Image via Complex Original
After an innocent search of your favorite TV show, you stumbled upon it: the Fandom. This can go one of two ways. One, you just stroll through the fan pages, enjoying fellow supporters of the show's screengrabs and GIFs. Or, two, you drown in it. You become immersed. The TV show is no longer just a TV show. It is your life. You create your own stories about the characters you love, you draw out scenarios of them and post it on Deviant Art, and you create a My Little Pony techno remix. You're so deep down the rabbit hole that by the time you start looking for an exit you realize once you enter a fandom...
And since most fandoms are centered around romance (sex!), there's some secret language to it. Like shipping isn't just something you pay on your Amazon order and Slash isn't just a guitarist. Consider this a Rosetta Stone for those who don't speak nerd fluently.
Written by Hope Schreiber (@HopeSchreiber)
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OTP, a.k.a. One True Pairing (n.)
If you've ever stepped foot into a fandom's message board or a fan's Tumblr, you're bound to see "OTP" next to a hashtag. What's that even mean? On the pill? Onward, towards Pringles? No, dude. "OTP" means "One True Pairing," as in you want these two characters to be in a relationship. It's the only thing that's right in your world. It's the pairing of characters you love above all the others.
Examples: Hermione and Ron of Harry Potter, Buffy and Angel of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ross and Rachel of Friends.
Canon (n.)
Canon is the official storyline of a TV show. The word comes from "Bibical canon," which is a list of books "considered to be authoritative scripture by a particular religious community." Also, funny enough, fans deep in the fandom do follow their favorite TV shows like a religion.
Examples: The stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the real Sherlock.
Slash (n.)
"Slash" gets its name from the backslash used to separate the characters a fan fiction is about. It's always used in reference to a homosexual pairing, with femslash being a lesbian pairing, obviously.
Examples: Sherlock and Dr. Watson of Sherlock, Troy and Abed of Community, Dean and Castiel of Supernatural.
Examples of femslash: Brittany and Santana of Glee, Xena and Gabrielle of Xena: Warrior Princess, Jane and Maura of Rizzoli and Isles.
Ship (v.)
Ship is short for "shipping" which comes from the word "relationship"—you can see where we're going here. If you ship a couple, you sail the seas towards their shore of eternal happiness.
Of course, ships are very diverse. "Crack ships" have a very low chance of becoming real in the TV show, and "ghost ships" are basically hopeless relationships, where a fan has either given up on the idea of their two characters ever doin' the do, or has gone down with that ship while still secretly rooting for the couple from beyond the grave.
Example: The Great Ship War of Katniss/Peeta vs. Katniss/Gale in The Hunger Games.
Example of Crack Ship: Shrek of Shrek and Shadow of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Example of Ghost Ship: Dawson and Joey of Dawson's Creek.
Related forms: ship (n.)
Fan Fiction (n.)
The Internet has certainly helped spread the popularity of fan fiction, but fan-made stories based on people's favorite TV shows and movies have been around, since, like, the Star Trek days. We're not sure how people got their Kirk/Spock fiction read before people could enjoy it behind the comfort of a glowing computer screen, but nothing can stop a true fan.
These fan-made fictional stories are very popular in fandoms, and extends to fan art, fan song, and any other artistic medium you could think of. Fan fiction is so ubiquitous now that certain stories are even being published worldwide, once a few names have been changed. The best example of this? Fifty Shades of Grey was inspired by Twilight characters.
Examples: FanFiction.net
BrOTP, a.k.a. Bromantic One True Pairing (n.)
BrOTP is just a way to say bromance without sounding like a "no homo" douche while still sounding like a big ol' nerd. BrOTPs involve no romance, but the characters' friendship is so close that they might as well be dating anyway.
Examples: JD and Turk of Scrubs, Cory and Shawn of Boy Meets World, Scott and Stiles of Teen Wolf.
Noromo (n.)
Noromo is not only fun to say, it also has a real meaning: "No romance." This is about characters whom fans believe should not be paired in a somewhat cliche relationship. It started with X Files fans, and the debate about Mulder and Scully being platonic friends or lovers still rages on in the community.
Examples: Scully and Mulder of X-Files, Veronica and Wallace of Veronica Mars, Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson of Parks and Recreation.
Meta (n.)
"Meta" is short for metanalyis, and it involves fans of a show breaking down an episode, an entire series, or the fandom's demographic itself in an essay that could be good enough to turn in as your college thesis. These essays provide proof for their points from the primary text (dialogue on the show) and often include screenshots.
Examples: Teen Wolf Meta
Feels (n.)
"FEELS! THE FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELS!" —an actual fan's reaction of something that happened on their favorite TV show.
Nothing more has to be said. Their community understands that their emotions are so out of check that trying to put them into words is beyond impossible. Just know that they are feeling things—so many, many things.
Examples: "Watching Thor, I find it sad that Loki spends so much time wallowing in the fact that he's not Odin's favorite. He's completely missing the fact that he's Thor's favorite."
Tinhatting (v.)
Tinhatting is the act of shipping real people. As a tinhatter, you bend reality to make it look like a pair of celebrities are a real couple, forced to hide their relationship from the public view. Tinhatters are often seen as rabid fans.
Their name comes from conspiracy theorists who wear tin foil hats to keep their thoughts away from aliens. The term "tinhat" is relatively new, having originated in the Lord of the Rings fandom where fans thought Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan were secretly in love.
Examples: All the members of One Direction, Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan, Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen.
Related forms: tinhatter (n.)