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Fan Terms (1)

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Dr Gafia

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Oct 3, 1998, 3:00:00 AM10/3/98
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Is it again past time to post this fan dictionary substitute to
rasff? Maybe. The caveats: FanCy III this be not, but with
the help of a righteous (well, fair, anyway) number of people
it's a pretty good list of fan terms, at least as they exist
within mainstream fannish fanzine fandom. Where these terms
appear on a web site maintained by Roxanne Graham-Smith at:

http:www.fentonnet.com/smithway/fstuff/other.html

they are being used as a supplement to another listing of fan
terms ANYway, namely Arnie Katz's TRUFAN'S ADVISOR.

These terms are also being posted to the rec.arts.sf.fandom
news group, even though I (rich brown a.k.a. DrGafia@aolcom)
am no longer a participant in that group otherwise; hence,
all corrections must be posted to me _directly_ rather than
via the news group.

For the record, this listing is dated October 1998; the most
recent set of fan terms was posted in April. If you find them
at all useful, keep in mind tht Anita Rowland, Gary Farber and
Jim Singleton provided help beyond the call and deserve all the
extra special credit they can get.

To the best of our ability, we include only terms coined and
used in traditional sf convention and fanzine fandom or net
terms which have won acceptance by the closest on-line parallel
--i.e., the rec.arts.sf.fandom news group. Most definitely
excluded are terms that come from sf rather than the community
of sf fandom and "net" language, excepting (subjective judgment
involved here) where such terms may be relevant to "fan"
language. Thus, you won't find the sf term 'ftl' defined here
as faster-than-light; if used here at all, it would be as the
initials of the late Francis Towner Laney. Quibble anytime you
disagree with these distinctions or definitions; I've been
known to change my mind from time to time. Not often, true,
but it does happen.

Katie Rathslag (rath...@research.inland.com) was responsible
for the listing of fan terms on which this is based; when I got
on line, I commented on some and critiqued others, then sat
back waiting to see if another version might appear either soon
or Soon (as we used to say in SAPS). One didn't, so I stepped
forward with a listing of my own and now pipple are sending me
their clarifications, interpretations, suggestions and comments
at DrG...@aol.com or, just as good, posted to rasff. Further
additions and suggested corrections are always welcome.

Contributors to this process thus far include Rich Brandt
(RB--not to be confused with moi, rb), Seth Breidbart (SB),
Chris Croughton (CC), Steven J. Dunn (SD). Gary Farber (GF),
Dick Eney (DE), Beth Friedman (BF), Janice Gelb (JG), Marc S.
Glasser (MG), Rob Hansen (RH), Patrick Nielsen Hayden (PNH),
Mary Kay Kare (MKK), Morris M. Keesan (MK), Nancy Lebowitz
(NL), Loren MacGregor (LM), Tom Perry (TP), D. Potter (DP),
Leslie Powell (LP), Ray Radlein (RR), Katie Rathslag (KR),
David E. Romm (DR), Cecil Rose (CR), Vicki Rosenzweig (VR), Zev
Sero (ZS), Alan Swain (AS), Dick & Leah Zeldes Smith (D&LZS),
Lawrence Watt-Evans (LW-E) and Mike Weber (MW).

[Note: All "DE" entries thus far represent places where I have
had to dig out my copy of FanCy II to fill in details. There
are probably any number of other places where any number of us
are going on what we first read there; there doesn't seem to be
a proper way to credit this, except to acknowledge that it is
most probably the case.]

One place where I still could use a lot of help is regarding
the apas. There are now a few hundred, some not really part of
our microcosm but most that are, and I know virtually nothing
first-hand about them. See what has already been written with
regard to the apas I _do_ know about and try to give me
something of similar length and depth about those I don't.
You will be credited with the item, per the above.


