Gerberize

After 1950s-60s fan Les Gerber. In his early teens, in the pages of Cry of the Nameless, Les defended someone to such excess that "to Gerberize" became the fannish verb defining this practice while "to be Gerberized" meant having the practice performed on you. It has to be so overblown that even the person being defended would have to admit that, if s/he believed everything said in the defense, s/he would wind up liking him/herself a little less as a result of having read it. In a very large sense, the term is unfair to Gerber, who learned from the experience and never repeated it. Archaic.

Contributors: Dr. Gafia

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Fanspeak

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