# Sci-Fi becomes SyFy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628 "2009-03-16T15:46:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/141 "2009-03-25T14:47:37Z")
That was an old Fred Allen joke about Hollywood, sincerity, and producers. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/142 "2009-03-25T15:23:50Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > In their defense, “Sci-Fi” is a somewhat mockable term with the (ahem) SF industry. Within the (ahem) SF industry, the term “sci-fi” is associated with people who are attempting to sound knowledgable, but are failing. > > One might say that “SF” or “SF/Fantasy” is the preferred nomenclature, dude. > > Its a minor hair, but I felt like splitting it. pronounced “sciffy” - my favorite mock term of the genre ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/143 "2009-03-25T16:47:51Z")
> [@Jules\_Andre](#): > > Perhaps now we can end this debate between **Lynn** (by any chance, was it once Linn? :D) and **Justin\_Bailey** (whom we all know rebranded away from “Nintendo”). And we would know that because, why? We are all Sci Fi / Geeks and Gamers? The exact people Syfy was made for? The rebranded Disney raccoon will now ‘shup’. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/144 "2009-03-25T20:27:10Z")
Okay, that’s enough speculation. I’m gonna tell you what really happened.\* One of the new interns at the Sci-Fi Channel had a CD by String Cheese Incident on his desk and his boss came by and saw it. When he noticed the logo he called legal to get the ball rolling on a lawsuit. The lawyer told him it, unfortunately, wasn’t actionable, because of the generic nature of the network name which caused said executive to have a coniption fit. “We must do something!! Now!! Change the name to something I can sue people over!!!” And thus, SyFy was born. You see, String Cheese Incident (sometimes referred to as SCI) has a production company called… SCI Fidelity (sometimes referred to as SCI-Fi). \*Yeah, I made this story up. But the band really did call their publishing company SCI-Fidelity Recording. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/145 "2009-03-25T23:50:43Z")
There was once a flap between Forrest J. Ackerman and Harlan Ellison – Ackerman liked and popularized the term “Sci-Fi,” and Ellison derided that as “the sound of crickets making love.” So I got a message-button made up special: “I ❤ COPULATING CRICKETS.” Ackerman saw me wearing it at a con and later, when I visited his famous SF library in L.A., said he “got a lot of smileage” out of it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/146 "2009-03-26T04:30:31Z")
All things considered, I’d rather stand with Forry than Harlan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628.md?page=7)