Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 98

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Popular Culture Review

Walk softly a nd carry a big stake.
S choo l libraries are good f o r socializing, training, a nd w hittling stakes; th ey're
no t B arnes a nd Nobles.
S o m etim es p e op le su rp rise you.
Even vam pires n ee d closure.
Another area of this same web page is a glossary of “Slayer Vocabulary” which
lists terms and their definitions that are unique to the show. The list currently has
approximately 20 terms such as: Hellmouth: The opening into Hell; a po rta l between
the tw o dim ensions; Sunnydale sits atop it; Host: The person the vampire is fee d ing
off; and Minions: The fo llo w e r s o f the m a ster vampire. It also contains terms called
“Buffy-speak” which include linguistic speech unique to the characters on the show
or adolescents in general. This list has approximately 100 terms such as:
baity: like b a it (Xander: *'You don 't hide. You're bait. Go a c t baity. ")
clothes fluke.* when the clothes you 're wearing cause you to do things you w ouldn't
o th e n v is e do
carbon dated: way an cien t
fam.* the fa m ily
font of nothing: som eone w ithout a nything worthw hile to say
having an expression.* thinking som ething ( usually critical) and no t wanting to say
it (Willow: **You're having an expression. " Buffy: 'T 'm not! B ut i f I was, it 'd be
saying, this j u s t isn 't like you. ")
hootenanny: ''It's chock f u ll o f hoot, j u s t a little nanny, "...basically, a big party.
Joan Collins ‘tude: a really bitchy attitude
Keyser Soz’d: tricked, referring to the movie. The Usual Suspects,
run-on: go on a nd on a nd on (see: " b a bb le " a nd "y a mm e r")
single-white femaled: have y ou r life taken over; refers to the movie o f same title
upside: b e tte r th an the alternative ( Oz: "B u t you 're no t a rat, so call it an upside. ")
y ester: a thing o f the p a s t

E n te rta in m e n t Weekly carried two full pages of “Buffy’s teen spew” (Tucker 48)
that is similar to “Buffy-speak.”
The web pages give computer-savvy fans an opportunity to feel a more
immediate connection to the show. Reading the episode summaries, submitting
their own story lines or song lyrics, reading about upcoming episodes and inside
information on the actors and creative staff and chatting with other fans about the
show give fans of B uffy and other television programs a closer link to the show and
to each other.
There are aspects about Buffy that many adults and some adolescents may