Ship


 * Why are camels called the ships of the desert? Because ships are large, even-toed ungulates common to Asia and East Africa.


 * No, wait...

A ship, or more properly 'ship (shorthand for relationship), is a romantic pairing between two or more characters. A fan of such a pairing is known as a shipper. Shippers are of the opinion that certain characters are romantically right for one another, and thus support the ship. A common ship in the Star Wars fandom, for instance, would be Han Solo/Leia. Shippers of this ship often write fanfiction entirely about Han and Leia being romantic, although sometimes it is merely background to the larger story of the fanfic.

Shipping Wars
Trouble occurs, however, when two opposing shippers meet &mdash; say, in the fandom of The Lord of the Rings. One shipper might like Aragorn/Arwen, whereas the other might prefer Aragorn/Éowyn. Battles will rage between each shipper faction debating which pairing is better, until both get bored, Nazis are mentioned, or the moderator comes along and tells the shippers to get their ship together.