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Re: Science Fiction, Sci-fi, and SF
Posted By: Paul A., on host 206.135.142.18
Date: Friday, February 23, 2001, at 00:50:19
In Reply To: Science Fiction, Sci-fi, and SF posted by Quartz on Wednesday, February 14, 2001, at 09:18:40:

> Sometimes I've seen Science Fiction written as,
> you know, Science Fiction. And sometimes it's
> written like Sci-fi (as in the Sci-fi channel)
> or SF. Personally, I call it SF because I get
> tired of saying "Science Fiction" over and over
> again.
>
> I was just wondering if Sci-fi and SF are
> incorrect and by saying them we garble the
> language terribly.

Where do we draw the line between garbling the language and evolving it?
Garble or not, sci-fi and SF are both pretty much here to stay.

Mind you, a lot of serious SF enthusiasts reserve "sci-fi" for the kind of flashy SF (often TV or film) made by people who don't really understand science fiction and just think Robots and Spaceships and Lasers are Cool.


> Another thing. When you write Sci-fi, is the F capitalized or not?

It's not. And neither is the S.


> Or should it even be called Science Fiction?
> Isn't the real name Prophetic Fiction or something?

I've never heard it called Prophetic Fiction, which is a dumb name for it anyway. Most science fiction isn't about trying to predict the future, and most of stuff that is gets it wrong anyway.

Even science fiction writers say that when it comes to predicting the future, science fiction is only a step above economics.


> I write Science Fiction, Sci-fi, and SF stories
> (whatever the heck they're called), and I like
> to know the real name of the genre I'm writing
> about.

Properly, it is "science fiction".

The other two are really just abbreviations.


Paul

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