Fannish conversation with BH

[aelfgyfu_mead]

So I told Brilliant Husband, as a reminder to myself and not because he needed to know, my rule that if I see a word I don't recognize in a fic warning, I do not try to find the meaning of that word. Yes, guess how I came up with this rule? (Do not guess how long it took me to come up with the rule and stick to it, because the answer is "embarrassingly long.")

I know lunachickk has this great icon that says "What has been seen cannot be unseen" with a picture of a horrified-looking cat. I want one with that motto that has John Watson on it just after he has looked in the fridge. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. (If you haven't, I probably haven't spoiled you, have I?)

Shortly thereafter, Brilliant Husband was musing about "half-againing" a recipe.
I was aghast. "That's not a verb!"
"Sesquifocating?"
I made a rude noise. "That sounds obscene."

Of course, a moment later, it came to me. I have noticed that slash fics often seem to get more comments than gen fics (or at least more than my gen fics do).
"I know!" I said. "I'll put 'sesquifocating' in the warnings for my next story! That will drive up my readership!"
BH thought this was a pretty good idea.
"But I'll get complaints when they don't find it," I added.
"Oh, that's easy. Then you just say, 'Oh, you missed it? It was in the kitchen scene!' and they say, 'Oh, right! Yeah, loved that scene!'"

Comments

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

my rule that if I see a word I don't recognize in a fic warning, I do not try to find the meaning of that word.

Oh, god. I did something like that once, and for hours afterward the only thing in my brain was "HELP, I DID NOT WANT TO KNOW THAT THERE ACTUALLY NEEDS TO BE A WORD FOR THAT." And here I thought I was nearly unshockable, too.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

The sad part is that i repeated this process a few times before I managed to make myself a new rule and make it stick. (I am more sensitive than you, obviously. Also, a good bit denser, since it took me so long!)