fanning n.

the practice or activity of being a fan; participation in fandom

SF Fandom

  • 1940 ‘H. P. Pong’ Quote ‘Material Is Needed’ Unquote in Le Zombie (#29) June 4 page image Wilson Tucker

    In addition, you must never mention I drink. Don’t you know that if a fan is found to be doing other things tha[n] ‘fanning’, a certain dreaded clique claims he isn’t a real fan!

  • 1941 ‘B. Tucker’ Editorial Dissertation at the Reader’s Expense in Le Zombie (vol. 4, no. 1) Jan. 1 page image Wilson Tucker

    We trust that soon, all so-inclined fans are gathered in by the pros, and then at long last we fans may rest and continue our pleasant fanning.

  • 1943 F. T. Laney Laney Views the Slan Center in Fan-Dango #2 Sep. 3 page image Francis T. Laney

    My wife, for example, though a charming and rather personable red-head, can see nothing in fanning.

  • 1948 F. M. Dietz Jr. Letter in Startling Stories Sept. 131/1 page image Franklin M. Dietz

    Well, from my contacts in fandom, and my own fanning, I believe that most fans would be more than willing to write a letter telling all about their clubs.

  • 1954 Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine Jan. 58/2

    If sufficient willing hands could be found to work in the initial stages, there seems to be little reason why a serious society should not be founded and run parallel with active fandom, which tends to take a humorous view of ‘serious and constructive fanning’.

  • 1969 R. Bloch At Bay with the Baycon in Worlds of If Feb. 41/2 page image Robert Bloch bibliography

    There was a lot more going on at this Convention than just straight-line, old-fashioned science-fiction fanning.

  • 2000 2000 GUFF Ballot — Australia to Europe 2 page image

    We’ve been fans all our adult lives…. We are eager to expand our fanning.

  • 2018 S. Poole in Guardian 8 Sept. (Review section) 4/4

    Owing to rhetorical inflation driven by overuse of the word ‘fan’…we came to need a new word for particularly obsessive fanning.


Research requirements

antedating 1940

Earliest cite

Bob Tucker, in Le Zombie

Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1954 cite from "Inquisitor" in Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1948 cite from a letter by Franklin M. Dietz Jr. in Startling Stories.
Bee Ostrowsky submitted a 1940 cite from Bob Tucker, in Le Zombie.

Last modified 2022-09-07 17:28:51
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.