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Stroke
| Synonyms: | slash |
| See also: | |
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Stroke is an early British term that was used to describe slash and "/" stories.
Many fans preferred "slash" for dramatic reasons. A contributor to the Starsky and Hutch letterzine S and H #18 (February 18, 1981) wrote:
Actually, my main complaint about S/H is the term 'Starsky *stroke* Hutch.' It is just too coy. I like *slash*. It sounds so masculine, like passion in the night and lust that strikes like lightning. *Stroke* sounds so cutesy. *Slash* sounds dynamic, dominant, daring, and exciting." [1]
From a fan, Terri Beckett, in 1984:
I realise that most of THE PROFESSIONALS fan-fic is very much on an underground basis, mainly because of the Hatstand genre (and yes, yes, I did invent the term. So sue me!) but thinking of the early days of S&H fan-fic, with the ZEBRA THREE series and those that followed. I'm wondering where the comparable standard in B&D has got to. There must be writers as talented - is it that we've all leapt straight in with B/D, and ignored the growing period? Where are the straight stories? To my knowledge there have been only THREE 'straight' B&D zines printed in three years. In Trek and S&H fandoms, in a comparable time, there were uncounted numbers.
In Trek and S&H, straight outstripped stroke by miles.[2]
In 1992, a fan wrote that to her, stroke seemed "very appropriate and nicer than slash."[3]
References
- ^ This is also the very first example of the WORD slash being used; it was an extremely rare reference. It didn't become common in print for several more years.
- ^ from Mixed Doubles #2 (September 1984)
- ^ The LOC Connection #44 (August 1992).