Fout
(Do you mean the fanzine by Martin Fleishman?)
Fout is an outcry of surprise, disgust or what have you. "Hot Fout!" (sometimes "Hotfout!") is the superlative form, and more frequently has the connotation of pleasurable surprise.
In fandom, it was first used sometime in the 1940s by the Minneapolis Fantasy Society and from them spread quickly through fandom. It originally was an expression of utter disgust, but with time has mellowed to indicating mild impatience or grumpiness at being provoked.
Harry Warner, Jr., reported in All Our Yesterdays that the MFS got the term from Phil Bronson's (mundane) younger brother. However, government records don’t provide any evidence that Phil had a brother. He may have had a stepbrother but we can’t confirm this. It may have been some other MFS member’s brother.
It also illustrates Americans’ abysmal ignorance of languages other than English, since fans apparently recognized French foutre, which means "fuck."
| From Fancyclopedia 2 Supplement, ca. 1960 |
| "Hotfout" also has a non-derogatory use. And "fout" itself is often a verb, as in the jingle:
Fantasite’s a fouty rag, fouty rag, fouty rag, |
| From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944 |
| (MFS - Root of such words as "fouty" (a very vague adjective of derision) and Hotfout!" (an interjection expressing extreme joy or exuberance). |
| Fanspeak |
| 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. |
