Sci-fi is an abbreviation for science fiction. It was coined within 1954 by Forrest J. Ackerman as a pun on the term "hi-fi". Virtually all science fiction fans at a instance reacted negatively to the word. An guide abbreviation, SF, is too inside apply though "sci-fi" is further park among a general public outside science fiction fandom, much to the alarm of good science fiction fans & writers. Despite a most universal acceptance of "sci-fi" as a equivalent word for the genre, numbers of science fiction fans however cringe while it hear it.

Periodically a word is utilized to mean particularly unfortunate or even camp examples of science fiction. For instance, under such usage, Plan 9 from Outer Space might be considered sci-fi. Therein usage these are typically spelled "skiffy" which is pronounced to rhyme by using "jiffy".

An additional source of dislike for the sci-fi term is the tendency for the mainstream to let it run as a collective term that lumps together non simply avowedly science fiction however fantasy, horror, comic books, cult films, special results action films, simply marginally related genres like anime & gaming, and totally unrelated fields like UFOlogy.

Despite this arguing, deuce high-profile science fiction-based cable networks in the United States and the United Kingdom take their name from either this term, although each networks air programming which might not healthy into everyone's definition of "science fiction." A channel title can be particularly suitable for victims world health organization dislike a term sci-fi since, based on data from a Dave Langford, "SF people [pronounce sci-fi] in tones of heavy irony to describe bad TV or movie sf." [http://www.ansible.co.uk/sfx/sfx004.html].

The variation of the term is "sci-fantasy".