mithen: (Batman Loves You)
[personal profile] mithen


I've seen, in a variety of places, decrying of what's sometimes called "Tumblr-speak," especially targeted toward the term "feels." "You should just say you feel something, not this ridiculous 'I have feels' thing," the argument goes. But today I wish to step up to the plate and give a light-hearted defense of "feels" for a moment--bear with me!





My main argument is that "feels" are actually qualitatively different from "feelings," and "having feels" is different from "having feelings" or "feeling something." "Feels" is actually a perfectly cromulent very useful word that describes a quite different emotional experience than "feeling" something. Specifically, feels are on the whole reserved for feelings related to the experience of fannish pleasure--in my experience, with an overtone of "a subset of extremely intense feelings that we all understand are linked to a fictional artifact." I've never heard anyone say something like "I had a lot of feels at my grandfather's funeral"--"feels" are reserved for Phil Coulson or the Doctor. I do see it used sometimes for a similar thing--emotions that are understood as fleeting but still crushingly intense while experienced--but on the whole it's used most often to discuss reactions to people and things not part of our day-to-day lives (Katara, Robert Downey Jr.).



"Feels" is a handy shorthand that serves to delineate a specific kind of emotional experience: one marked by intensity and purity that transcends "day to day" emotions of happiness and sorrow (with their often-muddied, contradictory undertones).



It's also a tongue-in-cheek way to downplay those emotions, to ironically distance yourself from them a little bit and make clear you don't take them that seriously. They're not feelings, they're feels. It's actually an incredibly useful and complex term, one that serves to mark a very specific kind of experience and to simultaneously elevate and disparage it. Feels are overwhelming, they blot out everything in a rush of emotion, either good or bad.



Feels are something to be savored and--at a certain level--enjoyed, even when they're negative. Sad feelings are awful; but watching something that gives you sad feels has a certain hyper-real pleasure to it (obviously, or certain creators wouldn't have such huge followings!)



The term is, far from being a corruption of the language, an elegantly precise word that serves a very useful function. So next time you feel reluctant to say something "hit you right in the feels" or to cry out "ow, my feels!" embrace your inner fan, let go of your inner grammarian, and go for it!

And with that, I humbly take my leave of you. Thank you for your consideration! Perhaps next year I shall try to parse and defend "I have lost my ability to can."

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here via month_of_meta

Date: 2013-05-17 03:29 pm (UTC)
opusculasedfera: stack of books, with a mug of tea on top (Default)
From: [personal profile] opusculasedfera
Nicely put! It really is a different word, not just a shortening of "feelings." You'd think people would notice that they're used quite differently: when was the last time you heard someone say "I'm having a feeling about this" or "this gives me an emotion"? ;)

I'd say though that 'feels' are pure in their intensity, but also much more muddled than 'feelings'? For me, 'feels' often indicates having a bunch of emotions at once, particularly in that way that fiction can provide where, say, you're simultaneously excited because there's a new episode of your tv show, fascinated by its plot twist, and very upset because the plot twist makes a character you like sad, even if you think it's good for the story as a whole. It's not a word for the perhaps conflicting emotions you might feel about, say, a drawn-out break-up, but it's also not the word for straightforward "goddamn, $actor is hot" or "this kitten gif is the CUTEST" emotions because it's easier to attach specific terms to those?

(no subject)

Date: 2013-05-17 04:11 pm (UTC)
lunabee34: (fancrone by chinashop)
From: [personal profile] lunabee34
This is a very cleverly put together post. Thanks for explaining the lingo to those of us not tumblring. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2013-05-17 04:38 pm (UTC)
dhamphir: (cowboy silhouette)
From: [personal profile] dhamphir
Well put. Although, I've never been on Tumblr. My experience with "feels" is strictly from LJ. Perhaps is just more prevalent on Tumblr.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-05-17 04:51 pm (UTC)
talitha78: crappy icon (Default)
From: [personal profile] talitha78
Thank you for a very enjoyable read! Loved all of the gifs. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2013-05-17 05:32 pm (UTC)
willow: Tumble of raspberries. Text: Comfort is Simple (Comfort is simple)
From: [personal profile] willow
Language changes and evolves. There are Victorians I am sure who'd think a bunch of us (particularly those who use USian English) to have utterly bastardized the language; if y'know they were sentient zombies (being all dead).

Fannish speak and net speak (which now has sub dialects apparently; twitter speak, Tumblr speak etc...) are in a way branches off English (and the other mother tongues of various fans with their own idiosyncrasies). And has whomever is complaining not noticed that 'feels' and similar are also part of a VISUAL language?

