SCI FI

   Pronounced "sky fi" or "si fi", an abbreviation for "science fiction", introduced by Forrest J ACKERMAN, a prominent fan fond of wordplay, in 1954, when the term "hi-fi" was becoming popular. Seldom much used withinthe sf community, the term became very popular with journalists and media people generally, until by the 1970s it was the most common abbreviation used by nonreaders of sf to refer to the genre, sometimes with an implied sneer. Some critics within the genre, Terry CARR and Damon KNIGHT among them, decided that, since the term was commonly derogatory, it might be critically useful in distinguishing sf hack-work - particularly ill written, lurid adventure stories - from sf of a more intellectually demanding kind. Around 1978 the critic Susan WOOD and others began pronouncing the term "skiffy". In 1980s-90s usage "skiffy", which sounds friendlier than "sci fi", has perhaps for that reason come to be less condemnatory. Skiffy is colourful, sometimes entertaining, junk sf: STAR WARS is skiffy.

   PN