 The name arises from the use of the slash symbol (/) in mentions in the late '70s of K/S (meaning stories where Kirk and Spock had a romantic [and often sexual] relationship) as compared to the ampersand (&) conventionally used for K&S or Kirk and Spock "friendship" fiction.For a time, both "slash" and "K/S" (for "Kirk/Spock") were used interchangeably.Slash later spread to other fandoms, first "Starsky and Hutch", "Blake's 7", and "The Professionals", then many others, eventually creating a fandom based around the concept of slash.