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Dec 21

What do the words slash and yaoi mean?

Posted on Friday, December 21, 2007 in Writing

What does yaoi really mean? I’ve never really thought about it before, but recently I read an article about it, and I realized that it’s a sort of acronym. It means (translated from Japanese to English) ‘no climax, no punchline, no meaning’. That means the same as a PWP story – plot? what plot? – in other words, it’s all just a sketch of two hot guys having sex with each other). Apparently, there’s also a more humorous interpretation, which means – in translation – Stop! My butt hurts!. Whoever made that up clearly hasn’t read too much slash… Pain is never a reason to stop…

I just realized that the word slash might not have been explained clearly. Slash is a / which stands for pairing. For some reason, slash just means a male/male pairing, though you can always use a / to indicate which pairing you’re writing about, even if it’s a het adult story. Femslash has been formed from the original slash. An early example of slash is what fans call K/S that is Kirk/Spock. They’re from Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) in case you’ve never heard of the two gentlemen. You’d never refer to a Kirk/Uhura or a Spock/Chapel story as slash. I have no idea why.

Besides, it’s also being said – though I don’t believe it – that slash usually is a sexually explicit story. There are all kinds of slash, including some which doesn’t even contain a kiss. The point is simply that two men (or boys) love each other. They don’t have to do anything about it, just feel that way. I even think unrequited love falls under the same heading.

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