CoA
Initialism for Change of Address. When fanzines were paper-based and sent through the postal mail, and people were less worried about privacy, most zines included the addresses of their correspondents and contributors. They also printed columns listing address changes, so other faneds could update their mailing lists.
Etymology[edit]
While the practice goes back further, the initialism apparently dates to the early 1960s. Eney didn’t include it in Fancyclopedia 2 in 1959. The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction has as its earliest citation a quotation from the colophon of Fanac 74, dated May 23, 1961, but then-editor Walter Breen used it with no explanation, so it likely came into use earlier:
The first contributor of an accepted news item (not a COA) is entitled to a free issue, as are all other Good People who send in locs, cartoons, etc.
At about the same time, though, the Trimbles explained in Shangri L'Affairs 56, dated May–June 1961:
CoA is you movin', and make checks payable to John Trimble, please.
| Fanspeak | 1960s— |
| This is a fanspeak page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was coined, whether it’s still in use, etc. |
