we just had one of the dumbest arguments ever over one of the dumbest things ever
Did you know there are actually stupid people out there who are sooooooo geeky and full of themselves that they will only refer to science fiction as either “SF” or “Science Fiction”? “Sci-Fi” is so lame. If you say “Sci-Fi” like um, most of the free world, you’re, like, not geeky enough for their geek club. Because you don’t “sound intelligent” enough to be in the conversation. I bet they all do that completely r3t@rd3d l33t sp3@k thing too. Yeah, I probably did that all wrong, because I’m not a complete loser. I wonder if these people will even watch the SciFi Channel. “No, we boycott, because there are 4 extra letters in the name. They either change the name, or we’ll never ever see Bttlstr Gllctca! Ever! We mean it!”
It’s like those people who are so full of themselves that they can’t call a moving picture a “movie”, they simply must call it a “film” merely because it is shot on film and for no other reason than to inform you that they are in the know. What ever will these l33tists do if they start filming straight to DVD-RAM (just for example’s sake, people, don’t start sending me l33t-g33k mail). “Why, Jeeves, you must drive me down to the theatre today” — the “re” is in there because these “film” types probably pronounce it theee-uh-truh — “so I can see the new ‘dram’ that was ‘dramed’ so beautifully over the misty mountains of Nyew Zealand. I heard from my dear friend Ms. Jolie - we brunched in Namibia once, you know - that the art direction is fabulous. Though I really do prefer the old medium. It rolled off the tongue better. Oh Jeeves. Sigh. Sigh.”
For the record. Sci-Fi sounds way cooler than SF, and movie sounds way less arrogant than film. Now you know.
oh, sarah, don’t be so banal… it’s not “film.” it’s CINEMA.
September 7th, 2006 at 1:03 amindubitably.
i’ve actually never heard the term “SF” — i suppose i tend to call written or serious stuff “science fiction”, and lighter fare “sci fi” (which includes about 99.9% of the stuff)
tell frank to lighten up with his geeky nomenclature!
September 7th, 2006 at 7:49 amindubitably.
i’ve actually never heard the term “SF” — i suppose i tend to call written or serious stuff “science fiction”, and lighter fare “sci fi” (which includes about 99.9% of the stuff), though i use both interchangeably
tell frank to lighten up with his geeky nomenclature!
September 7th, 2006 at 7:50 amI’ve often felt that any group of people will concoct their own speech patterns and nomenclature to separate themselves from the general masses. “SF” vs. “SciFi” is merely one small example.
September 7th, 2006 at 9:08 amthis wasn’t my little Frankie you fought with over the difference between SF and Sci Fi was it? naaaaawwwwwww…i don’t believe it. i actually don’t watch it unless it is considered “extra-terrestrial documentaries”…everything else is ..well…something from outerspace. tee hee.
September 7th, 2006 at 10:21 amps: SF stands for San Francisco anyway. or Santa Fe railroad. maybe it really stands for “Science Freak”. dunno
September 7th, 2006 at 10:22 amI was told by my writing group to avoid using scifi so as not to look dumb to people I would be submitting my stories too.
September 7th, 2006 at 10:53 amHere’s a commentary I found on the subject:
http://scifi.uk.com/what-is-sf/
Apparently a lot of people consider the term “sci-fi” derogatory. I think it’s also about the split between what people consider hard-core science fiction (trying to take a realistic look at the future based on today’s science) versus adventure science fiction (e.g., Star Wars).
I probably tend towards writing the latter, but I don’t want to offend the sensibilities of those I’ll be submitting stories to.
September 7th, 2006 at 11:01 amSo, SarahK, are you calling FrankJ a geek? :)
September 7th, 2006 at 12:15 pmI understand totally now Frank. Sarah, say you’re sorry. from your mother
September 7th, 2006 at 12:23 pmIt’s never good when your mom sides with your spouse. On the other hand, Frank may want to pick up a cookbook instead of Sci-Fi. There are many ways to win an argument.
September 7th, 2006 at 2:08 pmWhile I understand Frank’s point, there’s no reason that you still can’t refer to Sci-Fi as “Sci-Fi” in non-geek circles (i.e. outside Frank’s writing group). An analogy: if I was ever in Sarah’s presence, I’d avoid using euphemisms that she thinks violate the 2nd Commandment (or 3rd, depending on your religion). While “I” don’t think I’m sinning, it still would be offensive to Sarah and therefore I’d avoid using words such as ****, and ***. In other circles I’d use these as they are much more acceptable than other vulgarities that might have come out of my mouth when I was more immature.
That said, unfortunately, this incident does show that, yes, Frank is a geek, but we already knew that! (Not that I’d say that to his face, as I’m very afraid of him)
September 7th, 2006 at 3:10 pmIt’s pronounced thee-ate-er.
September 7th, 2006 at 5:32 pmBumped into your site by accident. This is an interesting post. I say Sci-Fi or Science Fiction to mean the same thing, but SF to mean Speculative Fiction. :-)
Actually, the heading on my site shows that I treat each term seperately.
Neato blog!
September 8th, 2006 at 5:58 amRich, I can understand if they actually mean two different things… but if he gets corrected just because he’s not “cool” enough (geeky), then it’s pure pretentiousness. So I wonder if the whole Sci-Fi (I’ll call it all Sci-Fi henceforth in protest) crowd does it the same way as you, or if they’re just being snobs.
September 8th, 2006 at 7:53 am