Broad Mental Horizons

The kind that fans have – or at least claim to. “Broad mental horizons” was first used to describe the mindset of fans by Margaret St. Clair in a 1948 article in Writer's Digest, it was quickly picked up and used tongue-in-cheek in numerous fanzines, where the catchphrase caught on to become firmly embedded in the fannish vernacular.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

Something fans have, along with cosmic concepts, a sensitive fannish face, and sometimes slan tendrils or a third eye. One with any or all of these attributes is undoubtlessly star-begotten. Margaret St. Clair credited us with this characteristic in an article in a '48 Writers' Digest.

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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.