I Don't Get What You Mean By The Fandom Old Ship Name Thing...what Would You Call Them

I don't get what you mean by the fandom old ship name thing...what would you call them

*Gets out her monocle and a giant tome about the history of shipping* 

Back in the ancient days, young one, even before my time, ships were originally named by putting the characters’ names back to back with a backslash separating them (i.e. Kirk/Spock). This was before the dawn of the internet, when fan magazines were the only way to access fanfiction (OH, THE HORROR). The fandom term “slash” was derived from the aforementioned backslash, popularized by the first recognized gay ship, which was in fact, Kirk/Spock (you can check your communications textbooks, I’m not making this up). This was how all ships were distinguished in fan magazines etc. even through the early days of fanfiction. 

When fanfiction REALLY started to pick up and gain popularity, helped along greatly by the dawn of the internet, specially devoted webistes, and the Harry Potter generation, ships were shortened to character initials and a backslash (i.e. Harry and Ginny was H/G). Then, fic names started to get creative by coming up with terms that identified the characters (i.e. Remus/Sirius was known as WolfStar). The latter is the kind of naming I was referring to. In fact, a lot of fandoms populated with FandomOld™ shippers, still use this system. For instance, Once Upon a Time seems to use this system (I’m not part of this fandom, but it pops up on my dash every now and again). I believe they use names like SwanQueen and CaptainSwan instead of the name smushing method. 

The name smushing method came about in the mid 2000s when celebrities were given smushed couple names and it crossed over the to the fandoms. 

Honestly, Victuuri, is the only smushed couple name I’ve ever really loved because it fits the couple, because it sounds like Victory. Whereas other couples would be hilarious using the older method. For instance Chris/Phichit could be IntoxicatedSelfie or JJ/Yurio* could be something like KittenKing. 

Note: Now that I feel ancient, I would like to protest that I am not, in fact, that old. But I am still a permanent resident of the FandomOld™ porch. 

*Example ships do not necessarily denote ships I ship, but there is NO ship hate in the Spice Capades. 

Do you have a FandomOld™ ship name for Yuri on Ice? Hit me with ‘em!