...means what you think it means

[flambeau]

When I was a baby slasher, I was taught that an OTP, one true pairing, was the one pairing a person would consider in a fandom (like M/K fans saying M/Sk fans were deluded or vice versa, sigh), or at all (Jim/Blair and that's it, no one else looks even remotely slashy). At least, that's how I interpreted what I was told. These days I see OTP used

Comments

[musesfool]

Inconsistency is a pretty good word, too.

Heh.

"Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds." ~Emerson

That's always my response to peopel who call me on my dualities.

*g*

Personally, "smarm" and "schmoop" and even "mook" (which means something completely different to *me*, being a fan of police procedurals and hardboiled detective novels) bother me more than "fic" or "ficlet" or even, as I've seen someone else complain, "fics," though I draw the line at "ficcie" and "piccie" myself, maybe because I abhor being called "Viccie" or "Vicki" *g*.

[catscradle]

"Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds." ~Emerson

Just nitpicking, since it's the subject today ;) It's actually "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Not all consistency is bad - just when we can no longer thing outside of the norm.

Stephanie

[musesfool]

I stand (or sit, actually) corrected. *g*

[ladyvyola]

"Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds." ~Emerson

"But it helps you keep your stories straight." ~Vyola

[calligrafiti]

When I was a baby slasher,

Speaking of usage, when I first read the above, my first thought was, "She reads or writes slash between babies? Er, um . . ." I gathered the meaning from the context, and then remembered some of other similar usages of "baby-". But it was rather funny to continue reading an LJ entry about neologisms and how different people react to different ones after that.

I don't mind "fic" myself. I am a little less happy with "fics". One writes a piece of fic(tion) or several pieces of fic(tion). Not really seeing where the "s" is coming from. "Ficcie" strikes me as a good warning sign for the style of fiction likely to follow, so to me it's useful. My favorite use of "fic" is in a sentence such as, "I've committed fic recently."

[flambeau]

Oh no. No babies slashed here. I'm not sure whether to thwap myself, or you. :-)

I have a hard time using fic as a countable noun, too. Not to mention as a verb. Ficcing. No. I'll stick to writing.

[bishounengirl]

*thoughtful* Perhaps the problem with the One True Character approach is in ongoing fandoms? If you only get to see one episode a week spread out over months, what's really a temporary misunderstanding can loom large and seem an awfully big deal to folks inclined to be so biased in the first place. The same kind of misunderstanding would look a lot less significant during a weekend marathon of a show.

(Then again, I don't understand that attitude in general. Yeah, sometimes I like one character more in a pairing, especially at the outset, and sometimes the pairing I like is "my favorite character plus the guy he seems to want most" or something along those lines. If I don't end up liking the other guy on his own merits sooner or later, I usually won't follow that pairing extensively, and more often, I do end up liking the other guy.)

[geekturnedvamp]

If you only get to see one episode a week spread out over months, what's really a temporary misunderstanding can loom large and seem an awfully big deal to folks inclined to be so biased in the first place. The same kind of misunderstanding would look a lot less significant during a weekend marathon of a show.

So true. And I'm always reminded that the opposite can hold equally true--that is, I think people may be less tolerant of certain characters & storylines after exposure via marathon because they won't have had time to accept certain developments the way they would after thinking about them for a week in between each new revelation. I think this also ties in to the canon argument, and the kind of bias you get sometimes with people who have seen only the Methos episodes of Highlander, for example, or only the--oh, I'm not even gonna touch due South, but yeah, I think context is absolutely crucial to the OTP phenomenon in all sorts of ways.

Also, torch? My gut response--for whatever that's worth--to a statement like, I've no

[flambeau]

I've been thinking about getting a cushion; I spend so much time on the fence, I should make myself comfortable. When people blithely appropriate a term for practically the opposite of its usual meaning, I want to hit them over the head with a rolled-up newspaper. When people rant about how that's not what a term meant back in 1974, I want to roll my eyes and say that well, that's how it's used now. I think I'm just wishy-washy, though I like "cool" better....

[flambeau]

Mm. When I think about writing a pairing where I'm not really fond of one of the characters, it just seems like a waste of time--I don't want to write something I don't feel for, believe in, enjoy. Like you, though, I've come to like characters more through investigating possible pairings.

[catscradle]

Some things, like "OTP", baffle me why they morph more than annoy me. I look at that and can't see how it can mean anything than what it is. I mean, the word "true" there kinda tips me off that it means more than just one person's view of the pairing. It's got that objective reality tinge to it. I guess the concept of OTP annoys me far more than whether or not it's meaning has morphed with the new crowds. Though I can see were it would give a reader a better clue on what to expect with the story if they know the author's intent with that. It would denote if it's going to be a fanon pairing, or just the author's favorite pairing - yes, I'm working this all out as I write

[flambeau]

You can almost hear the fic giggling.

Oh, now you made me think it's cute! Almost. Sort of. The pigtails are probably cuter.

[laurakaye]

"Ficcie" and "Piccie" give me hives. Gaaargh.