Origin of the word 'Scifi'

[Qasim]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCIFI

Sci-fi is an abbreviation for science fiction. It was coined in 1954 by Forrest J. Ackerman as a pun on the term "hi-fi". Most science fiction fans at the time reacted negatively to the word. An alternative abbreviation, SF, is also in use though "sci-fi" is more common among the general public outside science fiction fandom, much to the consternation of serious science fiction fans and writers. Despite the almost universal acceptance of "sci-fi" as a synonym for the genre, many science fiction fans still cringe when they hear it.

[Scoobing]

Do you cringe when you hear it? I don't.

[Qasim]

No I dont

[MarshAngel]

Maybe it's just my inner geek shining through but I actually think the word's kind of cool.

[Wyrminarrd]

I´ve always liked sci-fi, most just be really old scince fiction fans that don´t like it

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Do you cringe when you hear it? I don't.

Neither do I. Love your sig, how'd you make it?

[Lt. Colonel Ryu Gaia]

!!! The word from which 'Sci' comes is science, which is derived from the latin verb Scio, which the Ancients shaped with their own language, so is the abbreviation of Sci Fi ultimately the creation of itself?

[Madeleine]

I prefer SF to Sci Fi. For some reason I pronounce "SF" in my head as "science fiction" but "sci fi" only ever as sci fi.

[Agent_Dark]

I prefer SF to Sci Fi. For some reason I pronounce "SF" in my head as "science fiction" but "sci fi" only ever as sci fi.

I dunno, if you were to say SF to me out loud I would assume 'Security Forces' or 'Special Forces'. Sci-Fi sounds abit more catchy and unique imo.

[Qasim]

I didnt know about SF until I read the quote in my first post

[KatG]

I dunno, if you were to say SF to me out loud I would assume 'Security Forces' or 'Special Forces'. Sci-Fi sounds abit more catchy and unique imo.

I'd probably assume the same thing. Does that mean I watch too many military shows? 8)

I have no problem with the term SciFi. I actually think it sounds pretty cool. I mean it's fiction about science. Doesn't mean the science isn't true or possible.

[Madeleine]

Maybe it's an English thing. Bookshops here label it SF or Science Fiction, and you get anthologies of SF but not of Sci Fi. (Also here we don't have the term 'special forces'.)

[Metarock Sam]

I think Sci-Fis a great name and has great potential. Its great that it was coined with hi fi cos in those days sci fi was on tapes and you listened to it on your hi-fi so thats prob why it was called sci fi.

[shockwave]

I like scifi too

[Albion]

Sci-Fi had a bad press a couple of decades ago, and I can remember that most 'serious' fans cringed when it was used. Mainly because the media seized it and used it at every opportunity when talking about Trek fans in a derogatory 'geez, aren't these guys freaks' way. It had the same connotations for most fans as 'Trekkies' did back then. So, yes, I do recall a time when fans insisted on using SF and Trekker in an attempt to disassociate themselves from the real weird greeks that the media always seem able to find when they're doing a piece about SF.

I think nowadays though, that's mostly gone by the wayside and few fans really care either way what they're called. They just have fun with their chosen genre. I think mainly because fans are a lot more confident now in their liking for SF. Back in the old days, it could be an isolating experience. Society thought you were weird, the only time you were able to connect with other fans was at the odd convention and that was an expensive business at times...

As an example of that general attitude society had...I was, many years ago now, hospitalised briefly for severe depression. The place was awful and I rapidly got more depressed while being there! On the second day, I had gotten very upset and a nurse came to speak with me. I tried to explain how anxious I was feeling about being there. Her response? "Yes, well you read Sci-Fi, don't you? So, you're bound to feel out of whack with the real world." Realising, as I spoke with her further, that this idiot believed that liking SF equated to you suffering from a mental illness, and completely horrified by that, I rapidly booked myself out of there, pronto before she put me in a straightjacket! <g>

SF could get you into trouble too, mind you. I remember an Irish friend being stopped at the airport on his way back to Dublin from a convention in Glasgow and being quizzed for two hours by security. They thought the SF on the badge he was wearing stood for Sinn Fein - the Irish terrorist organisation.

Over the last decade or two, of course, it's become much more socially acceptable to say you're a SF fan. No one blinks twice at it. The net has made that even more of the case and fans are more able to see that there are millions of others out there just like them, getting excited over the same shows, enjoying the same movies, the media has cottoned on to the fact that SF fans aren't just geeks, but cover the range right through society, movie and TV producers have realised that there's a market there they can tap into and provide for...so fans don't feel like the freak in the corner any more, convinced they're the only one in the world nuts enough to do this.

And thank heavens for that.

Albion