Interview Interesting Fallout 3 interview at Spong

[Joe Krow]

Fan is short for fanatic - and means pretty much exactly that. If you're a fan of something, you're fanatical about it.

Fan is actually short for "fancy." As in "I fancy that." Fanatic is derived from the Latin for" lunatic." Just sayin.

 

[psycojester]

No its short for fanatic.

 

[Section8]

I bet Bethesda do something rash like coin the word "fun-atic" to describe their irrational supporters.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

That sounds so visceral and epic. I think I just immersed in my pants.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Fan is short for fanatic - and means pretty much exactly that. If you're a fan of something, you're fanatical about it.

Fan is actually short for "fancy." As in "I fancy that." Fanatic is derived from the Latin for" lunatic." Just sayin.

Actually, no.

• fan –noun
  an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, etc.: a baseball fan; a great fan of Charlie Chaplin.
  
  [Origin: 1885–90, Americanism; short for fanatic]

and...

• fanatic
  
  c.1525, "insane person," from L. fanaticus "mad, enthusiastic, inspired by a god," originally, "pertaining to a temple," from fanum "temple," related to festus "festive" (see feast). Current sense of "extremely zealous," especially in religion, is first attested 1647. The noun is from 1650, originally in religious sense, of Nonconformists.

Lunatic is actually:

• lunatic (adj.)
  c.1290, "affected with periodic insanity, dependent on the changes of the moon," from O.Fr. lunatique "insane," from L. lunaticus "moon-struck," from luna "moon." Cf. O.E. monseoc "lunatic," lit. "moon-sick;" M.H.G. lune "humor, temper, mood, whim, fancy" (Ger. Laune), from L. luna. Cf. also N.T. Gk. seleniazomai "be epileptic," from selene "moon." The noun meaning "lunatic person" is first recorded 1377. Lunatic fringe (1913) was apparently coined by U.S. politician Theodore Roosevelt. Lunatic soup (1933) was Australian slang for "alcoholic drink."

Courtesy of the dictionary because dictionary quotes are always fun.

 

[Joe Krow]

I have played rpgs my entire life and consider Fallout to be one of the best. I played it through many times when it came out. I bought every Fallout game ever released and would have continued to buy the them if more had been made... no questions asked. I'm not a fan? What level of fanatism would you require? Do I still get to bathe?

Edit: We can play the duelling dictionaries if you like. Many say fan derives from fancy and that fanatic is derived from the latin for mad/insane/lunatic/exetra. That's not really the point though. He seems to be saying that one must be obsessed to be a fan. I think it just means supporter or enthusiest (both of which are synonomous with fan in most thesaurus). The nut jobs want to exclude the less rabid fans to justify their extreme views. Regardless of where the word comes from, you can be a fan without being a fanatic.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

I bought every Fallout game ever released and would have continued to buy the them if more had been made... no questions asked.

You're a 'lay down'.

 

[Balor]

Hmm... anybody read Pratchett's "Going Postal"?
A comparison of Bethesda and the Trunk is simply inevitable... as well as of Hines and Gilt.
Where is Vetinari when you need him?

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

Does that mean VD is Von Lipwig?
And Volourn that smoker woman?

 

[Bradylama]

I bought every Fallout game ever released

You bought Brotherhood of Steel?

 

[Fallout_Fan_VII]

I bought every Fallout game ever released

You bought Brotherhood of Steel?

Well, someone had too.

 

[psycojester]

We can play the duelling dictionaries if you like. Many say fan derives from fancy and that fanatic is derived from the latin for mad/insane/lunatic/exetra.[/quote

Many in this case meaning only you?

 

[kingcomrade]

Fan might be derived from fanatic, what makes anyone think it must therefore mean the same thing? It's certainly not how people use the word (which is what defines what a word means) fan is much milder than fanatic.

edit-
by the way
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?sea ... hmode=none

fan (2) Look up fan at Dictionary.com
1889, Amer.Eng., originally of baseball enthusiasts, probably a shortening of fanatic, but may be influenced by the Fancy (1807), a collective term for followers of a certain hobby or sport (especially boxing). There is an isolated use from 1682, but the modern word is likely a new formation.

 

[Joe Krow]

We can play the duelling dictionaries if you like. Many say fan derives from fancy and that fanatic is derived from the latin for mad/insane/lunatic/exetra.

Many in this case meaning only you?

Well one of my dictionaries says [prob. short for fanatic] the other doesn't have it defined in that sense at all (is it slang?). Neither gives much detail. Here is what wikipedia has to say. Sadly, this is the most specific reference to the words origin I have found so far. If you have a more specific reference I would be interested.

Etymology
There is some confusion as to the origin of the word fan. Paul Dickson, in his Dickson Baseball Dictionary, cites William Henry Nugent's work that traces it to fancy, a 19th century term from England that referred mainly to followers of boxing. It was originally shortened to fance then just to the homonym fans. The word emerged as an Americanism around 1889. Many assume that it's a shortened version of the word fanatic, and the word did first become popular in reference to an enthusiastic follower of a baseball team. (Fanatic itself, introduced into English around 1525, means "insane person". It comes from the Modern Latin fanaticus, meaning "insanely but divinely inspired". The word originally pertained to a temple or sacred place [Latin fanum, poetic English fane]. The modern sense of "extremely zealous" dates from around 1647; the use of fanatic as a noun dates from 1650.) However, the term "fancy" for an intense liking of something, while being of a different etymology, coincidentally carries somewhat the same connotation as "fanatic".

Again, I would rather not get sidetracked on the words origin. What I am saying is that someone who considers Fallout to be the best rpg ever made is certainly a fan of it. You disagree? If so what is it that you believe is required to be a bonofide Fallout fan?

 

[Texas Red]

I "love" when the Codex "enriches" a fine thread with debates about word origin.

 

[Araanor]

Etymology is the only debate topic that's more exciting than semantics.