So it goes

From Fancyclopedia 3
Jump to navigation Jump to search

(Did you mean a Tim Marion fanzine or a Garry Dalrymple ANZAPAzine?)


A fatalistic catchphrase popularized by Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 novel, Slaughterhouse-Five:

When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is ‘So it goes.’

Fannish use isn’t always so callously morbid; the phrase is most often employed over annoyances that can’t be fixed.



Fanspeak 1969
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.