Huh. That's a new one to me. Do you know if it would normally be written 'shipping or without the apostrophe?

@Andrew the linked article doesn't use an apostrophe and this definition doesn't either: idioms.thefreedictionary.com/shipping Slang is generally punctuation averse I think.

New one on me, too, but according to the Wikipedia definition, it's misused; Fans have wanted these characters to ship; not:" fans having been shipping these two". A lot of internet writing is very low quality. And doesn't even reflect good usage of actual slang word ship as defined.

@Lambie I think "misused" is too strong a word considering this is slang. Truth be told though, I’m most interested in shipping my favorite character: Arya.

@Lambie well "to ship" is a verb so it follows that it would follow standard verb forms so "fans have been shipping" is the perfectly valid present perfect continuous tense of "to ship"

@Lambie To ship two characters is correct. Often the character names will be combined to form a relationship name. So for example, for the show Gossp Girl, some fans were "Chair shippers" and other fans were "Dair shippers". Chair shippers wanted Chuck and Blair to have a relationship, and Dair shippers wanted Dan and Blair to have a relationship. A common usage might be "OMG I ship Dan and Blair so hard". Read this answer again. "To ship" does not mean to have a relationship. It's to want two characeters to have a relationship.

@Lambie from the Wikipedia article you refer to "The actual term "shipping" was originated in the mid-1990s by internet fans of the TV show The X-Files, who believed the two main characters, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, should be or were engaged in a romantic relationship" Also I am in fandoms with active shippers and shipping. The term "to ship" means "to put them in a relationship". At least in the common parlance.

@Lambie also from wikipedia: ""Ship" and its derivatives in this context have since come to be in wide and versatile use. "Shipping" refers to the phenomenon; a "ship" is the concept of a fictional couple; to "ship" a couple means to have an affinity for it in one way or another; a "shipper" or a "fangirl/boy" is somebody significantly involved with such an affinity; a "Shipping war" is when two ships contradict each other, causing fans of each ship to argue."

@ToddWilcox Now, you are upping the ante. Be a shipper would mean: to want them to have a relationship. The characters may ship [be romantically involved] but the fans cannot ship them. Fans want them to ship. By the way, I read the entry carefully. ship comes from: relationship, to have a relationship.

@Lambie Seeing as how Wikipedia and everyone else who has answered or commented here and every huge fan of Gossip Girl and several other shows disagrees with you, it might be that you are the one who is mistaken in this case. I've conversed with many fans of many fandoms and the truth is common usage is "I ship those two characters". Nothing you write here will change how people actually talk.

You seem to be missing the grammar here. I'm done. The fans want them to ship. They ship. Good. But the wants cannot "ship" them.

@Lambie it doesn't have to be official to the source in order to ship two characters. Fandoms often have rich "fan canons" which are unofficial but fun for fans of the work.

@Lambie At least in American English, grammar has virtually nothing to do with common usage. If you want to understand what an American is saying, you will want to ignore grammar about half the time, if not more.

@Todd Wilcox Even AmE slang follows some order. You say: whassup man, You don't say: whassdown man, right? Or: whassaround with that, man? The writer did not express him/herself well. According to the logic of the term. Fans have had them shipping for years. Yes.

@Todd Wilcox Grammar does not mean standard grammar. The grammar of (spoken) speech is an entire field. And is very in tune with how people actually speak and not rules. This however was an internet writer who could have done better.

@Lambie can you provide one source of ship meaning as you suggest it does (i.e. that "to ship" means to "be in a relationship")? The other evidence all seems to favor it meaning to desire some pairing. You say it's about grammar, but that's a stretch. Either definition could be right and thus how to use it follows from it, but it's also possible that it could have two slightly different meanings with different usages (compare: to marry -- "Bob marries Sue" vs "The pastor married three couples last weekend")

@Jake Since you have some expertise, maybe another answer clarifying the usage would be helpful to future visitors?

I'm confused by the apparent controversy here. "To ship" means to desire that two people be in a relationship. Wiktionary, Urban Dictionary, TV Tropes

There's no grammatical confusion here, just a definitional one. "To ship" simply does not mean "to be in a relationship"