pairing is not depicted in the original
> work.' A Merriam-Webster "Words We're Watching" post also dates it to 2005:
>
> http://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/ship-words-were-watching
>

[snip]

This one is more clearly transitive:
>
> -----
> Lia, Harry Potter fanfiction (Yahoo Group), Oct. 4, 2001
> I ship Hermione with almost anyone.
> https://beta.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ParadigmOfUncertainty/
> conversations/messages/12241
> -----
>

Slightly earlier:

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wingless pegasus, Fiction Alley SCUSA Archive (forum), Sept. 12, 2001
I personally don't ship either couple, and if you asked me, I'd say
Draco/Harry (yes I like slash).
http://forums.fictionalley.org/park/showthread.php?s=1f85b2471a8788d6f58889d1ef3483cd&threadid=1785

-----

--bgz

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