Well, for the
benefit of my fellow
furry everythingians, and to add a little bit of old
fogy history to this
particular node, a few
things should be
noted about the word "yiff" and its
origins and
meaning.
Now,
first of all, the word has been
polluted! Yes,
these days it carries virtually
nothing beyond
sexual connotations of any kind.
This was
not its original meaning
though. I'm not
exactly sure how it
gained this particular
definition, really, but, as one who
plays a
fox as his
character, it's a source of never ending
annoyance to me. Mostly I hate the
stereotype that goes along with this
word and being a fox.
Yes,
foxes. This part was and is still
valid. The word "yiff" was
derived from the
anthropomorphic fox
language. (Yes, even
furries make languages. All you hardcore
roleplayers out there can relate to this, including two of my
friends who speak
Elven and
Klingon, respectively. :) This is why all of its sexual connotations have ended up being
tagged onto foxes. It's their word, therefore they must be
sex-crazed,
yiffy maniacs!
Bah.
Originally, this word was a
greeting,
believe it or not. That was
basically all it meant, was a "
hello" or what not. To
continue, "
yip" was also a greeting, but it was
reserved for more friendly types, not
something you would say to a
stranger or casual
acquaintance. And then, on to the
meat! The word "yipp" is where it all
comes from. This could also be
used as a greeting, but it was far more
intimate a word. Think of it as "hello,
lover" only perhaps a bit
stronger. This word was also to relate sexual
feelings, and the like, but I
guess no one wanted to say they were feeling "yippy" or something. Sure doesn't
work for me, I'll
admit..
So, I can
somehow see a bit off the
correlation, "yipp"
moving over to "yiff", and the
latter gaining the sexual
definition and all that. But
still, I just had to say something.
What's a
node called 'yiff' without a good, proper
historical definition for
it? Hmm, or something like
that, I guess.. YIFF!