I had no idea at all that there was a 'Speak The Queen's English' going on about feels, or 'I can't' or 'THIS' said in all caps that means so much more than in general use of a thing as in this or that.

But then again... my religion is Batman. WTH do I know.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-05-17 06:13 pm (UTC)
phantomas: (Default)
From: [personal profile] phantomas
Oh, thank you for this explanation, I'm a Tumblr regular (these days, not even an LJ regualr, sigh) but I happened to see 'feels' and was wondering whether it was understood in fannish speak as more than just an abbreviation of feelings...and it is :D

As a fan, I perfectly understand where 'feels' comes from. Fandom emotions are somewhat different from Real Life emotions.Also,l I love your gifs :)

thanks!

Re: here via month_of_meta

Date: 2013-05-17 07:40 pm (UTC)
alltoseek: (English)
From: [personal profile] alltoseek
For me, 'feels' often indicates having a bunch of emotions at once, particularly in that way that fiction can provide

Yes, this too.

Besides, fandom is also a place to let go of our inner adult control-freak that has to present as professional uber!mature all the time. We can relax and be silly. And have ~feels~. Lots and lots of feels. And not have to articulate exactly what we mean by those feels because everyone else (in fandom) already knows :D

You should do the "I have lost the ability to can" one too. Part of that is from when we are so overwhelmed by the ~feels~ that we have lost the ability to articulate what exactly we are feeling, and also we no longer even care to spend all that effort trying to articulate, because we don't even have to, since we have this lovely expression already created for us to use :-)

Not to mention this shorthand is an easy way for people from a variety of language backgrounds to have some fandom slang to communicate.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-05-17 08:17 pm (UTC)
scheherezhad: fanart of Bart hugging Siberian Husky!Gar (Default)
From: [personal profile] scheherezhad
Yes, perfect. :D

Re: here via month_of_meta

Date: 2013-05-17 09:27 pm (UTC)
mekare: Flower patterned Japanese paper (Default)
From: [personal profile] mekare
It's actually an incredibly useful and complex term, one that serves to mark a very specific kind of experience and to simultaneously elevate and disparage it.

I agree! I have always understood feels as only appropriate for emotions generated by fannish things.

And, OMG that kaonashi gif! Wonderful! It reminded me of my love for Spirited Away and inspired me to this.

Edited (because actually this wasn't meant to be a reply to this thread but now it is): Besides, fandom is also a place to let go of our inner adult control-freak that has to present as professional uber!mature all the time.

Yes! My inner child is whooping with joy/crushed by despair/gleeful like a gleeful thing/etc over fannish things. It is a nice counterbalance to real life.
Edited Date: 2013-05-17 09:33 pm (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2013-05-17 09:29 pm (UTC)
mekare: Flower patterned Japanese paper (Default)
From: [personal profile] mekare
my religion is Batman

OMG THIS. To demonstrate a point. :-)

ETA: Sadly enough not only zombie!Victorians would be appalled at "the state of the English language" today in all its wonderful diversity. There still are some "defenders of purity/standards" (or whatever they call themselves).
Edited Date: 2013-05-17 09:35 pm (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2013-05-17 10:24 pm (UTC)
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
From: [personal profile] china_shop
Hee! I'm not a tumblrite, so I appreciate this explanation, and I LOVE all the gifs. *hearts*

(no subject)

Date: 2013-05-18 03:39 am (UTC)
dhamphir: (cowboy silhouette)
From: [personal profile] dhamphir
Considering LJ was around before Tumblr, I'd say Tumblr just picked it up elsewhere (maybe LJ or maybe somewhere else) and just happens to use it excessively.

Re: here via month_of_meta

Date: 2013-05-18 06:06 am (UTC)
alltoseek: (MC music)
From: [personal profile] alltoseek
I just really like the chance to *flail* and go "OMG Stephen bby my fEELs OMG."

I think when confronted by loquacious perspicacious everything-acious Stephen, that's pretty much the only rational response anyway: "Oh yeah? Well" *flails* "~FEELS~ So there!!11!1!!"

... Now I think of it, that's pretty much what Jack does. Only with a violin.

:D :D :D

(no subject)

Date: 2013-05-18 06:12 am (UTC)
alltoseek: (Default)
From: [personal profile] alltoseek
there is no denying that there's a whole visual vocabulary

Considering you could not possibly have done a post on ~feels~ without the gifs, yes, there is certainly no denying it!

It's funny, because now people will respond with a gif without even using the gif:

popcorn.gif

crushedbyfeels.gif

werenotacouple.gif
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