You may think I'm hardworking and meticulous, blogging at 5 a.m., answering a question that came up in the comments to a post about how some Kamala Harris supporters "got caught up in the stan-ification of politics that became widespread in the extremely online political circles of the 2020 Democratic primaries."
I didn't think the word "stan-ification" merited attention, but more than one commenter showed what looked like genuine puzzlement, so I wrote:
"Stan" just means fan — an especially big fan. Originally, it was a stalking fan character in an Eminem song titled "Stan," someone you wouldn't want to be. But it's just a cutesy way to say "fan" now — like "rabid fan." You wouldn't want to be rabid, literally, but it became a trite way to say "big fan."
The "-ification" ending is too familiar to need explanation. Rush Limbaugh used to talk about the "chickification" of politics, so "the stan-ification of politics" should be easy. That's why I didn't expound on it in the post.
Now that I'm writing this post, I see that "stan" itself is actually in the OED, but what I looked up that led me to write this post was "fan." There are examples of "fan" — for fanatic — in the 17th century, but the current usage begins in the late 19th century. There is separate attention paid to "fanboy" and to "fangirl." I love the quotes the OED finds to illustrate the usage over time, and I noticed, under "fangirl," an obscure example from 2002, "I'm the crippled writer; she's the obsessive fangirl," from something called "Shit Magnet." I googled the quote, and look at this. I found the original "Shit Magnet" text and exactly one other thing, that OED entry:
পোস্টগুলি
৪০টি মন্তব্য:
Shit moving in a magnetic field, owing to induced electric polarization, becomes a dust magnet.
Somewhst related - "shit screen" was an expression in the Navy for someone above you in the hierarchy who would stop/at least filter the "shit" coming from further up, rather than just automatically letting it flow down the line. A very desired trait. If you were lucky, you had a "shit magnet" next to you, and a "shit screen" above you.
We live in Doublestandardstan now. Not sure who coined it, but they sure got THAT right.
Uzbekistan, Turkistan, Kazakhstan, etc.
The idea is factions.
The things I luurrnn'd on the Althouse blog. Don't go OCD on the OED. Especially when the shit hits the fan. And sump'n about chick magnets.
Jim Goad is a fantastic author and has such a poetic way with words.
"And Althouse wept, seeing as she had no more words to conquer."
Shit magnet with my morning coffee. I learn things from this blog I would never expect to run into in my life. Unexpected things at unexpected times.
Its what keeps me coming back.
I'm fairly certain that the OED is incorrect.
The "-stan" ification of politics is referring to various countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, etc. Countries that all in in the spelling "-stan." These are places where tribal politics trumps all. Religious politics.
That's right, I said "trumps."
We all know that the OED has that word wrong, too.
Some people are obviously shit magnets. Shirley you have known such people? I remember my wife calling one of my friends a shit magnet in the 1990's because he got into several major car accidents not his fault and also frequently was the first to arrive at major car accidents and watched one guy trapped inside his truck burn to death.
I first noticed stan in reference to stan accounts in twitter where the entire account is dedicated to a celebrity usually over the top in enthusiasm.
I just discovered irregardless in the OED. Had been taught it isn't a word, but read it in a Cambridge University publish history on the Spanish Civil War. It's a word, controversial, but has been around since 1795.
My first reaction to the meaning of "stan-ification" is what Mike Sylwester and Buckwheathikes referenced...identity politics.
"Uzbekistan, Turkistan, Kazakhstan, etc."
OED has a separate entry for that: "A country with a name ending in -stan; a central Asian country, esp. a republic which was formerly part of the Soviet Union."
The oldest example is from 1932:
1932 Times 7 Sept. 13/6 When all the land in the Stans is collectivized in cotton plantations, say the Soviet governors, then the wheat, meat and vegetables are to come over from the Ukraine, Siberia, and the Caucasus.
Later:
1987 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 13 Aug. ii. 8/1 We don't want it going to Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan or any other 'stan.
1993 A. J. Motyl Dilemmas of Independence 187 Ignoring Ukraine, Belarus, the ‘Stans’, and Central Europe is as wrong an answer to the problems of the former Soviet empire as there can be....
Please go back and read the post if you think The Daily Beast meant to refer to the Asian countries.
The article is "The KHive Retreats as Kamala Harris’ Popularity Vanishes/As Kamala Harris’ popularity has waned, so too has her support among her most rabid and online followers." It's about hyper-fans, not that politics is divided up into sectors, but that some people look at politicians the way they would pop idols.
Remember, according to leftists/dems/nevertrump (but I repeat myself) hardworking-ness and meticulousnous are both explicitly signs of white supremacy.
I can see there are many maoist struggle sessions ahead for Althouse.
I wish her well in the trying times ahead.
Re irregardless: my father preferred "disirregardless".
If we had no other context, the alternative theory of the meaning of "stan-ification" would be defensible, but the article is about human beings who are "stans." Here's some text from article:
"But even the #KHive has slowed its roll since 2020, with use of the hashtag on social media now being used to antagonize the vice president’s fandom as often as it is used to rally it. A Google Trends review shows that interest in the #KHive has decreased substantially since the 2020 election, and some of the biggest figures have left the movement, if one can leave a technically leaderless group of online stans....
