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

Flourish Klink flourish.klink at GMAIL.COM
Thu Aug 18 04:44:32 UTC 2016


Thanks for sharing that, Ben - I was too shy (being new to the list).

I should note that some of the responses have been fabulous - the major
criticism of my explainer among the fan community is that "to slash" is a
perfective thing ("this story slashes Batman and Robin" implying that the
next story might slash Batman and the Joker, who knows) whereas "to ship"
is continuous ("I ship Batman and Robin" = "my mental model of these
characters is that they are in a relationship and that's pretty much how I
operate"). So I will probably write a follow up incorporating those
comments, as I think that the criticizers are right (and have lots of
examples proving that they're right, also).

Flourish

On Thu, Aug 18, 2016 at 12:26 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Medium, Flourish Klink posted a nice explainer on "shipping"
> incorporating some of the recent discussion here and on Twitter:
>
> https://medium.com/fansplaining/to-ship-or-not-to-ship-c7a0572e3782
>
> Merriam-Webster has also appended an addendum to their post acknowledging
> the antedatings for the verb "ship":
>
> http://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/ship-words-were-watching
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 9:42 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Below is an message dated September 28, 1999 from a Star Trek fan
> > fiction newsgroup that contains the phrase "my friend who ships this
> > couple" which I think is evidence of "ship" being used as a transitive
> > verb.
> >
> > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.startrek.creative.
> > erotica.moderated/Tp8EbQLWxGE/jjPS2hIZ330J
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > From: "Ivan Roman" <IAR... at hotmail.com>
> > Subject: Who Lives Happly Ever After 1/? P, K/T (Voy/DS9)
> > Date: 1999/09/27
> > Organization: Better Living Thru TrekSmut
> > X-Server-Date: 28 Sep 1999 00:41:10 GMT
> > Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated
> >
> > . . .
> > Authors note:First I got the idea for this story from "I don't have to
> > wonder"
> > by Timothy Hood  Second let me thank Karah for her beta one
> > day I'll get my Grammar right. Third let me warn you K/T shippers my
> > friend who
> > ships this couple Pissed me off so I stared writing this. Aside
> > from that I welcome any and all feedback and or helpful suggestions.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 4:47 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > 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:
> > >
> > > -----
> > > 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
> > >
> > > -----
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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