Crifanac

(Did you mean a different Crifanac?)

Crifanac, short for CRItical FAN ACtivity, means engaging in top-priority fan activity, with an element of harriedness, such as meeting your minimum activity requirements in an amateur press association at the last possible minute. Charles Burbee, who used it with self-satirical intent, coined it in 1946.

See also: Hyperfanac.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

(Crif-FAN-ac) Critical Fan Activity. Some pronounce it CRY-fan-ac, but the i should be short as in critical. This useta mean required activity in FAPA; later, fanac indulged in by fans to raise their relative standing in the top ten. Now it refers simply to any efforts or their results which may be expected to earn the author egoboo. This publication is crifanac; so is the time spent writing and publishing it.

From Fancyclopedia 2 Supplement, ca. 1960

Some claim that it's pronounced CRIF-an-ac, including creator Burbee. Ackerman had this to say about it in Shangri-L'Affaires #31, on what would have been page 14 if there had been any page numbers: "Let us face it: Crifanac is the most important single neologism that 1946 is likely to produce. What egoboo was to fandom in '45, crifanac is to '46. Critical fan activity! How masterfully has Burbee amalgamated this dynamic phrase into a single, smashing vocable! Crifanac: the topriority expletitive that explains all, excuses all, enthuses all. The sensation of the season, the raison d'etre of the actifan. And may I be the first to point out the pointless observation that crifanac spelled backwards is canafirc?" Burbee says he coined this for tongue-in-cheek use, as if he ever coined words for other uses.

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Fanspeak

1946—

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.