“Use Code James for 10% Off”

Multimedia Link: https://youtu.be/BW00UQm-T08

Chloe Scott

In an increasingly technological world, it is no surprise that there is an inundation of information at our fingertips. This makes learning about new places and information increasingly easy, but who knew the internet would be able to create its own language? In recent years, famous YouTube makeup guru, James Charles, has taken the internet by storm. His invented vocabulary which consists of increasingly popular terms including, but not limited to, “sisters”, “busted, rusted, and crusted”, “good and fresh”, “use code James for 10% off”, and “pinkity drinkitys”, has been adopted by many of his viewers. Even my friends and I have started to embrace some of his terms and when using the phrases in public receive either one of two reactions: odd looks from passerbys who likely have no idea who James Charles is, or a resounding “sisters!” in unison as we instantly connect with fellow viewers. 

While the YouTube star’s coined vocabulary is one specific example, the internet community has been the creator of a multitude of various words that have infiltrated daily speech. Whether someone’s “wig has been snatched”, they “can’t even”, or explain that a celebrity who fell from good grace has “been cancelled” they are all using terms not only unique to the internet but that were likely created by users of the internet either on Twitter or another social media platform. It is a well-known pattern that certain terms will become incredibly popular, be used by celebrities and ordinary social media users alike, and will eventually decrease in usage until the words themselves are seen as irrelevant or antiquated. While reading the novel Ship It written by Britta Lundin some of the terms that have been through this cycle within the past five years have appeared thus increasing the feeling of reading an outdated book, despite it having been published in 2018. 

The novel Ship It follows the adventure of a young teenage fangirl who gets scorned by one of her favorite actors and then is invited on the trip of a lifetime to follow her favorite cast to various Comic Cons across various states. Because of the age and internet literacy of the main character, Claire, there are unique words that may not be comprehended by an individual not engrained in the culture of fan bases or the internet. For example, the words “feels”, “ship”, “canon”, and “fanfic”, appear quite regularly. A few of these words have real life meaning outside of the internet community and may confuse others in that sense, however others have completely originated from the internet making them as foreign as another country’s language to those individuals who are not privy to the world of Twitter, Tumblr, and fanfiction. I feel as though the use of these words and topics will inevitably aid in the short shelf-span of the contemporariness as a book relating to adolescents. This by no means the book will not be read and enjoyed by others in the future. Howeever, I think the cusp of relatableness to the main character will be short lived. There were words and phrases from the novel that I recognized from my friends and I using all the way back in the start of high-school which was already four years ago. Hearing these terms again brings me back to the past and makes me relate to the book from the angle of being 15 again instead of through the lens of my current self. 

However, while the novel may quickly begin to feel removed or slightly dated, we have seen in other books this semester that contemporariness does not make or break a book and its story. Ship It deals with easily relatable situations, feelings, internal struggles, and questions that plague a majority of adolescents. Even though not everyone may be a fangirl, nor may they closely follow a show or cosplay at Comic Cons most individuals can relate to the unknown of discovering themselves during their formative teenage years, much like our protagonist Claire. The book also focuses a lot on isolation and finding a place where people are accepting of differences and gives a sense of hope to those struggling to accept who they are based on others not being able to relate to them. These ideals seem to be timeless, making what could be a quickly aging book keep its modernity.