"But some admitted they got caught up in the stan-ification of politics that became widespread in the extremely online political circles of the 2020 Democratic primaries. Coordinated harassment and doxing campaigns between supporters of Harris, Sanders, Yang, then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg and others caused increasingly frequent headaches for candidates, particularly when they targeted “rival” supporters, staff, and reporters who were seen as insufficiently based."
I think that the isolated factions meaning is more likely right, when discussing politics, like your post about “self enclosed urban brahmins.”
The last word of what I just quoted is also slang — "based."
Iranistan has a nice ring to it.
Scott Bixby, author of that Kamala piece, really likes that word. Here he is from two years ago, also writing about her:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kamala-harris-built-a-digital-army-now-she-gets-to-use-it
"No choice but to Stan"
The "Stanification" of politics is nothing new. It goes back at least as far as JFK>
The reviewers at Good Reads either loved "Shit Magnet" or hated it. They were also divided as to whether Jim Goad is a psychopath or a sociopath. Maybe the internet should come with a set of cards which give definitions of the various psychopathologies so everyone could come up with the correct diagnoses.
Lowlife memoirs could have quite an underground following, and even get one work writing on the internet. I wonder if that's what happened to Jim Goad or if he's just back in prison or dead (and indeed, he's still alive and writing and tweeting).
If you erase the title ("Shit Magnet")
and the subhead became the title
One Man's Miraculous Ability to Absorb the World's Guilt
It could easily be a Christian book about Jesus and the resurrection.
(Not reading it though -- I don't like shits, I don't like picking up after my dog, this morning in fact I did pick up after my dog, and I appreciate the reminder that I need to go wash my hands)
Peckish->hangry
Balkanization->stanification
Sin eater->Shit magnet
neato/keen->far out->cool->fetch->lit->based.
"Balkanization->stanification"
But please acknowledge that's not what "stan-ification" means in this article.
Thanks for this explanation. I know the Eminem song, but had never heard the word "stan" used to mean fan or extreme fan. Count me as another person who thought of the former soviet republics and took "stanification" as a synonym for balkanization. Which worked just fine in the excerpt.
And still does even if wrong.
If you are moved to tears by OED meticulousness, I would suggest watching "The Professor and the Madman," a 2019 film starring Mel Gibson and Sean Penn, about the work to create the first edition of what became the OED. Sadly it is no longer on Netflix, but I believe it is worth a rental fee.
Jim Goad? OED cited the work of a Taki Magazine writer and accused "alt-right" supporter?
Very surprising. He's a very good writer.
I've been on to Goad for years. A fine writer and social observer.
AFAIK he's alive and podcasting etc.
"Redneck Manifesto" is a classic.
I thought of it as the stan in Kurdistan.
A place for.
famous stans
As the one who first broached the idea that "stan-ification" referred to the former SSRs, to Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the South African bantustans, &c., I frankly don't believe that my idea is wrong, or that yours is necessarily superior. The usage of "stan" you supply hasn't hit my neck of the woods, anyway. And it's not so rural as all that; I live in Oregon's capital city, FWIW.
"But please acknowledge that's not what "stan-ification" means in this article."
I honestly don't think so, but maybe I have seen the word "stan" used as "enclave of believers" too many times already to accept this other, kind of weird, meaning.
Two words written identically but with different meanings... I think there's a word for such a creature.
When I first saw 'stan' used in the not-Uzbekistans/Bantustans sense (which in context I knew couldn't be right) I looked it up in Urban Dictionary and was given the Eminem/weird hyper-fan meaning. I believe this happened before I was able to easily consult the OED.
While I don't think I've ever been moved to tears at the little essays in the Dictionary (for whatever reason), it's surely true that the power and alchemy of words, of the word written and printed, seems to be lost to so many of the kids (and I'm most definitely including most of the writers at the NYT and The Atlantic etc etc) these days. They tell us that digital media in all its forms is something better but I don't believe them.
How in the hell can any of you be arguing that your (obviously incorrect) interpretation of "stans" is the right one? It is beyond stupid to be making that arguement. Althouse is 100% correct and it could not be more apparent. Sheesh...
See Simon Winchester's history of the OED. Fascinating.
Goad is a brilliant writer, wrongfully shunned as an alt-right racist even though he lived in almost entirely black neighborhoods in Atlanta until recently and got on quite fine. He didn't boo-hoo his way to the Ivy League or mock his roots and deny his personal failures. Redneck Manifesto is one of the most incisive books I've read. Plus it's hilarious. Minus the later gratuitous European-tinged anti-semitism, which is the Takimag vibe.
But how does the OED update their material so fast? Is this the online edition?
Ann,
I have since talked to my husband about this (he's a HS teacher, albeit in music) and he confirmed instantly your sense of "stan-." My apologies. He gets to hang out with teenagers; I don't. So consider my objection rescinded.
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