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I Feel Yiffy
11 months ago
When was the last time you heard that phrase? Or just the phrase "yiff" in general? Murr? Glomp? Scritches?
I came across a Bluesky post that made me realize this-- and it might just be the crowd that I'm hanging around-- but I feel like there is a lot of furry lingo I just don't see used much anymore. At least not unironically. Sure I might see "yiff" used as a hashtag here or there, but that's really it. It feels like it's nothing but a category now rather than an expression or a mood someone can say they feel.
I will sometimes find decades-old art on here filled with dozens and dozens of comments and go "Oh man, did we really use to talk like this?" But at the same time, why don't we talk like this anymore?
In my mind there are two main reasons for this. Cringe culture and the prevalence of social media. (Because everything has to be blamed on social media with me ;P)
Back in 2014-2016, cringe culture swept the internet. Everywhere you looked people were making fun of others just doing harmless crap, calling them "cringe" and putting them in various forms of compilations. This included furry-- from both the inside and out. I feel like a lot of people who grew up in this era might feel reluctant to use furry slang and lingo like this for fear of being judged and bullied for it. While writing this journal I realized that I fall under that same boat. I don't use these terms myself because somewhere, deep in my subconscious, I find them cringe. I shouldn't. They're completely harmless and fine to use. But I do.
As for social media, with everyone everywhere of all interests and opinions all using the same few websites, it is much easier for a "normie" to come across a furry using this lingo and shame them for it. It is so low-effort now to bully someone you see acting "strange" or "out of line". You don't gotta make an account, you're already here! And the reply button is right there.
Another component to this is that in the pre-"5 giant websites" internet, everyone was in their own little spaces. Each fandom had their own sites and forums that they flocked to, or BBSs, or Usenet groups, or gophers, or what have you. It was much easier to just talk exclusively to like-minded folks without outsiders gawking or harrassing you. Don't get me wrong, getting called "cringe" in one way or another both outside of and within your space still happened (hello Vanity Fair, hi Burned Furs) but it took a certain amount of effort to directly bully people online back then, and even just the slightest amount of effort filters a lot.
I really feel like these sorts of conditions fostered the use of unique slang and lingo within the fandom.
This isn't to say all fandom-specific slang is dead. We still use terms like "fursona" and "fursuit" every day. I don't see anyone within the fandom describing their fursuit as a "mascot costume" or fursona as a "personal animal avatar". But idk, while a lot of old terms seem to have faded out on their own (funny animal, yerf, personal furry, etc) I feel like there are a few that were more or less beaten out of us.
Stay yiffy my friends o/
I came across a Bluesky post that made me realize this-- and it might just be the crowd that I'm hanging around-- but I feel like there is a lot of furry lingo I just don't see used much anymore. At least not unironically. Sure I might see "yiff" used as a hashtag here or there, but that's really it. It feels like it's nothing but a category now rather than an expression or a mood someone can say they feel.
I will sometimes find decades-old art on here filled with dozens and dozens of comments and go "Oh man, did we really use to talk like this?" But at the same time, why don't we talk like this anymore?
In my mind there are two main reasons for this. Cringe culture and the prevalence of social media. (Because everything has to be blamed on social media with me ;P)
Back in 2014-2016, cringe culture swept the internet. Everywhere you looked people were making fun of others just doing harmless crap, calling them "cringe" and putting them in various forms of compilations. This included furry-- from both the inside and out. I feel like a lot of people who grew up in this era might feel reluctant to use furry slang and lingo like this for fear of being judged and bullied for it. While writing this journal I realized that I fall under that same boat. I don't use these terms myself because somewhere, deep in my subconscious, I find them cringe. I shouldn't. They're completely harmless and fine to use. But I do.
As for social media, with everyone everywhere of all interests and opinions all using the same few websites, it is much easier for a "normie" to come across a furry using this lingo and shame them for it. It is so low-effort now to bully someone you see acting "strange" or "out of line". You don't gotta make an account, you're already here! And the reply button is right there.
Another component to this is that in the pre-"5 giant websites" internet, everyone was in their own little spaces. Each fandom had their own sites and forums that they flocked to, or BBSs, or Usenet groups, or gophers, or what have you. It was much easier to just talk exclusively to like-minded folks without outsiders gawking or harrassing you. Don't get me wrong, getting called "cringe" in one way or another both outside of and within your space still happened (hello Vanity Fair, hi Burned Furs) but it took a certain amount of effort to directly bully people online back then, and even just the slightest amount of effort filters a lot.
I really feel like these sorts of conditions fostered the use of unique slang and lingo within the fandom.
This isn't to say all fandom-specific slang is dead. We still use terms like "fursona" and "fursuit" every day. I don't see anyone within the fandom describing their fursuit as a "mascot costume" or fursona as a "personal animal avatar". But idk, while a lot of old terms seem to have faded out on their own (funny animal, yerf, personal furry, etc) I feel like there are a few that were more or less beaten out of us.
Stay yiffy my friends o/
But fr I’ll use yiff and murr til the day I die, I started in this fandom way too young in 2010 & these words live in my brain as formative memories 🫡 keep it yiffy yourself my furrend OwO
Honestly I gotta start using them. Like I said in my journal, I really feel as if I internalized a lot of the "cringe culture" shit from my youth.
I had a "Oh gosh, I haven't heard that in years. This is gonna be fantastic" reaction when I read the title!
I feel like people in my age group/social circles have a much better relationship with "cringe" culture. We can look and maybe giggle a little to ourselves, but we also say "Good for them! They know what they want out of life and they're doing just that!" (As long as it's the harmless, of course ^^ )
And I say that because, yeah, maybe it is funny, but it's also extremely genuine. There's something I really admire about folks that maybe aren't the best at something or have "weird"/niche interests but still put themselves out there. That takes more courage than most folks have, to be honest.
We're all weird little guys in our own way. :)