Fannish Vocabulary

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

An informal poll:

What are the most common fannish/geek vocabulary words? The stuff that we sort of expect *everyone* to know, even if they haven't seen the movie, don't work in programming, etc. I'm not interested in whole phrases or references, like "I am not left handed!" or "All your base are belong to us," but rather individual words or concepts, such as "fnord" or "soylent green," or words used in special ways, such as "slash."



anime
ansible
con
cthulhu
cylon
fanboy/girl
fannish
fen
fic
filk
fnord
the Force
frack
FTL
furries
gagh
Klingon
LARP
manga
MMORPG
rennies
RPG
slash
soylent green
squee
steampunk
tribble


Edit: I forgot to say that this is for a class assignment in intercultural communication. :)
x-posted in numerous communities

Comments

[marrus.livejournal.com]

meh, mundane, 'dane, roflcopter, ceiling & basement cats, noodly appendange...

Wow, we're an odd bunch, neh?

*giglge*

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like those!!

[fnordx.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmmm?

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

Is that a suggestion? Or a question?

[radegund-lj.livejournal.com]

redshirt

I think a lot of people are still discovering steampunk -- I am not sure I'd expect everyone to know it.

lack of sleep makes things mix strangely..

[greywolfe.livejournal.com]

I hope those were independent thoughts - (dont' tell me you think SP is where "redshirts" came from) ;)

[weswilson]

There are a few very insular terms here... I'm not sure all of them are common vernacular.

[bergeronprocess.livejournal.com]

lol/lawl, for the win, lolcat...
I don't know what an ansible is. Can someone enlighten me please?

[marrus.livejournal.com]

I think it was a device in the Ender series for space travel...

[vikingprincess]

cyberpunk
D&D
AI

[jellibean.livejournal.com]

Fandom (I know that sounds lame, but I don't know how many times I've had to explain what 'fandom' means)
Norm/Normie
Frak
Ship (see explanation for fandom...)
FTW (You had FTL, but not FTW, unless you were using FTL as "Faster Than Light" from BSG...)
PWN

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

I was including FTL as "faster than light," which usage goes back at least as far as Anne McCaffrey's "The Ship Who..." series. What's ftw?

[twinklebat.livejournal.com]

I don't know even know some of those. But some more possibilities might include:
yaoi, yuri, cosplay, crossplay, otaku, moe, shota, shoujo, kawaii, DM or GM, trade(referring to a TPB), trap(as in a convincing crossdresser often of the cosplayer variety), Caturday, meme, lurk, 42(as in the answer), zing, yoink, mech/mecha, kryptonite and some more vulgar ones like hentai, twincest, and fap.

[ninepointfivemm.livejournal.com]

I don't know a lot of those anime/manga terms. At all.

[lomer.livejournal.com]

Okay so I consider myself pretty well versed in Dork but I don't recognize ansible or fnord. And "frack" is spelled Frak.

I'd also include "Fail" or "Made of Fail" in this list.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

fnord is the secret word the Illuminati cause to be put in the beginning of news stories to sow fear.

Our eyes don't see it. But our fear ratchets up a bit.

[wicked0witch.livejournal.com]

Snug is the first one that came to mind... I'll keep thinking.


I also think the specific names of groups are expected to be known.. Like trekkies, Browncoats, etc.

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

Huh, I don't know a special use for "snug."

[mcamason.livejournal.com]

Frell

'ship, 'shippers, 'shipping (as mentioned briefly above by jellibean)

Padiwan (for "Apprentice")

muggle

TARDIS

Death Star

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

steampunk
cyberpunk
munchkin
rules lawyer
saving throw
+1 item (see icon)
IDIC
vid
fanfilm (and the difference between these two)
mary sue
crossover
crackfic
AU
jossed
plotbunnies
vamped
staked
dusted
shiny
zine
epic
ding
42
pro
Jedi
Sith
stormtrooper
parallel universe
grandfather paradox

[dramatikpanther.livejournal.com]

Finally, someone else posted 'shiny'!
It was pretty much the only one my brain could think of at the moment.

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

wank (i.e. fandomwank), LJ (the abbreviation -- caught this one this morning talking to one of my friends in class) or other site names you'd expect other geeks to know, fail, toaster (bsg bias)...

all other ones I can think of right now have already been mentioned (emphasis on fic, slash, LARP, furries, con, etc.)

[ninepointfivemm.livejournal.com]

I still don't get this toaster phenomenon.

[truexena.livejournal.com]

WWJWD? (what would joss whedon do?)

[drhaggis.livejournal.com]

grok

Here is a link to a vintage list, dating back to the old print 'zine days.
http://www.uleth.ca/edu/runte/ncfguide/fangloss.htm

[eidolon-bird.livejournal.com]

Oh THANK YOU for saying this.  I was making my way down the list wondering why no one had mentioned it yet.

[veracity]

femmeslash or femslash, since I've seen it both ways in numerous fandoms.

