[Ads-l] Antedates for "Team X"? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Laurence Horn]

> On Nov 20, 2019, at 2:49 PM, Jeff Prucher <000000b93183dc86-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> wrote:
> 
> I had forgotten about TWOP! I made this comment on the LL post, but it seems relevant here, too -- in the West Wing episode "Debate Camp" (season four, episode four, first aired Oct. 16, 2002), several characters form "Team Toby" to attempt to help the character Toby Ziegler reunite with his ex. Note here that there is no rivalry here, unlike the Team Edward/Jacob pattern.
> IIRC, Aaron Sorkin had an uneasy relationship with his online fanbase, which showed up in an earlier 2002 episode ("The U.S. Poet Laureat"). So it wouldn't surprise me if there was cross-pollination between the TWOP forums and WW usage.
> (Side note: the thing being dropped from (')shippers is "relation-“.)

(Side response: of course, you’re right.  Don’t know what I was thinking—except that the first time I encountered the truncated “shipper”/“shipping” I assumed it was indeed < “worshipper” before I realized that didn’t fit the context.  (Or at least not all the contexts in which it was used.

In today’s NYT, an article about kids’ and “Frozen” sequel, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/movies/frozen-let-it-go-families.html, contains this excerpt from one of the interviews

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Boston Vigil, 10, and his mother, Heather Holladay, of Birmingham, Mich.

Heather Holladay: When he met Elsa at Disney World, it was like he had seen Elvis. He didn’t know what to do with himself, twisting around like a teenage girl, like “oh my God, oh my God.”

Boston: I’m Team Elsa, because she has powers. I like how she can make ice rise from the floor.
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Notice that this predicate nominal usage is restricted to fandom/shippers: the captain of the ’80 Miracle on Ice team could be described as in (a) but not as in (b)

(a) Mike Eruzione {was on/was with/played for} Team USA.
(b) Mike Eruzione was Team USA.

—unless you’re claimed he *was* the team.  

LH

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