In a letter of comment a few issues back, Andy Hooper suggested that an award for “Most Creative Fugghead” should be given in the name of Sam Moskowitz. Andy was trying to drive home a point with amus- ing exaggeration. I read it with the same light spirit in which he wrote it. 1 Yet Truth often lurks beneath a thin veneer of humor. Andy’s quip raised some intriguing questions. Fanstuff 41 It got me thinking about SaM and then the general topic of fuggheads and fuggheadedness. (I’ll get to Sam Moskowitz later in this issue.) “Fugghead” ranks as the most incendiary fanspeak insult. If you want to make a new enemy in Fandom, smacking them with “fugghead” is a Bill of Fare fine start. It’s a strange word, too. Almost every fan knows what “fugghead” means and most can cite examples of the breed in all its infinite variety. The only hitch is that each Cover Essay fan’s list of fuggheads is a little different from all of the others. Fuggheads: Yet no one has proposed a comprehensive, accurate definition. A Closer Look Lack of an objective standard makes it a highly subjective judgment. Arnie/1 One fan’s “fugghead” is another’s BNF. A fan once described a fugghead as “someone who never has second thoughts.” That’s clever, and true as far as it goes, but it’s incomplete. Who Gets An Exemption? It isn’t that simple. Hasty, visceral responses are more likely to veer Arnie/2 Fen Den Who Gets a Free Pass? SaM & Me: Trufans, in general, aren’t rules-worshipping bureaucrats. In our sub- A Brief Memoir culture, few think in terms of “zero tolerance” and the letter of the law. Arnie/3 We tend to consider extenuating circumstances and prefer to temper the spirit of the rule. Mainstream society’s legal system has gradually moved in that direc- The Origin of ‘Fugghead’: tion. Today, most people distinguish between a criminal murderer and The History of a someone who kills without understanding the nature of the crime due to Fanspeak Word youth or mental impairment. Arnie/4 Fans don’t treat the following types of fans as fuggheads, even when their words and deeds would otherwise earn them that label: Was Moskowiz a • The Mentally Challenged . Fandom has offered a refuge to a few Fugghead? individuals who were significantly below average in intelligence. Arnie/4 • The Mentally Unbalanced. The truly crazy are treated differently, just as they are in the Mundane World. Names Withheld • Neofans . Newcomers get leniency, but the excuse quickly wears Arnie/5 thin. • The Highly Talented . Many fans will accept a certain amount of boorish fuggheadedness from someone who demonstrates a great The Fanzine Reader’s deal of writing and/or drawing ability in Fandom. Bill of Rights • Drunks . The fannish tradition of over-indulgence in alcohol often David B. Williams/6 earns a well known fan forgiveness for behavior that might be called fuggheaded if done by a sober person. loccer room • Hot Women . Guys are guys, in and out of Fandom. I know quite a YOU & me/12 few who’ll excuse anything from larceny to fuggheadedness if the fan is attractive enough. Are there other exempt categories? Send your nominations. 2 into fuggheadedness than well-considered responses. Still, quick responses aren’t automati- cally fuggheaded. SaM & Me: A Brief Memoir Fandom’s greatest wits often respond In the name of fair and full disclosure, I’ll write about my relationship with SaM. quickly without being branded as fuggheads. I met Sam at my first con, the one-day 1963 Lunacon. I shuffled up “Lack of second thoughts” speaks more to to him and his be-suited cronies and introduced myself. the likelihood of fuggheadedness, not its na- I’m sure this meeting made a stronger impression on me than it did ture or cause. on him. He retained no conscious memory of that meeting -- or any of our many subsequent contacts over the next seven years. Our fanac was so different. I was a Fanoclast and a fannish fanzine Since I couldn’t compose a dictionary fan. SaM hadn’t paid much attention to fanzines since WW II. When he definition, I turned to other approaches. wrote for Fandom, it appeared in a serious SF fanzine. (You’re invited to send your definitions. SaM and I were on opposite sides of the cultural canyon known as Maybe, working together, we can develop the Generation Gap. He had short hair, wore suits to fan meetings, dis- one.) liked rock music and kept his distance from long-haired rebels like me. I finished graduate school in 1970 and started to hunt for a job. The first thing I realized is that the noun Andy Porter, my roommate at the