Zeerust: the particular kind of datedness which afflicts things that were originally designed to look futuristic.
2009 March 23, James Nicholl, “Since there seems to be a derth of on topic material just now”, in rec.arts.sf.written[1] (Usenet), message-ID <gq8jkj$6u7$1@reader1.panix.com>:
It also features a nice bit of Zeerust in the form of a carefully reproduced Hollerith card.
2010 January 21, Rick, quoting Jean Remy, “The Future of the Future”, in Rocketpunk Manifesto[2], retrieved 2013-05-31:
If in a mere 60 years we've learned enough that the predictions of the Futurists then have become "zeerust" today, how long before the predictions on this very blog become subject of ridicule and sympathy directed at our naivete?
2010 September 12, David DeLaney, “Re: A B&N Field Report”, in rec.arts.sf.written[3] (Usenet), message-ID <slrni8os46.vmp.dbd@gatekeeper.vic.com>:
The current technical term for this is "zeerust" - the datedness of how the future used to look.
2011 August 25, David Goldfarb, “Re: Most over-used words”, in rec.arts.sf.written[4] (Usenet), message-ID <LqH96F.vnD@kithrup.com>:
I remember those same posters. Looking at those again, there's one with very noticeable zeerust: "What if the earth were Wegeneroidal?" Nowadays we wouldn't use the subjunctive mood.
2011 October, Gary Boas, “When the Future Catches Up With You”, in Photonics Spectra, →ISSN:
In other instances, though, technologies have ended up looking ungainly and even kind of silly. Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, in their book The Meaning of Liff, describe this as “zeerust”: “the particular kind of datedness which afflicts things that were originally designed to look futuristic.”
2012 June 13, Fuu, “Concept Brainstorming (aka rambling) part one”, in Project Dark Ride[5], retrieved 2013-05-31:
Sci-fi and futuristic- lots of potential here it seems to me, though not as many real world example rides as I expected. I wonder if it's a cost issue or a fear of getting zeerust setting in as the ride ages.
