unfannish adj.

(of a person) failing to be fannish; not having the attributes of a dedicated or obsessive fan; (also, of writing, organizations, etc.) not interesting to or characteristic of dedicated fans

Fancyclopedia


SF Fandom

  • 1943 W. Daugherty News Notes of Shangri-La in Shangri-L’Affaires (#12) Sept. 9 page image Walter J. Daugherty

    Forry passes up three LASFS acquaintances without speaking to them!! Just a short time apart he saw Virginia ‘Jimmie’ Laney, Ron Clyne (browsing in a second hand book store) and Paul Freehafer’s room mate, Adrian, but failed to signal any of them. Reason for this remarkable un-fannish conduct? He was intent on tracking down Fritz Lang and would let nothing deter him from his course.

  • 1953 Psychotic (#5) Nov. page image

    At this point a request for material…. If the writer honestly thinks it is good and up to high writing standards, and would go well in P, then by all means, send it. It does not have to be fannish. Indeed, I think I’d welcome something un-fannish.

  • 1956 T. Perry Logorrhea (#1) 3 page image

    I paused to honk a friendly honk back, and then got over on my side the [sic] road. Were Boob and Terry quaking in their boots like sensible, unfannish clods would be? Nah! They were laughing like hell.

  • 1958 R. M. Holland Ghu’s Lexicon 9

    Fanzine (fmz), also Fanmag, a magazine published by and for (?) fans. It is considered unfannish to cater to the whims and desires of readers.

  • 1960 M. Deckinger Letter in New Frontiers Aug. 30 page image Mike Deckinger

    And on the other hand, John Campbell seems determined to do everything he can to keep his zine as unfannish as possible. That’ll be the day when there’s a fanzine review column in Astounding, and there is this nonsense about the title change to Analog, and if Campbell has done ridiculous things in the past, this tops them all.

  • 1972 G. Gerani Hot Prints Anyone? in Monster Times 26 Apr. 22/1 page image Gary Gerani

    Many and crafty and mysterious are the ways in which film collectors acquire their prints of The Time Machine, or King Kong or Godzilla and many a merry secretive chase do these collectors lead un-fannish organizations such as the FBI!

  • 1977 B. Shaw Introduction (Exorcists of IF) in Algol Winter 52/3 page image Bob Shaw bibliography

    [introducing Jim White’s ‘The Exorcists of IF’ (Irish Fandom)] If Jim had his way, all differences of political opinion would be settled by the parties concerned getting together—three times a week if necessary—and talking. I’m not trying to trivialise the issue when I say that Jim regards war as unfannish. I know the sadness he feels over what has happened in Northern Ireland, and I think that when you read ‘The Exorcists of IF’ you will know it too.

  • 1993 Fandom in Science Fiction Chronicle July 25/2 page image bibliography

    Vince Docherty, current co-chairman of Intersection, the 1995 (Glasgow, Scotland) World SF Convention, remains in the unfannish climes of the Sultanate of Oman, he has relinquished his post to Martin Easterbrook. Intersection has still not issued its first progress report, and is getting a reputation for slothful processing of membership checks.


Research requirements

antedating 1943

Earliest cite

in Shangri-L'Affaires

Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1958 cite from Ralph M. Holland's "Ghu's Lexicon".
Bee Ostrowsky submitted several quotes.

Last modified 2023-01-19 15:21:58
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.