#fandom

The accumulated backstory, history, and context of a person, group, brand, or situation. Internet slang borrowed "lore" from fantasy/gaming to describe any complex, long-developing narrative — whether a streamer's drama history, a brand's past controversies, or a friendship's inside jokes.

“The group chat has so much lore at this point, new members need a full briefing.”

To endorse or enthusiastically support a romantic pairing between two people — real or fictional. Derived from "relationship." Fans write fanfiction, create art, and post about characters or celebrities they ship together. A "ship" (noun) is the pairing itself.

“Half the fandom ships those two characters so hard there's thousands of fanfics about them.”

An intensely devoted fan, or the act of being one. Derived from Eminem's 2000 song "Stan" about an obsessive fan. As a verb, to stan someone means to support them passionately and actively. Stan culture drives massive engagement on social media, with fandoms mobilizing around their favorites.

“The Swifties absolutely stan Taylor — they crashed Ticketmaster trying to buy concert tickets.”