is a squee anything like a squeal?

Very much like a squeal... only pitched slightly higher. If sustained long enough, will make paint peel off of the walls.

*passes out earplugs to the guys*

Don't forget Nymphy -- I think she'll want a pair too.

Um...

SQUEE is an exclamation of joy. It's also a verb. You can 'squee' over something. You can be filled with 'squee'.

SQUEE is the opposite of SQUICK. Squick is to be grossed out or mortified about something. Like squee, it can be a noun or a verb. (ie, you can be 'squicked out' about something or you can be filled with 'squick').

An example would be thus:

I met Micheal Shanks this weekend and I as like SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

(True story, I did...I went to a SG con.)

OR

I read a fanfic that totally squicked me out because it had a really graphic sex scene.

A friend, who is sitting right here now, reminds me of the breadbox edition SG stories, in which the author attempts to describe the definition of squee.

Her definition includes the fact that the first time she came across this term it was in 24 point font and bright purple. Yep, that's squee.

Another example I can think of is when someone asked Beau Bridges at the Vancouver SG con last year who made him squee. He didn't know the term, so someone explained it. And then he says, 'Bob Dillon'.

He then told about how he went to a party with his wife several years ago and he freaked out completely when he saw Bob Dillon across the room and that he just wanted to go shake his hand but he was too scared.

Everybody squees, even Beau Bridges.

So, squee is that feeling you get when you get really stupid excited and a big goofy grin spreads over your face and you can't say anything except...duh...and maybe drool a little bit or notch up the hero worship stargazing and you nudge your neighbor and say 'oh, my god! that's so and so!'

Get it?

Oh, and for the record, the SG con I went to this weekend...

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE for Paul McGillion!!! He was just lovely!!! In every way. Micheal Shanks was great and I had a lovely (if incredibly caffeinated) conversation with him Sunday morning, but Paul was the nicest guy and made me feel really special and talked to me like a real person, so my squee award for the weekend goes to Mr. McGillion, from one Mac to another.

So, for me, squee doesn't make a sound. It can manifest as a sound (think of teenage girls screaming), but men do it, too, and everyone shows their squee in very individual ways. Take me, for example. My squee from this past weekend is currently being manifested by me going and getting this pic out of my autograph collection (not framed yet, so not hanging yet, as I just got it on Saturday) and smiling at it and then quoting Paul McGillion when he gave it to me.

And by me doing this, of course...

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Attached Image

Choice squeeage!

Just a query - is Gatecon an annual event? If so, does anyone know where it will be held in 2009?

I believe Gatecon is annual, but I doubt that they've decided where the 2009 event will be -- they've got their hands full with 2008!

And a note on squick: the term originated on Usenet back in the early 1990's (different sources argue violently over who actually coined the word, and when, and in what specific context), which I think makes it somewhat older than squee. One etymology has it coined from the words "squeamish" and "icky", and an alternate etymology is too disgusting to be repeated, especially here.

It figures that the negative term predates the positive one . . .

Agreed on Gatecon 2009, and on the word 'squick'.

As a huge X-Files fan, I can say that most fandom words, like ship and shipper and noromo and whump and all that came from TXF, but I don't recall squick and squee much then.

As more than a few sites contest, The X-Files is 'the be all and end all of fandom', but those two words...well, I'm just not sure we can claim.

I can't exactly say where those two originated...

For me, it was within the Stargate fandom.

Oh, and Loth, yes indeed choice squeeage there. Paul was just the nicest guy. I can't tell you how great he was. I was really looking forward to seeing him, but unlike most stars, he far exceeded my expectations. Nothing I'd imagined was as cool as him in real life. He remembered my name and looked me in the eye and talked to me and when he said 'thank you' at the end of our small bit of his time, I think he meant it. (Yes, he's an actor, so who knows, but I think he is very overwhelmed at the Save Carson Beckett campaign...so, anyway...it was just really, really nice.)

Oh yeah... I'd SQUEEE for Paul. Nice picture!

I've never been to a con... Never wanted to 'til RDA went to Avalon. I absolutely loved Stargate, but... oh well. Maybe someday.

Hopefully 2009 Gatecon will be the US. *crosses fingers*