It's Not an Acronym

[kevin_standlee]

I wonder why so many places where I see references to the top honors in the SF/F field presented by the members of the World Science Fiction Convention, the writers of the articles feel compelled to style it "HUGO Award" as if "HUGO" was an acronym. The "Hugo" in "Hugo Award" isn't an acronym. As I hope everyone reading my journal regularly knows, the Award is named for Hugo Gernsback, sometimes called "the father of modern science fiction."

At this rate, I reckon we'll see people trying to back-form a "real" name for the Awards that somehow fits into the letters H-U-G-O.

Comments

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

I think that we, people have heard of Hugo Gernsback, are in a minority. Most people could probably explain that the Academy Awards are given by some academy (whether or not they could name the AMPAS) but would be stumped by the Hugo Awards. This doesn't explain the appearance of "HUGO award" in fannish writing very well, though.