Spillow?

[rivkat]

So when did pairings start having mushed names instead of slashes like good, decent, God-fearing pairings used to? Is it spillover from boyband slash, where I first recall it (e.g., Timbertrick)? Then Buffy got Spuffy, and there was nothing more there for a while, just basic S/X etc. And it's endemic to Smallville, despite the archivists' insistence on spelling names out, though I admit there I like the idea because there are so many characters with the same beginning letters that one has to be pretty careful. (Chlark, Chlex, Clana, Chlana, etc. ad nauseum -- though Pete never gets laid and thus needs no special pairing names. And a good thing too. Pex? Plark? Phloe? The last isn't bad.) I've also seen Obidala, from Attack of the Clones.

In isolation they're kind of cute, but as they multiply I find myself less enamored of these portmanteau pairings. Clever, yeah. Too clever by halving, if you know what I mean.

If I accept Spillow, is Sander far behind? Wander? Wara? Blecch.

The slash character is your friend! (Okay, double meaning there, but I'm willing to endorse both.)

The even deeper mystery is how fandom decides who goes first in the pairing name. Sometimes the power dynamics on the show dictate the result, like the original K/S. But sometimes I just have to wonder. Legolas/Gimli? (LoTR doesn't do it for me, but I'm just saying that the stories I have seen all list them in that order.) Perhaps there are simply things that woman is not meant to know.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Sometimes I think characters are listed from most to least important...for example, I used to read a lot of XF fic. Mulder/Krycek was almost always that way, since Mulder was the main character. With MSR, think it was just tradition once it got started, but then the pattern held for Mulder/Scully/Krycek if you already accept that M comes before S. Other times it doesn't always follow this pattern...but just a thought! Willow/Tara would be anther example, as would Angel/Wesley.

Theory

[mustangsally78.livejournal.com]

Spuffy, etc.

TWOP started combining Xander and Anya into one character name - Xanya. I think that might be the genesis of the smushed pairing.

BUT

Spuffy is a fun word, with Sunnydaleish sillyness as are:

Ganya
Spillow
Spander
Willander
Willara
Willuffy
Bufaith
and the infamous Giluffy

You know, it's just too much fun making these things up!

Sally

Re: Theory

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Just not my taste, I guess. Bufaith sounds too much like the punchline to a redneck joke, and the "Will" and "uffy" ones are just too weird. Spuffy does break the "most major character goes first" rule, unless you go with fan preference instead of top billing on the actual show.

And I suppose K/S would become Kock, which is not unamusing.

But -- to elaborate on my vague disquiet -- this stuff is not only cutesy, I worry that it's exclusionary. Every time we add vocabulary one has to learn to enter a fandom, we set ourselves up to taunt and humiliate newbies. TWOP, which loves to taunt and humiliate, clearly encourages this kind of thing. The GAYLE of Smallville, for example (gayest look of the episode) has sparked a whole series of different awards, some quite funny (PSHAW, perhaps Smallville hired a writer, is my favorite).

Each instance seems funny and justified, but I guess I want easy entree into a new fandom, since I'm at that stage of bitter old fanfic queenhood, and weird abbreviations make me feel left out. I suppose it's really nothing new; Highlander has ROGs etc. and I'm sure Star Trek has vocabulary I never even learned.

Maybe it's just my preference for a dollop of angst that makes me leery. How angsty, after all, can a story get when part of its label is "Spillow"?

Which is totally not a diss on Spike/Willow, an intriguing pairing with which Rachel Anton is doing very interesting things.

Re: Theory

[(Anonymous)]

I had the "seriousness" problem with the "Spuffy" label. I mean, I just can't read a really angsty story and then think of it as "Spuffy." So I usually onliy use the term "Spuffy" with Spike/Buffy fluff and I write out "Spike/Buffy" or vice versa when referring to a more serious story. Not to knock fluff. It's a lot of fun too!

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

I was *just* talking about this with thebratqueen, buffybot, and miss_edith. We decided our alltime favorite would be Dress -- for Dru/Wes.

Mer (AKA that Buffycon girl)