Shipping (fandom) - Notation and Terminology

Notation and Terminology

"Ship" and its derivatives in this context have since then come to be in wide and versatile use. "Shipping" refers to the whole phenomenon; a "ship" is the concept of a fictional couple; to "ship" a couple means to have an affinity for it in one way or another; a "shipper" is somebody significantly involved with such an affinity, and so forth.

Various naming conventions have developed in different online communities to refer to prospective couples, likely due to the ambiguity and cumbersomeness of the "Character 1 and Character 2" format. The most widespread appears to be putting the slash character (/) between the two names ("Character1/Character2"). Other methods include

• using a word that describes the relationship between, or something involving both characters and adding the word 'Shipping' to it (e.g., MartyrShipping to refer to the relationship between Ivypool and Hollyleaf from the Warriors series, because both suffered a great deal for their beliefs)
• like the ?Shipping method, only by adding the word 'Heart' to the end of the word that describes their relationship
• using the letter X in place of the slash ("Character1XCharacter2")
• putting characters' names in CamelCase ("Character1Character2")
• abbreviating both names (usually taking only the first letter of each, with additional letters used if necessary to avoid two or more couples in the same fandom sharing a name) ("Ch1/Ch2")
• using the initials of either the characters' first names or their full names ("CC" or "C1C2")
• forming a portmanteau from the names of the two participants (e.g., "Brangelina", when the names of the characters are "Brad Pitt" and "Angelina Jolie"); this is common mostly within fan communities of anime in emulation of the naming conventions for couples used in the equivalent Japanese fandoms. (e.g., IchiHime in Bleach, or SasuNaru in Naruto).
  • using portmanteaus are especially popular among soap opera fans, who use them to describe existing couples as well as couples that they would like to see together, or that they feel should reunite. Some examples are from one of the most popular soap operas General Hospital. Some current GH ships are: Lante (Lulu/Dante), Krithan (Kristina/Ethan), Jolivia (Johnny/Olivia), JaSam (Jason/Sam), Spixie (Spinelli/Maxie), CarJax (Carly/Jax), and Niz (Nikolas/Elizabeth)
• using codes for the character names that can be used in shipping. For example, in the anime/manga Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, the character names can be translated into numbers. (e.g., "Takeshi Yamamoto"=80 and "Hayato Gokudera"=59, thus the pairing is "8059".)
• using 'titles/nicknames' for pairings. For example, in the anime/manga Prince of Tennis, Shuchiro Oishi and Eiji Kikumaru play together as a doubles team for tennis and as known as the "Golden Pair" for their talent, thus they are also called the "Golden Pair" when referring to them as a pairing. Another example is the series Young Justice, where shippers refer to Artemis and Kid Flash as "Spitfire" because of a comment made by Dr. Fate, telling Kid Flash to find his own "little spitfire".
• using the template '?A?R' or '?A?L' (the A standing for 'and', and the R standing for 'romance', or the L for 'love'), inserting the first letters of characters names filling the '?s'. These unique examples come from the Invader Zim fandom, "ZADR" for example standing for Zim and Dib Romance, and the Pokémon fandom, "AAML" meaning Ash and Misty Love.

Some fandoms have evolved unique trends in their shipping notation. The Pokémon, Harry Potter and Yu-Gi-Oh! fandoms have specific semi-descriptive names corresponding with their ships. The Pokémon fandom was the first to develop specific names for pairings that ended in the term "shipping," and this development happened shortly after the term "shipping" was coined. One of the earliest specific "shipping" names that was coined was Rocketshipping, referring to the pairing of Jessie and James, characters who are both members of Team Rocket. Following that, other pairings within the fandom were named, for example Ash/Misty is refereed to as Pokéshipping, and Ash/Gary is labeled Palletshipping, because the two characters both come from the town of Pallet. The Harry Potter fandom has taken this a step forward and uses puns on the naval ship/fandom ship linguistic duality in the form of "HMS foobar". The Saiyuki fandom has a system by which each of the main characters is assigned a number corresponding with their name, and a ship could be referred to as "1X5" or "2X4" (a similar notation system is in use among Gundam Wing yaoi enthusiasts).

The "Twilight" as well as the The Hunger Games fandom have multiple canon ships that result in conflict within the fandom. The construction of the novels has a female lead that can be vicariously projected upon while the story leads to a climatic romantic decision between the two male leads. . This results in a polarized fandom where each side describes their preferred choice as a "team". In Twilight these are "Team Jacob" and "Team Edward"