- Skiffy
Skiffy is a deliberate humorous misspelling or mispronunciation of the controversial term "sci-fi", a neologism referring to
science fiction . Like the term "sci-fi" itself, "skiffy" may be used in a pejorative senseFact|date=September 2007, but is more usually used to indicate that the writer or speaker is aware of the controversy about terminology, but chooses not to take it seriously.Background
The term "sci-fi" was used by
Robert A. Heinlein in private correspondence as early as 1949 and was publicly adopted as an alternate form of "science fiction" by Forrest ("Forry") J. Ackerman by 1954. Ackerman was a film review writer who became the editor of "Famous Monsters of Filmland " magazine, which celebrated the monster/SF movies that were frowned upon by many hardcore science fiction fans as being too poor in quality to be taken seriously, and definitely not to be confused with "real" science fiction.In the late 1960s, a new movement of science fiction writers, the "New Wave", arose. It tended to reject science fiction's pulpy background and to scorn the term "sci-fi" as being associated with bad monster movies. Even the term "science fiction" was seen by some in the New Wave as too limiting, and "
speculative fiction " was introduced as an alternative. Some advocated the use of the initials "SF", as they could be taken to refer to either "science fiction" or "speculative fiction" [http://www.sfwa.org/misc/skiffy.htm "Is This Stuff Sci-Fi, SF, Or Skiffy?"] , an essay by formerSFWA webmaster Melisa Michaels] . Not everyone agreed with this new nomenclature, however, and while the term "sci-fi" continued to be widely used, and pronounced "sigh-fie", the pronunciation "skiffy" began to appear among science fiction insiders in the late 1970s. [ Peter Nicholls, "Sci fi", in "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ," Orbit, 1993. ISBN 1-85723-124-4.]One of the first well-documented uses of the term "skiffy" was in the name of a science fiction and
fantasy fan club at theUniversity of Chicago , which was formed during the 1980s, and lasted until it was disbanded in 2003. Skiffy is still the name of the science fiction and skiffy club at theCollege of William and Mary , [ [http://www.wm.edu/so/sci-fi/ SKIFFY - the science fiction & fantasy club of the college of william and mary] ] , as well as shorthand (not always affectionate) for the American cable channel, Sci Fi.Fact|date=April 2008By the late 1990s, the term "skiffy" was well-enough accepted that
Mike Resnick andPatrick Nielsen Hayden released a book called "Alternate Skiffy" ["Alternate Skiffy", ed. Mike Resnick & Patrick Nielsen Hayden,Wildside Press 1998. ISBN 1-880448-54-8.] , an anthology featuring stories about what might have happened if the lives of various well-known science fiction writers had turned out differently.Other use
Skiffy is a supplier of small plastic and metal parts. The founder of the company, Johan Putzfeld, used his little dog's name Skiffy as a brand name [ [http://www.skiffy.com/docs/aboutfr.cfm?ID=xyxz2514444A1&taal=gb About us - Skiffy] ] .
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
