View source for Fanspeak

{{Short description|Jargon from science fiction fan groups}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=September 2008}}
{{More footnotes|date=November 2009}}
{{Notability|date=December 2023}}
}}

{{sister
|project=wiktionary
|text=See the [[Wiktionary:Appendix:Fanspeak|Fanspeak appendix]] in [[Wiktionary]], the free dictionary
}}
'''Fanspeak''' is the [[slang]] or [[jargon]] current in [[science fiction fandom|science fiction and fantasy fandom]], especially those terms in use among readers and writers of [[science fiction fanzine]]s.

Fanspeak is made up of [[acronym]]s, blended words, obscure in-jokes, [[pun]]s, coinages from science fiction novels or films, and archaic or standard English words used in specific ways relevant or amusing to the science fiction community.

==Evolution==

Most{{cn|date=December 2023}} of the terms used in fanspeak have spread to members of the [[Society for Creative Anachronism]], [[Renaissance Fair]] participants, [[Fantasy football (American)|fantasy football]] players, and [[internet]] [[Personal computer game|gaming]] and [[online chat|chat]] [[fan (aficionado)|fan]]s, due to the social and contextual intersection between the communities.

Common examples of widespread usages are:{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}
* ''fen'' as the plural of ''fan''
* ''fannish'' "of or relating to fans and fandom"
* ''gafiate'' (verb), an acronym for "getting away from it all" (i.e., leaving fandom, temporarily or permanently)
* ''fafiate'' (verb), an acronym for "forced away from it all" (i.e., being forced to leave fandom for personal or professional reasons)

A few fannish terms have become standard English, such as [[fanzine]], short for "'''fan''' maga'''zine'''", coined by [[Russ Chauvenet]] in 1940, which swiftly replaced the older term ''fanmag''.

Conversely, some fannish terms have been made obsolete by changes in technology (the decline of the [[mimeograph]] has doomed ''corflu'' for "[[correction fluid]]"), cultural changes (a ''femmefan'' [female fan] is no longer unusual) or the mere passage of time (''[[slan shack]]'' for "a house where a bunch of fans live together" has faded, since fewer young fans have read ''[[Slan]]'' by [[A. E. van Vogt]]). ''Slan'' also produced one of the most common fan idioms: "Fans are [[slan]]s". 
Fanspeak is so interwoven into the fabric of fandom that it is difficult to discuss fandom without resorting to fannish terms such as ''[[fanac]]'' "fannish activity" or ''[[filk|filk music]]'' (originally a typo for "folk music").

==Sociology==
Like other forms of jargon, fanspeak serves as a means of inclusion and exclusion within the fannish community. In the 1970s, the use of traditional fanspeak separated the [[fanzine]] and [[science fiction convention|convention]]-attending subcommunity (sometimes distinguished as ''trufen'' or "true fans") from fans of science fiction movies and television shows (''mediafen'').  The division of the community into trufen and others is rejected by many fans as inherently unfannish.<ref>[http://stilyagi.org/content/fanspeak-dictionary Fanspeak Dictionary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013173118/http://stilyagi.org/content/fanspeak-dictionary |date=2010-10-13 }}: see entry ''trufan''</ref>

Today, subsets of fanspeak define subcommunities within fandom.  
For example, ''ringers'' for "fans of [[The Lord of the Rings]]" is used primarily by fans of the [[Peter Jackson]] films (see also [[Tolkien fandom]]).

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://fanac.org/Fannish_Reference_Works/Fancyclopedia/Fancyclopedia_I/ Fancyclopedia I] by John Bristol ([[Jack Speer]]), the Fantasy Foundation, 1944
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20011006033408/http://www.sff.net/people/diccon/cyindex.htm Fancyclopedia II] published 1959
*[https://fancyclopedia.org/Fancyclopedia_3/ Fancyclopedia III] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727211744/https://fancyclopedia.org/Fancyclopedia_3 |date=2021-07-27 }}, a wiki incorporating the first two Fancyclopedias and supplemented by other sources and ongoing contributions, led by Jim Caughran (though 2010), Mark Olson. Jack Weaver and Joe Siclari 
*[http://www.fantasymaps.com/stuff/fanspeak.html Overview of Fanspeak] This was originally posted in rec.arts.sf.fandom in 1999 by Cally Soukup, summarizing a talk by speech therapist [[Karyn Ashburn]] at [[Minicon]].
*[https://www.jstor.org/stable/455177 "The Language of Science-Fiction Fan Magazines," Bruce Southard, ''American Speech'', Vol. 57, No. 1. (Spring, 1982), pp. 19-31]
*[http://fanlore.org/wiki/Category:Glossary Fanlore] A fan wiki with a large section dedicated to defining fandom terminology

===Glossaries===
*[http://fanac.org/Fannish_Reference_Works/Fan_terms/ Dr. Gafia's Fan Terms] by rich brown
*[http://fanac.org/Fannish_Reference_Works/FandBook/FandBook.html Fandbook No. 1: A key to the terminology of science-fiction fandom] by Donald Franson for the National Fantasy Fan Federation, 1962.  A classic glossary that predates laser printers, the internet, and media fandom.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050731085633/http://stilyagi.org/fanspeak.html FanSpeak Dictionary of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association]
*[http://www.readersadvice.com/cons/glossary.html Fanspeak Glossary at ReadersAdvice.com]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050916000703/http://www.uleth.ca/edu/runte/ncfguide/fangloss.htm Fanspeak Glossary at the NCF Guide]
*[http://www.efanzines.com/NeofansGuide1/index.htm The Neo-Fan's Guide] edited by Bob Tucker (1955) at eFanzines. Another classic glossary that predates laser printers, the internet, and media fandom.
*[https://archive.today/20121224024035/http://fanspeak.org.uk/ The Conbledegook File]

{{Fandom}}
{{Science fiction}}
{{Fantasy fiction}}

[[Category:Fanspeak| ]]
[[Category:Language varieties and styles]]
[[Category:Science fiction fandom]]
[[Category:Fantasy fandom]]