The Meaning Of F.A.B!

[Bayleaf48]

This COULD prove to be interesting as it's to do with the meaning of the phrase F.A.B!

Some place say that it doesn't mean anything, but according to the official 'Thunderbirds' website it does mean something & DESTINED to appear in the next edition of the dictionary.

Basically, it is the call sign of International Rescue & when Jeff Tracy was looking for something short like 'Roger', he though of of & then decided to spell it out & add dots between the letters & so was 'born the phrase F.A.B!

It would be interesting to see other 'Thunderfans' ideas on whether it means anything or not

 

[Dave]

This Gerry Anderson FAQ site:

http://members.aol.com/kimmurphy/private/gerryfaq.html

says:

11. What does "F.A.B." stand for?

Perhaps the most frequently asked question by new THUNDERBIRDS fans, the definitive answer came from Sylvia Anderson herself during her promotional tour for her book YES, M'LADY. According to Sylvia, F.A.B. stands for...
...absolutely nothing.

It was something they made up on the spur of the moment during a writing session, Sylvia says, and it was never intended to stand for anything other than to spell out the letters of a popular British slang word--"fab"--during that era. Many people have attempted to find other meanings ("Filed, Actioned, Briefed", "Fine--Acknowledge Broadcast"), but it never meant anything other than "fabulous".

It was just a cool British slang word of the sixties, hence the title of the BBC comedy show "Ab Fab", and "Austin Powers" use of the word.

 

[Bayleaf48]

Thanks for that Dave

It's already obvious from only two posts that there's going to be differeing views about it :eek4: :eek7:

 

[Technomage]

Yes, I always thought it was just the slang word Fab, but I did try to come up with other meanings as well, but nothing much seemed right.

 

[Bayleaf48]

What I orginally posted comed from the 'Offical Thunderbirds Web site' at www.thunderbirdsonline.com

 

[Status]

Thanks, one of the main reasons I came in here was to find out what F.A.B. was supposed to mean.

I just got my hands on a DVD of "Thunderbirds Are Go" and watched it. Not sure if the series was first though and if so maybe I'd have understood it better knowing more background.

I did rather injoyed it and almost stopped it before the very best part! The marching band at the end of it.

 

[Tintinternet]

We all no it means FIRST AND BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mosaix]

Forward As Before?

 

[Urlik]

Friends And Beer

what more could you want?

 

[Wolfeborn]

It doesnt mean anything as previously said is slang for every thing is good great cool hunky dory exellent spiffy etc etc.

Gerry Anderson said in numurous interviews that it wasn't supposed to mean anything except everythings is good.

 

[Captain B]

Our family used to think if stood for Fathers A Banana.
All the boys getting at Dad everytime.
Don’t know if anyone else can think of some more imaginative one?

 

[Digger01]

It apparently means for always brothers, but idk if thats accurate

 

[Dave]

I've nothing against people getting creative and having fun with this idea but to suggest it is really anything other than what I posted a whole 13 years ago, quoting directly from the Gerry Anderson FAQ website is spurious. That website now no longer exists and Gerry Anderson isn't around to ask him anymore but I would say that Sylvia Anderson quote must be a definitive source. This is still the number one question people ask about Thunderbirds, which was demonstrated recently when the new ITV show (2015) was aired. This very old thread suddenly became active again because Google discovered, it and it became the most looked at thread on SFFChronicles in any single day. So, please do keep having fun, but I'd like to think SFFChronicles is also educational, and the actual answer to this has already been given.

 

[Ilonka]

This COULD prove to be interesting as it's to do with the meaning of the phrase F.A.B!

Some place say that it doesn't mean anything, but according to the official 'Thunderbirds' website it does mean something & DESTINED to appear in the next edition of the dictionary.

Basically, it is the call sign of International Rescue & when Jeff Tracy was looking for something short like 'Roger', he though of of & then decided to spell it out & add dots between the letters & so was 'born the phrase F.A.B!

It would be interesting to see other 'Thunderfans' ideas on whether it means anything or not

F.A.B. stands for Fully Accepted and Briefed. It means message received and understood.

 

[Dave]

F.A.B. stands for Fully Accepted and Briefed. It means message received and understood.

Do you have a reference for the source of that answer please? I've given you mine which is difficult to dismiss. I want the definitive answer to this too, but it must come with some kind of proof.

Any other answer needs to be pre-1961 as the Oxford English Dictionary says:

colloq. abbrev. of fabulous adj. 5b. Also as n.
1961 in E. Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1082/1.
1963 Times 26 Jan. 10/6 She stretched her stockinged toes towards the blazing logs. ‘Daddy, this fire's simply fab.’
1963 New Statesman 18 Oct. 536/1 Those girls in leather gear—the height of fab.
1963 Meet the Beatles 22 Most of the Merseyside groups produce sounds which are pretty fab.
1971 It 2–16 June 11/4 Seale called the fab philosopher ‘a moral coward’.

 

[Dave]

Do you have a reference for the source of that answer please?

I guess the answer to that is no then?

This is what the Wikia: Gerry Anderson Encyclopedia says (pretty similar to the old Fanderson FAQ as you might expect):

F.A.B. is the codeword used in Thunderbirds, it serves a similar purpose to "10-4" or "Roger".

Many fans have tried to decipher the meaning, but unlike P.W.O.R., F.A.B. means "absolutely nothing", according to Sylvia Anderson.

However, this has not stopped fans from engineering their own meanings.
These include:

• Fully advised and briefed
• For all brothers
• Full acknowledgement of broadcast

As well as some humorous meanings, such as

• Funderbirds are brill

• NB. It says that "Fully Advised and Briefed" is a fan invention.

Could I please ask that any alternative suggestions are referenced so they can be checked?

For example, David Cameron said that it stands for "Farting and Belching" in a personal communication, 2014, or something like that. By the way, that isn't actually true, though it is as equally likely as some of the previous responses.

 

[Bugg]

For example, David Cameron said that it stands for "Farting and Belching" in a personal communication, 2014, or something like that. By the way, that isn't actually true, though it is as equally likely as some of the previous responses.

Especially in Gordon's case - that's why nobody else wanted to go in Thunderbird 4

 

[HareBrain]

F.A.B. means "absolutely nothing", according to Sylvia Anderson.

So it stands for F*** All, Basically.

 

[Vaz]

So it stands for F*** All, Basically.