Fandom School (8th period): Fangirl language

Fandom School is back, and this time we're going to talk about the language of fangirls. Just to be clear, let's define the term "fangirl".

According to dictionary.com, a fangirl is "an obsessive female fan, especially of something technological or from popular culture". A fanboy is the same thing, except male. These words do have different connotations: fangirls tend to be more obsessive, and fanboys tend to be more defensive. (Fangirls and fanboys often get a bad reputation as being too obsessive or mean, but not all of them are like this. I like to consider myself an exception to the rule.) Fangirls and fanboys may both use the other terms I'll define here, but fans (a fan is defined as "an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, or celebrity") typically have their own fandom-specific terms.

Here are a few terms related to fandoms and fangirls that I have already defined in my blog:
Canon: the accepted storyline (see here)
Fandom: a collection of fans (see this post defining the term and this post about fandoms uniting)
Fanfiction: stories set in the world of and/or using the characters in the fandom(s) they are written for. Click here or here to see my fanfiction.
Feels: short for "feelings", typically the sort of feelings that will make a fangirl or fanboy cry. (See this post about feels)
Ships: romantic pairings of fictional characters (see here)
A whole list of terms Whovians (Doctor Who fans) use.

Here are some abbreviations that are often used:
AU: fanfiction term, short for "alternate universe". An AU describes a story that is not canon. For example, an AU in which the Tenth Doctor didn't regenerate before series 5.
OTP: stands for "one true pairing". An OTP is a fangirl/fanboy's ultimate ship. Do not insult anyone's OTP. Ever.

There are lots more terms that I could try to define here, but I don't know everything, nor is there room to list everything. If you want to find out more, you can check out this post (not my post), which defines terms used on tumblr, many of which are fangirl/fanboy terms.