GLOSSARY

Shipping can often be a very confusing prospect for new people due to all the terminology and jargon used regularly. I have compiled a list of all the popular terms you are most likely to find when looking through shipping blogs, fanfiction and social media.

Buddyslash - is the term for slash between characters who are friends, or more often, partners in canon.

Canon - Another word for official. Used to refer to a pairing or another aspect of the series that is considered to be true to the storyline.
Crack pairing - A pairing that is considered to be way out there or impossible. Usually between characters who have never met each other or barely interacted.

Endgame - refers to ships that are canon at the end of the series.
Enemyslash - is the term for slash between characters who are canonically enemies, antagonists, or rivals, sometimes to the point of obsession.

Femslash - Femslash is the female version of slash, where instead of two guys, it's two girls. Basically, lesbians.
Fluff - A fanfic which the story has no plot. Only humourous or romantic nonsense.

Ghost Ship - A Ship that you once supported and perhaps still do that went down in the ocean, drowning all on board (basically, a hopeless relationship)

OTP - One True Pairing. Meaning the your favorite combination of characters in a fandom.
- OT3 - is a play on OTP, and means "one true threesome".
- OT4 - means "one true foursome"

Pairing - the characters who make up the central focus of a fanwork.
Portmanteaua - The combination of two or more words to create a new word.

Romance - A feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.

Sailed Ship - A Ship that became canon.
Shippers - Is a slang word derived from 'relationships' that generally means people who support certain relationships in fanfiction. It is a common joke to say that you "sail" on a certain ship.
Shipper Goggles - When you watch a TV show or read a book or watch a movie in which you ship two characters, and see their "moments" everywhere, whether they're together in canon or not.
Shipperpression - A depression caused by the end of one's favored ship i.e. a possible romantic pairing between two characters, be it in a book, a movie, or a television series.
Shipping - Derived from the word relationship, is the belief that two characters, fictional or non-fictional, would be interesting or believable (or are, or will be, or should be) in a romantic relationship. It is considered a general term for fans' emotional involvement with the ongoing development of romance in a work of fiction.
Ship War - A heated disagreement between two or more groups of shippers. Ship wars span a long time (often years) and involve many people in their fandom.
Side Pairing - is a pairing that is described in the story, but is not the main focus. Side pairings can vary in "screen time" and importance; a "secondary" pairing might have almost as much plot relevance as the "main" pairing, or it might be better described as a "background" or "minor" pairing that is only mentioned incidentally.
Slash - Genre of fanfiction involving pairing two male or female characters together; characters are commonly shown with a slash in between.
Slasher - is a fan of slash. Some fans of slash who also read or write in other genres prefer not to identify as slashers, seeing the term as meaning fans who are only interested in slash pairings.
Slashy - is commonly used to describe relationships between characters of the same gender that can easily be read as sexual or romantic, or texts that contain homoerotic subtext supporting slash pairings.
Wrongshipping - When a fan ships two characters who really shouldn't be together.