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Mundane

In subcultural and fictional uses, a mundane is a person who does not belong to a particular group, according to the members of that group; the implication is that such persons, lacking imagination, are concerned solely with the mundane: the quotidian and ordinary.[1] The term first came into use in science fiction fandom to refer, sometimes deprecatingly, to non-fans; this use of the term antedates 1955.[2]

This article is about science fiction subculture. It is not to be confused with Mundane science fiction.

Etymology[edit]

Mundane came originally from the Latin mundus, meaning ordinary and worldly as opposed to spiritual, and has been in use in English since the 15th century.[3]

In 's book series The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices, humans who were not Shadowhunters nor Downworlders were referred to as "mundanes".

Cassandra Clare

In fantasy literature the term is sometimes used to apply to non- people or the non-magical society. It is used in Piers Anthony's Xanth novels and Bill Willingham's comic book series Fables (often shortened to "mundies" in the latter).

magical

In , it is used to describe non-furries, or "humans".[4]

furry fandom

[5]

In , some fans classify all non-fans as "mundanes."[6]

science fiction fandom

In text-based online , the term is commonly used to refer to the player as opposed to their character, typically shortened to "mun".

role-playing games

In the series Babylon 5, telepathic humans (especially Psi Corps members) classify all non-telepathic humans as "mundanes". The classification is employed mainly, but not solely, by telepathic characters who have telepath-supremacist ideologies (such ideologies being one of the issues dealt with by the series), and was deliberately chosen to mirror the classification in science fiction fandom.[7]

science fiction television

In the scope of the software communities of and open-source software some proponents of the respective movements classify those that do not know enough about their views as "mundanes".

free

In the circles the word "mundane" means "non-sanguinarian", although some consider it derogatory.

vampire lifestyle

is science fiction that does not make use of interstellar travel or other common tropes of the genre.[8]

Mundane science fiction

Some Western cultural examples include:

Muggle

Plain vanilla

Populism

Reactionary

Reform movement

Revival movement

Underground culture