5 things I have learned from reading slash fanfic meme (Part 1)
Today I was talking about the Mason-Dixon line with my husband, it came up during our ongoing discussion of the USA presidential elections, and I noted that I actually knew what the Mason-Dixon line is because of a certain NC17 rated Mckay/Sheppard fanfic.
Over the years I have learned a lot of things from reading online porn, you probably have too....so there should be a meme!
I proudly present:
*5 things I have learned from reading slash fanfic* meme
1)The Mason-Dixon line
"And you, you keep smiling your little I Grew Up South Of The Mason-Dixon Line smile! Can we have a little professionalism? Can we have a little focus?" Rodney frowned down at his Styrofoam cup, and held it up again. "Also, can I have a little more coffee?"
From Rageprufrock's "Hindsight". An AU Mckay/Sheppard story where John's an FBI agent and someone wants Rodney dead.
2)The idiom "hoisted with his own petard"
"Care to indulge in a little petard-hoisting?"
From Lanning's Smallville story "The Identical Series". Clex fic is AWESOME if you want to learn new words and expressions. I actually used this expression around some native English speakers and they were suitably impressed.
3)The word "Sartorial"
Summary: Clark wants Lex to explain some of his more eccentric sartorial choices. In detail.
The one fic that immediately springs to mind is "What I do is me -- For that I came" by Te and Jenn
The word isn't actually used in the fic itself, only in the summary of the fic.
Suffice it to say that since I did not know what sartorial meant at the time, the subject of the fic surprised me, greatly...
Sartorial is not in fact a special brand of sarcasm invented by Lex Luthor, it has to do with wardrobe. Who'd have thunk?
4)Schrödinger's cat and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and why they should not be confused with each other.
These two often show up in SGA fic. I have never had any interest in quantum mechanics whatsoever. Hell, I don't even know exactly what quantum mechanics are. I looked these two up anyhow and actually made a serious effort to understand. Not quite sure if I managed.
5)FUBAR, SNAFU, ROTC, 2IC, DADT and various other US military abbreviations and expressions.
From various SGA/SG1 fics. Will I ever need this knowledge in Real Life? Well, you'd be surprised. Some of these abbreviations are actually quite frequently used in movies and on TV and usually don't get translated correctly or at all in subtitles. FUBAR, for instance, has been used in Full Metal Jacket, Saving Private Ryan, Battlestar Gallactica and NCIS. When one of these words are used, I can now be the annoying one who asks "do you know what that means?" and then smugly tell them because the rest of the couch potatoes obviously have no effing clue. :)
Oh, you should probably know that I'm not a native English speaker for some of this to make sense.