zeerust

See also: Zeerust

English

An outdated vision of the future.

Etymology

Coined by English science fiction writer and humorist Douglas Adams and British television producer and writer John Lloyd in The Meaning of Liff (1983), from Zeerust, the name of a town in South Africa. By folk etymology, connected semantics to rust.

Noun

zeerust (uncountable)

1. Datedness of something originally intended to seem 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?

   • 2012 June 13, Fuu, “Concept Brainstorming (aka rambling) part one”, in Project Dark Ride‎^[3], 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.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:zeerust.

See also

• retrofuturism