Oxford has published the paper-back book for its skill fiction dictionary Brave New Words , give us the ultimate triviagasm . Want the descent of term like “ moonshine cornerstone ” and “ parallel creation ” ? How about “ expository puffiness ” ?
Then you ’ve amount to the right office . The account book , edit out by freelance lexicographer ( amazing form of address ) Jeff Prucher , is basically a history of science fiction told in a serial of dictionary - esque entry . It might be more exact to say that this is a account of SF fandom , however , as much of the record is also focused on sports fan culture and a bunch of the idiomatic expression that Prucher has choose are ones that have resonate with fan and been charter up by them in their own publications . term like “ expository lump , ” for exemplar , “ an account of some element in a narrative . . . that is overlong or clumsily written and which cut off the narrative flow , ” are clear from fandom . ( And of trend the word “ fandom ” is delimit at great length and with some savour . )
What ’s fun about the al-Qur’an is discovering how older so many scientific discipline fiction damage are – especially 1 that people have claim to have invent recently . Such is the caseful with the term “ flashgun crowd , ” whose synonym “ wink mob”an editor program at Harper ’s recently exact to have mint . Nope : It was actually coined in 1973 by Larry Niven , in a short story call “ Flash Crowd ” where flash gang assemble via teleportation .
And then there ’s the plain nerveless stuff , like discovering that the term “ moon radical , ” which sound so NASA , was really used first in 1948 by Robert Heinlein in a novel cry Space Cadet ( and yes , Heinlein is also the hombre who invented the phrase distance cadet , too ) . And although the idea of parallel worlds and universes feels so contemporary – peculiarly now that J.J. Abrams is doing it in Star Trek – it is actually an estimate that first seem in HG Wells ’ Men Like Gods in 1923 .
There are some obvious omissions here : Oft - used present-day condition like “ fanwank ” and “ frak ” are missing . And you could read all about “ femmefans ” ( female SF sports fan ) but there is no entry for “ feminist scientific discipline fiction . ”
That ’s why I think this book functions best as a fun diachronic companion to mid - twentieth century writing ( with a few nods to other media ) and fandom . Here you could learn all about 1940s fanzines and eldritch old concepts that have morphed ( a word of honor first used in 1982 by the style ) into unexampled 1 . And that ’s the joy in this book : Discovering discarded concepts like “ wireheads ” ( people who energize the delight centers of their wit with telegram ) , “ waldoes ” ( remote - ascertain biologic incarnation ) , and “ undercover agent ray of light ” ( a beam of energy that can hear transmissions or thoughts ) .
Brave New Words is a fun adventure in retro futurism , and is the perfect companion for the person who loves to drop down into old scientific discipline fiction novel .
Brave New Wordsvia Amazon
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