The oblique stroke: renaming slash

[Tim Regan]

Hi All,

 

I was chatting with an old friend at the weekend. He's a head-teacher
but still teaches an English class. We've been arguing about the
creative merits of fan-fiction (I was defending it, though I don't get
time to read any). One thing I mentioned was slash: erotic fanfiction
based on the homosexual pairing of characters. Slash fiction is called
slash fiction because of the oblique stroke written between the
character's names, e.g. Sirius/James. Wouldn't it have been better if
the various communities involved had picked up the English name for '/'
rather than the American? Somehow if it was called "oblique stroke
fiction" it would conjure up far more sympathetic connotations than
"slash fiction", which sounds like something from a horror movie.

 

Cheers,

 

Dumbledad.



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