18 May 2010
Henry McCracken over at technologizer.com has an interesting article on the origin of the word fanboy.
McCracken puts too much emphasis on the 1973 magazine Fanboy, titled by creator Jay Lynch, as the supposed origin of the term, and peremptorily dismisses the 1919 cite in the OED as unrelated—the 1919 sense is clearly not quite the same as the current, tech-slang sense, but the words are clearly related. The 1973 interdating is an important find, but Lynch almost certainly did not coin the word. But even with these faults, it’s an interesting, fact-filled take on the word.
And if you read the article, be sure to read the very astute reader comment by “Jack.”
(Hat tip: Bill Mullins on ADS-L)
