I work with a fellow from Japan who was never 
really into anime or super robots (my other 
hobby), but we still discuss Japanese culture and 
language.  Anyway, he is often confused by terms 
that I mention from cel collecting.  It seems that 
some of them don't mean much in Japanese and may 
only exist as part of this otaku subculture.

One such term is "yaoi".  He had never heard of it 
before.  The only thing he could tell me was that 
it sounded like somebody's name.

So can somebody here tell me where it came from?

:-)

JP