Thursday, April 08, 2010

Nerd Word of the Week: Con

Dragon ConImage via Wikipedia
Con (n.) - Accepted slang term for a science fiction or fantasy convention, so much so that many of these conventions work the term con into their unofficial or even official titles. For example, the World Science Fiction Convention -- whence come the Hugo Awards -- is known as WorldCon. Moreover, Dragon*Con, GenCon and Comic-Con -- arguably the preeminent American science fiction, gaming, and comic book conventions, respectively -- all include con in their formal titles. Some conventions have even gone so far as to artfully work con into their namesakes, including Hunstville's Con+Stellation, Pittsburgh's ConFluence, and Tulsa's CONestoga. Who says puns are a dead art?

I bring it up because: This weekend my local sci-fi con, ConGlomeration, gets underway -- and I've never been above a shameless plug. If you need a better reason, the 2010 Hugo nominations came out this week, which means WorldCon membership -- which you need to vote on the awards -- is top of mind in the nerd-o-sphere.
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