6 Minute English / How fans talk about their passions

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I m Beth.

And I m Neil.

If you really love something, maybe a sport or a hobby, a music band or a TV show, you might call yourself a fan .

Nowadays, thanks to the internet, fans from around the world can meet online to share their passion, and this has led to a new word: fandom . Fandom is more than simply being a fan it s a whole culture created by a community of people to share their love of the same thing.

What s more, fandom has started to develop its own language. In this programme, we ll be taking a trip into the world of fandoms, and, as usual, we ll be learning some new and useful vocabulary too. But before that, I have a question for you, Neil. The original word fan was first used about Americans in the early 20th century. But what were these Americans fans of? Was it:

a) Hollywood movie stars?b) Baseball? or,c) Disney cartoons ?

I ll guess they were fans of Disney cartoons.

OK, Neil. We ll find out later in the programme. Michael Bond is the author of a new book, Fans. Here, he discusses the meaning of fandom with BBC Radio 4 programme, Word of Mouth:

Kings ruled their kingdoms, fans certainly rule their fandoms. It taps into that ancient human impulse to belong to a group of like-minded people, and of course being a fan by yourself can be a challenging thing because fannish pursuits can look quirky and odd even obsessive, and you get often mocked and, I mean, if you're Jane Austen fan and you want to dress up in a bonnet and gown of the Regency era it's difficult to do that by yourself in public, but once you join a fandom there's no problem.