@! PARTY:
A party (at an sf convention) usually attended only or largely
by netters and their friends. Attendees gain access by stating
their net address. (KR)

ACTIFAN:
Short for "Active Fan". Implies activity in fanzine fandom and
usually at least one other major area (conventions, clubs, on-
line activity) of the microcosm. (Archaic term, but making a
comeback.) (rb)

AJAY: (aka "A.J." for Amateur Journalism)
The name which the hobby printers who belong to the mundane
amateur press associations (essentially, the National, American
and United Amateur Press Associations, or NAPA, AAPA and UAPA
for short) have given to their hobby. Ajay dates back to the
end of the 19th century, and thus predates our microcosm; our
apas are in part inspired by their hobby. These earliest
mundane versions differed from fandom's in two important
respects—-theirs have neither minimum activity requirements
(see MINAC) nor any limit on number of members. Most of the
participants in the mundane apas are hobby printers—-and the
disdain with which our fandom once viewed Xeroxing of fanzines
is but a pale reflection of the way mundane apans have looked
upon the mimeo and the ditto as a means of publishing "papers"
(as they call their amateur publications). However, hobby
writers have made up an Important Segment at different times in
their history as well, the most notable of whom from our
perspective was probably Howard Phillips Lovecraft, who
distributed his journal THE ALCHEMIST through AAPA and UAPA
before and during WWI. As a result of coming in contact with
and being favorably impressed by the maturity of mundane apans,
some of the Insurgents of the late 1940s, notably Francis T.
Laney, began calling themselves "amateur journalists" or simply
"amateurs" because they felt the Gernsbackian designation
(fans) was too closely associated with "fanatic" (and that the
fans of the period were too juvenile). This aspect of
Insurgentism attracted a few followers, but never became widely
popular. Walt Willis, whose "Serious Constructive
Insurgentism" was a counter to Laney's, nonetheless presented a
convincing argument, overcoming those who used "amateur" as a
pejorative, by pointing out that the term comes from the Latin
"amare," which means "to love"; thus, amateurs are people who
do things for the love of doing them and those who feel
"professionals" are invariably superior to "amateurs" are
doomed to preferring the ministrations of a gigolo or gold-
digger to those of a willing and imaginative lover. (rb)

ANIME:
Name once given to generally stfnal Japanimation. The problem
is, "anime" is a mundane term used by store clerks, not just
used (or misused) solely by fandom, and it applies to all forms
of Japanese animation, not just sf. Further, there are those
who object to the term "Japanimation"--understandably, as the
attempt to make a true portmanteau word of "Japan" and
"animation" unfortunately comes out a racial slur ("Jap
animation"). Others say calling it Japanimation is to Otaku
[as the fans sometimes call themselves] as calling science
fiction "sci-fi" is to lots of folks around here. (rb/GF/RR)

ANNISHTHESIA
See "Nydahl's Disease".

APA: (Amateur Press Association)
A bulletin board system conducted through snail mail that
produces actual apazine artifacts. For each "mailing" or
"distribution," members contribute self-written apazines
(usually pre-printed personal informal fanzines; sometimes the
Official Editor will do printing for members and some apas even
accept emailed zines which are then printed by the OE). In any
event, many apazines include or consist mostly or entirely of
comments on the contributions published in the previous
mailing/distribution. Contributions are sent to group's OE
[the actual title may vary], who makes up distributions/-
mailings consisting of one copy of each zine and gives (in the
case of a distribution) or mails (in the case of a mailing)
them out to each member. To remain a member, one must meet
minimum activity (minac) requirements, usually defined as a
certain number of pages of original material within a given
timeframe, plus (in most instances) dues to defray the costs of
postage and publication of an Official Organ (OO). Some apas
are designed for discussion on specific topics (e.g., APA 69,
sex; REHUPA, the Robert E. Howard apa; CAPRA, the movie apa,
etc.) while most are general interest. (rb/NL)

APAE:
Plural of APA. But not much used. Fans say "Data is" too,
even when they're not talking about the android or making a
statement like "'Data' is a plural." (rb)

