Sturgeon's Law, n.
Brit. Forms: 19- Sturgeon's Law, Sturgeon's law. [<>Sturgeon (1918-85, born Edward Hamilton Waldo), U.S. science fiction writer + LAW n.1]
A humorous aphorism which maintains that most of any body of published material, knowledge, etc., or (more generally) of everything is worthless: based on a statement by Sturgeon (see quot. 1958), usually later cited as '90 per cent of everything is crap'.
Typically used of a specific medium, genre, etc., originally and esp. science fiction, and now freq. also of information to be found on the Internet. The aphorism was apparently first formulated in 1951 or 1952 at a lecture at New York University (letter to the O.E.D. from Fruma Klass, the wife of science fiction writer Phil Klass ('William Tenn'), 5 Dec. 2001), and popularized at the 1953 WorldCon science fiction convention (see J. Gunn in N.Y. Rev. Sci. Fiction (1995) Sept. 20).
And a tip of the hat to Dr. Doug, my best friend, for sending this my way. Thanks, Doug.
And a tip of the hat to Dr. Doug, my best friend, for sending this my way. Thanks, Doug.
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