Reviewing staples.

[farla]

It occurred to me that a lot of people say "original" when what they mean is "unusual."

Comments

[negrek.livejournal.com]

Quite true. But I think that a lot of the people who squee over how "original" something is haven't really read many fanfictions; it really may be their first time seeing such a concept, and therefore assume that it's unique to that author.

[farla.livejournal.com]

Hm, maybe, but I don't see it much in that context. Back when you first start reading, everything seems original, even the tenth time you see it. Admittedly that's probably part of it, but the fact it appears in phrases like "How original, I've only see that a couple of times before..." and such suggests they know it isn't unique.