fannish

[Mark_Mandel at DRAGONSYS.COM]

Barry is investigating the dialect known as fannish or fanspeak. Concerning
"stf", on which he quotes as follows ---

>>>
     FANTASTIC ADVENTURES, August 1951, pg. 120, col. 1:

     Pardon my ignorance, but what does "stf" stand for?  "S-F" is obviously
science-fiction; is "stf" a variant?
     (...)
     _S-F stands for science fiction; while STF is just a variation meaning
scientific fiction,  ................Ed._
<<<

-- it's pretty much obsolete, AFAIK, but was pronounced, or -eable, /stef/, and
had the virtue of yielding the adjective "stfnal" /'stef.n at l/ [@=schwa]
'science-fictional'.

Fanac (fannish activity) can include attending a con (sf convention), pubbing a
zine, filking (writing, composing, or singing sf music; see
world.std.com/~mam/filk.html ), smoffing (running a con or other organized
fannish activity; < SMOF, acronym, "Secret Masters of Fandom"), and much more.

I have heard that a speech therapist at a recent Midwestern con gave a talk
claiming, and demonstrating, that many active fen (the plural; man : men ::...)
have discernable speech habits apart from lexis, but I don't know any more about
it.

I'm sure there are glossaries on line, but I don't know where. If anyone is
interested, I'll post a query in an appropriate newsgroup.

-- Mark
          Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/