APA-F:
The first weekly amateur press association. The (largely
overlapping) membership of Fanoclasts and FISTFA of the 1960's
met on alternate Fridays in New York City; Dave Van Arnam and
various Fanoclasts got involved in an incident on a subway (see
"Subway Incident") after one meeting which Dave was urged to
write up. He began doing so in a weekly fanzine he named FIRST
DRAFT, which he distributed at FISTFA and Fanoclasts meetings;
Dave was a professional mimeographer who lived in The Bronx but
worked near Times Square, and it made more sense for him to
stay after work on a Friday and while away the time pleasantly,
writing the zine, than it did to leave work at the usual time,
travel to the Bronx, and then turn around and come back to
lower Manhattan (for FISTFA) or the fringes of Bay Ridge,
Brooklyn (for Fanoclasts). When others began publishing and
bringing fanzines to the meetings for distribution in a similar
vein, an OO was published on site and APA-F got started. It
was deliberate;u killed off after 69 mailings by generally
mutual agreement; it was amusing for a while, but frequently
led to people sitting around reading the zines (rather than
interacting) at Fanoclast and FISTFA meetings—-which were
nominally supposed to be bi-weekly parties. But see: APA-L.
(rb)

APAHACK:
Somebody who expends most of their fan writing and publishing
activity in apas. Sometimes those who are apreading themselves
thin taking part in half a dozen or more apae simultaneously.
(VR)

APA-L:
The second weekly apa, distributed at meetings of LASFS. While
APA-F was in its infancy, word of it got back to Los Angeles
fans, some of whom began contributing from afar (having someone
in NYC act as agent, franking their zine into the APA-F and
picking up a copy of the distribution to be mailed to them).
In a short period, LASFS instituted its own apa along similar
lines—-but in this case the apa continues to this day. Some
interesting records were achieved as a result: When both groups
were going concerns, Dave Van Arnam was publishing four weekly
fanzines simultaneously--two for APA-F and two for APA-L--some
of them 20pp or more in length. Fred Patten was the "Cal
Ripkin" of APA-L, having a contribution in each of the first
1000 APA-L distributions. (That's one thousand--not a typo.)
The actual number without a miss went well over that; we
haven't heard from anyone in LASFS that the string has been
broken. (rb/CR)

APA-NYU
See NYUSFS.

APAZINE:
An apazine is any zine distributed through an apa, whether or
not it has any additional outside circulation. (rb)

AUTOCLAVE:
The first fanzine fan's convention. A good idea that lasted
several years: AutoClave 1 was in May 1976 in Detroit;
AutoClave 2 was in July 1977, also in Detroit. AutoClave 3 was
in July 1978 in Southfield, Michigan. There was no AutoClave
in 1979, but there were two subsequent AutoClaves, held in
(July?) 1980 and 1981 in Detroit, the actual months (for the
moment) being guestimation in one case and lost in the mists of
time in the other. Attendees recall them fondly enough but,
for whatever reason, enthusiasm waned and there were no further
fanzine fan's conventions until Corflu hove on the scene.
(PNH/GF/DR/LZS/DP)

BALCONY INSURGENTS: A small groups of fans who attended NYCon
II attempted to hear the banquet speech without paying $7 for
rubber chicken--first by hanging out in front of the hall and
then by moving to the balcony. They included but may not have
been limited to Bob Tucker, Boyd Raeburn, Ted White, Ron Ellik,
Larry Stark, Jean & Andy Young, Dick Eney and Richalex Kirs. In
both cases they were told "Dave Kyle says you can't sit here"--
which they laughed at and later turned into a catchphrase that
appeared in many fanzines. Kyle, as chairman of NyCon II, had
effectively over-promised/under-sold the banquet, which put the
con in the red. He had the doors closed on fans waiting in the
hallway, declaring that those who hadn't paid for the banquet
shouldn't get to hear Al Capp's GoH speech. When the same
people showed up in the balcony to hear the rest of the banquet
speeches and doings, it was felt he was continuing his pique by
telling them they couldn't stay there. In the 1990's, Kyle
wrote up the happening for MIMOSA and claimed for the first
time that it had all been a misunderstanding--a Fire Warden had
told him people were not allowed in the balcony but when he
sent one of his convention helpers to tell the fans sitting
there about it, the helper (apparently knowing no better) told
them it was Dave who said they couldn't sit there. (rb/DE)

BEARDMUTTERINGS
(1) A kind of poetry invented by damon knight in which there
are no spaces between words, indicating that it should be
declaimed as one long word: openeyestodarknessstillness-
feelwormscrawlingovermeohmyGodcoulditbethatIamdead?
(2) Title of a fanzine published in the '70s and '80s by rich
brown. (rb)

