Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

alan smithee

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 1.58 in modern English

Syllables: alan -smithee
IPA

16

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

2

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

An official pseudonym used by film directors wishing to disown a project.

Example Sentences

"I then watched the Alan Smithee cut, which made a great deal more narrative sense (to a Dune virgin such as myself) than the theatrical version, but was unsatisfying in other ways. Later, reading [David] Lynch's various drafts of the script gave me what may be the purest form of the film in existence, allowing visual imagination and a recollection of the filmed version(s) to combine into an immensely satisfying experience."

Etymology

Coined by American trade union Directors Guild of America in 1968, modified from the originally proposed Al Smith to avoid confusion with real people's names.

Inflected Forms

Allen Smithee (alternative)

Questions

What does alan smithee mean?: An official pseudonym used by film directors wishing to disown a project.
Where does alan smithee come from?: Coined by American trade union Directors Guild of America in 1968, modified from the originally proposed Al Smith to avoid confusion with real people's names.

How to pronounce alan smithee

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