Word.ws English Dictionary

fans are slans

fans are slans phrase: science fiction fans are more intelligent and more creative than other people.

Phrase

fans are slans

  1. (dated, slang) Science fiction fans are more intelligent and more creative than other people.
    • Under the title "Stfans -- Race of the Future", Joquel dissects the "fans are slans" theme which back in 1941 was being considered with a surprising amount of seriousness, and comes up with the obvious conclusion of phooey.1950 March, F. Towner Laney, “Fanzine Scope”, in Spacewarp, number 36, archived from the original on 24 Sep 2015, pages 10–17
    • FANS ARE SLANS Literally understood, "fans are superman mutants" -- or, at least, "fans are smarter than most people" -- but actual semantic content is according to the mood and attitude of the user.1959, Richard "Dick" Harris Eney, Fancyclopedia II

Examples of fans are slans in a sentence

  • "Fans are slans" is a way of saying that we're smarter than other people. (Which is true, actually, but rather impolite to bring up in mixed company.)2000 April 27, Pete McCutchen, “Re: Mr. Ordover, I disagree”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet), message-ID...
  • Fanish culture is very tribal in nature and overly concerned with superiority as fans are slans.2003 November 8, Danny Low, “Re: Mundanes' secret weapon?”, in rec.arts.sf.fandom (Usenet), message-ID...

Origin of fans are slans

From slan and the novel Slan (1940) by A. E. Van Vogt. By analogy to the superior but persecuted mutants of Van Vogt's novel.

Questions about fans are slans

What does fans are slans mean?
Fans are slans means science fiction fans are more intelligent and more creative than other people.
How do you use fans are slans in a sentence?
"Fans are slans" is a way of saying that we're smarter than other people. (Which is true, actually, but rather impolite to bring up in mixed company.)
What part of speech is fans are slans?
Fans are slans is a phrase.

Words near fans are slans in the dictionary

  1. fanpol
  2. fanqie
  3. fanqui
  4. fanquis
  5. fans
  6. fans are slans
  7. fans out
  8. fans the fire
  9. fans the flame
  10. fans the flames
  11. fanservice

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fans are slans (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “fans are slans.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fans_are_slans. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.