BHEER:
Beer. Some fans may stick an "h" into a word like "Beer" or
"Beerbust" not realizing that they are implying an affinity for
the fannish ghod Ghu (or GhuGhu). Then ,too, there are those
who regard Beer (or Bheer) as a minor fannish deity unto
itself. Thus, Berkeley Fandom's Tower of Bheer Cans to the
Moon is both a totem poll and a technological marvel. (rb)

BIRDBATH:
A totem of Harlan Ellison et al.'s 7th Fandom. Don't ask why;
it's a bit of whimsy. (rb)

BLOG:
A fannish drink, like bheer. The present version, we are told,
is a punch, often served with dry ice. According to Fancy II,
it has come to be used for all the indefinable concoctions of
alcohol and other things usually too hideous to mention which
go the rounds of fan clubs and conventions. It started with
Liverpool Fandom, first as the supposed sponsor of their taped
faanfiction play "The March of Slime," then by hanging a "Drink
Blog" sign at First Kettering (with the cooperation of the
bartender); anyone who asked (including a few mundanes) was
told they were "out" and didn't expect the next shipment until
the next day, but later the barman made up a mixture of cider
and rum to sell. The first fan concoction to bear the name was
eggflip, brandy, bits of Tia Maria, Beecham's powder, aspirin,
Benedictine, Alka-Seltzer, black currant juice, a touch of
mustard and "other things". (SD/DE)

BNF:
Big Name Fan; a fan of accomplishment who is not merely "well
known" but "well liked" throughout the microcosm. It is
important to note that, unlike certain other designations
(e.g., "fan", "neofan", "trufan") one cannot legitimately claim
BNFdom for one's self; to do so invites derisive laughter since
it's a term of admiration--if not applied to you by others,
your conceit is implied. (Consider: Other people can call you
"marvelous" but if you tell others that you're marvelous....)
Since fandom is an anarchistic meritocracy, a BNF has status
but no real power. (rb)

BOF:
Initially stood for "Best Of Fandom"; several fanthologies bore
the title with the appropriate year attached "Best of Fandom
'57," "Best of Fandom '58," "Best of Fandom '63" &c. Now
usually called Fanthologies; Corflu has generally (but not
always) published an annual best-of-the-year volume since
Corflu Ocho. But another meaning for BoF has crept into usage:
Boring Old Fart. A salvo fired by those who are bored by any
talk of fandom before they came on the scene (since nothing of
importance could have possibly happened without them). See
"SBOF". (rb/RB)

BOONDOGGLE:
a.k.a. "Breen Boondoggle. See "Exclusion Acts".

BRANDONIZATION:
After Carl Joshua Brandon, who turned out to be a hoax created
by Terry Carr, Ron Ellik, Pete Graham and Dave Rike. Carl's
specialty was writing full-scale fannish parodies that went
quite a bit beyond pastiche; they were close to word-for-word
translations of certain mundane works into parallel fannish
terms and happenings. Brandon's parody of J.D. Salinger's _The
Catcher in the Rye_ has Holden Caufield getting kicked out of
FAPA rather than an exclusive boarding school, living in a slan
shack instead of a dormitory, interacting with other fans
rather than school mates and faculty &c. By elevating fannish
concerns to such levels, the works often served as effective
satires as well. (rb)

BROOKLYN INSURGENTS:
New York's third club (and second invitational club) to be made
up almost exclusively of fanzines fans, begun in the late '60s
and continued through the early '70s. Noted for not really
insurging against much of anything, except the same thing
insurgents had been insurging against since the '40s. Co-
founded by Arnie Katz and rich brown, initially called
"Raymond" (until the joke wore thin), held first in the
apartment of rich & Colleen Brown and later in the apartment of
Arnie & Joyce Katz. (rb)

BYDCO_M_Z!
An apa term, the letter "M" being underlined, standing for "But
You Didn't Comment On _My_ Zine (so I'm not going to comment
on yours)!". The parenthetical comment is implied. (rb)

rich brown a.k.a. DrG...@aol.com

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