-fen, not to be confused with fen, as in plural fans. -fen is more like Dracofen, Snapefen, Rodneyfen...derogatoryish.

Oh, and I forgot "wives on the astral plane," but that might be limited.

[jellibean.livejournal.com]

Aaah Snapewives! I thought of Snapewives but didn't know how common/well-known they were...

[eldanildiel.livejournal.com]

OTP
AMV
Joss-verse/Whedon-verse


There are so many and my mind has just gone blank!

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

'verse in general would qualify, I think.

[greywolfe.livejournal.com]

Con Time
Handler
DHD
Consuite
SEP (Douglas Adams version)
Door Nazi
Room Party (or it's oposite - Quiet Floor)
Drone/Borg
Crash Space
SMOF
redpill/bluepill

And many more that are more con-worker specific and less fan specific (unless fan in in the right inner circles of the SMOF, etc)

And for fun -
Gnomed

[laughingimp.livejournal.com]

I was gonna say SMOF. *thumbs up*

[rhino-rex.livejournal.com]

after talking with my aunt and uncle i don't expect anyone outside of fandom to grok anything i frakin' say.
fandom, grok and frakin' don't get underlined on my PC either.
about one third of the terms here i don't understand. and what is it about not being left handed?

[xenaclone.livejournal.com]

Browncoat
dong ma?
geek
nerd
cosplay
Weebl
jedi chefs
peace bonded

[kagetenshi.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda surprised no one's said "terribad" yet. Or maybe it hasn't caught on as well as other terms have, yet.

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

Some of these may be more blogging/LJ things than "fandom" things, but:

WIP
troll
eleventy 3<1111! (or some version thereof)
ETA (used when editing a livejournal post)
noob
eljay/LJ
zine
*g* *eg* *vbg* *vbeg*
w00t!
pROn
piccies/photo ops
made of win/awesome
Tweets (on Twitter)
FB (Facebook)
suckage
meep
woah
fanart
eat(ing/ate) my brain
ficathon
brushes (icons/avatars/userpics)
Banners/Walls (wallpapers)
vidder
bwahahaha
cliche!fic
pimping/pimpage
spamming
con
beta/beta'd
spoilers
drabble
picspam
meta
RPF (real people fic)
confuzzle
meme
GIP (gratuitous icon pimpage)
BORG
pairings/ship
webcast/webisodes
fangirl
There's one about the best fan
Teh
flist/flock
PWP
TPTB
Apocafic
SPN (Supernatural fandom)
canon/fanon
TWITs-"They were in THAT?" (Stargate Fandom Track Panel at D*C)
manips
AU (Alternate Universe or reality)
Srsly
Caps/Screencaps - screen captures
MST3000
snagged/snurched/gacked

[kylekatern.livejournal.com]

Gripping hand

[meowwl.livejournal.com]

Can't believe that nobody mentioned these yet..
Sass
Hoopy
Frood
Towel! (as in the most important bit of travel kit in the universe!)
Vogon
Warp drive
Hyperdrive
subspace/hyperspace
Wormhole
Waldo and Waldoes
Pern
Weyr
Thread, both the pernese version and the LJ/BBS/online forum method of keeping track of discussions.
Lightsaber
X-wing
Transporter
Staff weapon
Zat (when in noun form zat-ni-katel, as a verb to shoot with a zat-ni-katel.)
Hobbit
Mordor
Gollum
precious!
Known space
Concom
Badge (it's not a ticket, it's a badge!)
Fanac
retcon
T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L. (Technically an abbreviation for There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch! but pronounced outloud)
F.I.A.W.O.L (Ditto aboveFandom Is A Way Of Life.)
F.I.J.A.G.H. (Ditto above, but for Fandome Is Just a Goddamned Hobby)
Fen
Mycroft
Fugghead
trufan
Grok
Gafiate
Ghu
Tuckerized
Tuckerization
"Smooooooth!"
Relaxacon
Dren
Ganked
!trait/descriptive term Characternamehere.

And unique to Dragoncon so far, Conarazzi for the hordes of photographers taking pics of the various cosplayers, specifically those who migrate to one of the photography halls set up for the purpose.

[onthewind.livejournal.com]

Zark/zarking (from HHGTTG, "what in the name of zarking fardwarks")
Zoot (as in zoot suit)- usually used at the end of a long, long run-on sentence ("and that ain't alllll...zoot!")
Smeghead
Smegger
Schwing!
Force Choke
made of fail
stellar
Brilliant!

[myz-lilith.livejournal.com]

Smeg

(From Red Dwarf - widely used in UK geekish circles, not sure how well known it is in the US)

[dramatikpanther.livejournal.com]

My friends and I would say 'smeg' all the time in high school since we would get written up if we used slightly more common expletives. ;)

[salchli.livejournal.com]

How could you forget "Con Crud?"

[einaphets.livejournal.com]

No joke! lol