Ship
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The term "ship" stems from "relationship," a pairing of two (or more) characters. The act of following a ship is called 'shipping, and those who ship are 'shippers.
Use of the term "ship" in this context is generally limited to describing fans who devote themselves to a particular ship (one's OTP) and discuss it on the internet. Shipping and slash are commonly associated phenomenons in fandom, but a ship may be gay, straight, or involve squids if necessary. Ships typically involve fictional characters but can refer to real people, especially real people famous for portraying characters popular among shippers.
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[edit] History of Shipping
"'Shipping" first originated in X-Files fandom with fans of the Mulder/Scully pairing, who wrote what were called MSRs, or Mulder/Scully Relationship fics. The MSR writers became known as Relationshippers, which was quickly shortened to 'shippers. These were in opposition to those who preferred No Romance, which was shortened to noromos. These preferences were, naturally, the subject of many bitter fan wars. At one point it was understood, generally in X-Files and Star Trek fanfic circles, that a 'shipper was a fan of the main het pairing of a show (Mulder/Scully, Picard/Dr. Crusher, Janeway/Chakotay), so the term was considered to be the opposite of slasher. Eventually it became more a more generalized term.
[edit] Ship Names
Shippers discuss their ships a lot and need handy ways to refer to them. For example, the ship of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Major Samantha Carter on Stargate SG-1 could be described as "Sam/Jack" or "S/J," assuming the names or initials don't need to be distinguished from some other ship in the same fandom. In the Harry Potter fandom, Harry is "H" and Hermione is "Hr" for clarity's sake, resulting in ships that look like they should come with atomic weights and valences.
When possible a ship is described using a portmanteau of the characters' names: e.g. Buffy + Spike = Spuffy, Clark Kent + Lex Luthor = Clex, and Dominic Monaghan + Elijah Wood = Domlijah. Be warned, however, that non-ironic use of such in F_W territory will most likely result in you being declared a chronic smoker of crack.
[edit] Harry Potter Fandom
Harry Potter fandom has elevated the task of naming ships to an art form, naming ships after phrases which are considered significant to the ship either in canon or fanon. Recognizing the obvious double meaning of "ship," Potter shippers have taken to referring to their preferred relationship as a seafaring vessel and its shippers as the crew, e.g. Harry/Hermione becomes the HMS Harmony or the HMS Pumpkin Pie. See Harry Potter Pairing Names for more details.
Extending the metaphor, when the sixth Harry Potter book invalidated Harry/Hermione as a canon pairing, the "ship" was said to be "sunk," and many fans proudly declared they would "go down with their ship." (Around the same time, the fanon-and-proud-of-it ship of Harry/Draco was affectionately called a "submarine."[1])
[edit] Shipping Wars
Some (but not all) shippers take their OTP very seriously, to the point of being offended at the suggestion that any other ship is superior or a better fit with canon. This often results in "shipping wars" which invariably result in wank. The classic example of this occurred when JK Rowling had a chuckle at fans who believed she would make Harry/Hermione canon. This of course proved to be the greatest crime against humanity since the Civil War.
[edit] See Also
- Shipwar - A satirical community for poking fun at the complexities and stupidities of rabid shippers. Sockpuppets encouraged.
