Hi All--
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net wrote:
> So it's not the term science fiction that's
offensive, but its
> truncation to sci fi?
>
The original term, coined by Hugo Gernsback, was
"scientifiction," but that was quickly abandoned due to sheer
clunkiness. Science fiction
(and I have no idea who was responsible for the term), and
its abbreviation, SF, rapidly became current with no
competitors, and it stayed on top until the 60s. Ackerman had
relentlessly promoted
"sci-fi" but he was the only real proponent until Susan
Sontag happened to run across some SF books. She basically
said, "Oh, how cute! How campy!" and picked up Ackerman's
term. Because she was famous, the termed gained currency
where before it had none.
Gary Kurtz, producer of the 1st Star Wars film, was booed at
Suncon
(World SF convention in Miami) in '71 at the awards banquet
because he told the audience how happy he was to be at a
"sci-fi" convention.
SF and science fiction are not pejorative; sci-fi is, not
because it's truncated, but because it's dismissive and
condescending. To SF fans, it's the equivalent of calling an
adult "boy" or "girl."
Metta, Ivan
-- Ivan Van Laningham God N Locomotive Works http://www.andi-holmes.com/ http://www.python.org/workshops/1998-11/proceedings/papers/laningham/laningham.html Army Signal Corps: Cu Chi, Class of '70 Author: Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 26 Oct 2007 EDT