time, got me an interview for the job (fugghead) and the adjective (fuggheaded) of Editorial Assistant of Quick Frozen Foods . are significantly difference. The Editor of this business press monthly was Sam Martin. And Sam A fuggheaded act is one behavior. And Martin was the non-stf pseudonym of Sam Moskowitz. we’re all imperfect enough to say or do Fortune smiled at me. The interview went very well and I had two plus-factors working for me: something fuggheaded. • Sam liked that I was a fan. He didn’t know that his enemy Ted One flub doesn’t make someone a fugg- White was one of my two main fannish mentors. head. It usually takes chronic fuggheaded • Sam liked that I was a fanzine editor, as he had been before he behavior to get a fan branded a fugghead. turned professional. He probably imagined that my fanzines Theoretically, a fan can earn the fugg- were like Fantasy Commentator or at least Andy Porter’s Algol . So I became Editorial Assistant at QFF . Three months later, after head tag with one spectacular burst of fugg- the previous Editorial Assistant washed out as Assistant Editor, SaM headedness, but it’s extremely rare. It would allowed me to convince him to give me the position. have to be pretty awful to remold a fan’s Sam taught me a lot about writing and editing. Though no literary reputation overnight. stylist, he excelled at structuring articles. He taught me the nuts and More commonly, fans judge a fugg- bolts of editing, though my style owes much to several others. I also learned things not to do from observing him. headed behavior in light of what the source Working with SaM let me see him less as a fan image and more as a of the behavior has done in the past. A fan person. I’ve tried to be even-handed in my comments; its for you to who’s known as reasonable and sensible gets judge whether or not I have been so. judged less harshly than one who has repeat- edly blundered. Even though neofans get some leeway, Fanstuff #41, December 16, 2013, is a frequent fan- it’s still much easier for a newcomer to get zine from Arnie Katz [email protected]) . called a fugghead. A neo has no good acts to balance the fuggheaded ones. Fanstuff is available from me and at efanzines.com, Many neofans enter Fandom with an out- sized opinion of themselves. Arrogance can thanks to kindly Mr. Burns. lead the neofan into offensive statements and excessively negative responses to even well- meant, constructive criticism. Published: 12/16/13 Some new arrivals adjust better than oth- ers. But for one who continues to display Member: fwa Supporter: AFAL fuggheaded behavior, the fugghead image sticks. Of course, repeated acts of fuggheaded- 3 The Origin of ‘Fugghead’: Was Moskowitz a Fugghead? History of a Fanspeak Word Sam Moskowitz, as Andy Hooper’s Modest Proposal suggests, is Unlike such popular fanspeak words as “gafia,” “BNF” and “fanzine,” the a controversial fanhistorical figure. His 70-plus years as a fan and pro term “fugghead” wasn’t invented by contain many highs and lows. There’s plenty of ammunition for both fans. Our subculture imported it from SaM’s admirers and detractors. The truth lies between those two ex- the nonfan world. tremes. My opinion may be colored by two factors: I worked for him The term was in wide usage among for four years and we were on opposite sides of the 1960’s Generation blue collar workers in southern Califor- nia at least as far back as the start of Gap. The former gave me a higher opinion of SaM; the latter had the World War II. It is, as you may expect, a opposite effect. euphemism for a much stronger insult. Among his contributions to Fandom are:: My late friend rich brown told me that • Prime mover in the east coast conventions that led to the first when he said “fugghead” at the family dinner table, his father, who knew the World SF Convention. stronger version, backhanded him across • Co-chairman of NyCon I the room. • First faan fiction writer. Charles Burbee and Francis Towner • Graphic innovator with silk screen covers. Laney, those two lovable LA Insurgents, • brought “fugghead” to Fandom. Fought to keep Fandom from adopting a specific political They both worked as machinists in agenda. southern California during the war • Author of the memoir, The Immortal Storm . years. They picked up “fugghead” in the • Founder and guiding spirit of the Eastern Science Fiction As- shop and used it with great gusto in their fanwriting. sociation, the northern New Jersey-based formal science fic- tion club. He also did some outrageously fuggheaded things.