faan n.

a science fiction fan, esp. one regarded as non-serious, or devoted more to fandom than to science fiction itself; cf. sercon adj.

Also faaan.

Fancyclopedia


SF Fandom

  • 1953 Pamphrey (FAPA mailing #65) Nov. 1 page image

    That machine is nothing to scare a great big faan like you.

  • 1961 M. Deckinger Letter in Amazing Stories May 137/1 page image

    The vast majority of fiction in fanzines today consists of ‘faan fiction’ concerning other fans and fannish doings, rather than amateur science fiction.

  • 1961 Science-Fiction Five-Yearly Nov. 31

    I am a faaan.

  • 1966 L. Carter Handy Phrase-Book in Fannish in Worlds of If Oct. 66/2 page image Lin Carter bibliography

    The noisy teen-aged fan with the helicopter beanie and collection of BNF autographs…[is] called a faaan.

  • 2008 P. Heck On Books in Asimov’s Science Fiction Aug. 108/1 page image Peter Heck

    ‘Faan’ in SF slang refers to those who hang out at SF conventions but rarely read the literature.

  • 2012 A. Hamilton Writing Talk 6

    A fan, or to give him his full title, a ‘sercon fan’, is serious and constructive, whereas a ‘faan’ contributes chiefly his presence and a taste for signed copies.

Last modified 2020-12-24 11:54:37
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.