[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: The word 'slash'

[Queer as John]

Catlady (Rita Prince Winston) <catlady at wicca.net> said:

> It derives from the way of writing pairings (long before they were
> called "ships"), like H/Hr and R/Hr. '/' is pronounced 'slash'. K/S
> (Kirk/Spock) stories started appearingn back in the 1960s. I always
> heard them called "kay-ess" (phonetic spelling) but some part of
> the world must have called them Kay-slash-ess, because soon they were
> called simply "slash".

Yes, I've never heard the slash pronounced either. Just like I've never
heard the "bang" (!) pronounced in dead!James, redeemed!Draco or slut!Harry.

An interesting topic for discussion is "When is Slash Slash?". We are used
to slash referring to gay pairings which are generally sourced from subtext.
But do these subtextual pairings have to be gay? Historically in media
culture, they do ‹ because there were no openly gay people on TV when
Kirk/Spock originated. So, people picked up on the subtext.

However, what if one takes a look at more recent media culture. Would
Will/Grace from _Will_and_Grace_ be slash? It would have to be sourced from
the subtext, of course. Similarly, what about Brian/Melanie from
_Queer_as_Folk_? Or Again, it's het, but is it slash?

Thoughts?

--John
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Queer as John || john at queerasjohn.com

AIM, YM & LJ @ QueerAsJohn || www.queerasjohn.com

"There's nowt as queer as folk."  --English proverb
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