Difference between revisions of "Goshwowboyoboy"

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(Did you mean the [[Goshwowboyohboy (Farber)|Gary Farber fanzine]] or [[Gosh Wow]]?)
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(Did you mean the [[Goshwowboyohboy (Farber)|Gary Farber fanzine]] or the [[Gosh Wow|Robert Schoenfeld fanzine]]?)
  
  
An example of a pejorative term that [[fandom]] has made its own, the phrase "'''Goshwowboyoboy'''" appeared in the [[lettercol]] of the August 1939 issue of [[Thrilling Wonder Stories]]. It was seized upon by a Time magazine news reporter covering [[NYCon I]] who presented that [[loc]] as typical of [[fan]] [[correspondence]], to the indignation of many.  
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An example of a pejorative term that [[fandom]] has made its own, "'''Goshwowboyoboy'''" was seized upon by an uncredited ''Time'' magazine news reporter disdainfully covering the [[First Worldcon]], who presented that in its [http://web.archive.org/web/20080906184034/https://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,761661-1,00.html July 10, 1939 issue] as typical of [[fan]] [[correspondence]], to the indignation of many.  
  
Fandom now uses it, often abbreviated as just '''goshwow''', to describe an enthusiastic or, perhaps, over-enthusiastic approach to [[science fiction]] or [[fandom]]. While the term implies a certain geekiness and is often applied to [[neofen]], it is usually used kindly.
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Later, [[Martin Alger]] found the original [[loc]] in the [[lettercol]] of the [https://archive.org/details/Thrilling_Wonder_Stories_v14n01_1939-08 August 1939 issue] of ''[[Thrilling Wonder Stories]]''. The letter, from [[Neil Lafferty, Jr.]], of [[Brooklyn]] began:
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Gosh! Wow! Boyohboy!, and so forth and so on. Yesiree, yesiree, it’s the greatest in the land and the best that’s on the stand, and I do mean THRILLING WONDER STORIES, and especially that great, magnificent, glorious, most thrilling June issue of the mosta and besta of [[science fiction magazines]].
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Fandom now uses the term, often abbreviated as just '''goshwow''', to describe an enthusiastic or, perhaps, over-enthusiastic approach to [[science fiction]] or [[fandom]]. While the term implies a certain geekiness and is often applied to [[neofen]], it is usually used kindly.
  
 
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{{fanspeak|start=1939}}
 
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Revision as of 19:40, 14 September 2021

(Did you mean the Gary Farber fanzine or the Robert Schoenfeld fanzine?)


An example of a pejorative term that fandom has made its own, "Goshwowboyoboy" was seized upon by an uncredited Time magazine news reporter disdainfully covering the First Worldcon, who presented that in its July 10, 1939 issue as typical of fan correspondence, to the indignation of many.

Later, Martin Alger found the original loc in the lettercol of the August 1939 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. The letter, from Neil Lafferty, Jr., of Brooklyn began:

Gosh! Wow! Boyohboy!, and so forth and so on. Yesiree, yesiree, it’s the greatest in the land and the best that’s on the stand, and I do mean THRILLING WONDER STORIES, and especially that great, magnificent, glorious, most thrilling June issue of the mosta and besta of science fiction magazines. 

Fandom now uses the term, often abbreviated as just goshwow, to describe an enthusiastic or, perhaps, over-enthusiastic approach to science fiction or fandom. While the term implies a certain geekiness and is often applied to neofen, it is usually used kindly.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959
Symbol of the type of reader who made Time magazine call us the jitterbugs of the pulp magazine field in its article on the NYCon. The expression led off an allegedly typical letter they quoted, commenting on TWS; indignant fans held it to be an invention of the reporter who wrote up the NYCon, for a long time. Martin Alger finally tracked it down in "The Reader Speaks", TWS' letter column, for August 1939.
From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944
(Time) - Symbol of the type of reader who made Time magazine call us the jitterbugs of the pulp magazine field. The expression appears in an allegedly typical letter which they quoted, commenting on TWS; probably it was an invention of the reporter who wrote up the New York World Convention. It has become a gag line in fandom.

Fanspeak 1939
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.