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3.2 KiB
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22 lines
3.2 KiB
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>retcon</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../R.html" title="R"/><link rel="previous" href="restriction.html" title="restriction"/><link rel="next" href="RETI.html" title="RETI"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">retcon</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="restriction.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">R</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="RETI.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="retcon"/><dt xmlns="" id="retcon"><b>retcon</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/ret<65>kon/</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [short for ‘retroactive continuity’, from the Usenet
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newsgroup <tt class="systemitem">rec.arts.comics</tt>]
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</p></dd><dd><p> 1. <span class="grammar">n.</span> The common situation in
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pulp fiction (esp. comics or soap operas) where a new story
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‘reveals’ things about events in previous stories, usually
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leaving the ‘facts’ the same (thus preserving continuity) while
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completely changing their interpretation. For example, revealing that a
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whole season of <i class="citetitle">Dallas</i> was a dream was a retcon.
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</p></dd><dd><p> 2. <span class="grammar">vt.</span> To write such a story
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about a character or fictitious object. “<span class="quote">Byrne has retconned
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Superman's cape so that it is no longer unbreakable.</span>”
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“<span class="quote">Marvelman's old adventures were retconned into synthetic
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dreams.</span>” “<span class="quote">Swamp Thing was retconned from a transformed person
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into a sentient vegetable.</span>”</p></dd><dd><p>[This term is included because it is a good example of hackish
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linguistic innovation in a field completely unrelated to computers. The
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word <span class="firstterm">retcon</span> will probably spread
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through comics fandom and lose its association with hackerdom within a
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couple of years; for the record, it started here. —ESR]</p><p>[1993 update: some comics fans on the net now claim that retcon was
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independently in use in comics fandom before <tt class="systemitem">rec.arts.comics</tt>, and have citations from
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around 1981. In lexicography, nothing is ever simple. —ESR]</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="restriction.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../R.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="RETI.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">restriction<EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>RETI</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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