History Main / SciFiNameBuzzWords

-->"Well, after all, science fiction is pretty easy to write, isn't it? It's just a matter of using fancy names--just change the names, apply a thin layer of technologese and jargon, right? Say 'helicar' instead of car, 'helipad' instead of driveway, 'tri-vid' instead of television, 'feelies' (or 'smellies,' or 'grabbies') instead of movies. Better still, use the word 'space' as a prefix for everything: spacesuit, spacegun, spacehelmet, spacehouse, spacedog, spacecow. ... Right? Just change the names and you can write a confession-magazine love story, a cowboy story, a gothic, or a nurse novel, and sell it as science fiction. Right?"

[[AC:List of commonly employed sci-fi buzzwords]]

* Creator:GardnerDozois: In his 1976 how-to-write-SF article "Living the future: You are what you eat!", gives a good tirade that culminated with this (cue the author's SarcasmMode):

->'''Morty''': Oh boy. What's wrong, Rick? Is it the quantum carburetor or something?
->'''Rick''': "Quantum carburetor"? Jesus Morty, you can't just add a sci-fi word to a car word and hope it means something. Huh.. looks like something's wrong with the microverse-battery.

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!!Examples

*** In his 1976 how-to-write-SF article "Living the future: You are what you eat!", Gardner Dozois gave a good tirade that culminated with this (cue the author's SarcasmMode):
--->"Well, after all, science fiction is pretty easy to write, isn't it? It's just a matter of using fancy names -- just change the names, apply a thin layer of technologese and jargon, right? Say 'helicar' instead of car, 'helipad' instead of driveway, 'tri-vid' instead of television, 'feelies' (or 'smellies,' or 'grabbies') instead of movies. Better still, use the word 'space' as a prefix for everything: spacesuit, spacegun, spacehelmet, spacehouse, spacedog, spacecow. ... Right? Just change the names and you can write a confession-magazine love story, a cowboy story, a gothic, or a nurse novel, and sell it as science fiction. Right?"

** [[RobotNames -tron]]

** robo- (since the 1920s)

** -tron

Out of the confusing twists and turns of TechnoBabble and ExpoSpeak come the SciFiNameBuzzwords. These are short word components that can be clicked onto an existing word [[WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture portmanteau style]] to make it sound more sciencey.