When was “off-world” / “offworld” coined?
"Offworld" meaning "not on the main, current planet" is a term in some sci-fi works, and several works have been named using it, like "Offworld Trading Company" (a video game).
The word definitely dates to older sci-fi, though, and I'm wondering where/when it originated. I couldn't find information in any dictionaries, although several listed the word.
etymology science
New contributor
add a comment |
"Offworld" meaning "not on the main, current planet" is a term in some sci-fi works, and several works have been named using it, like "Offworld Trading Company" (a video game).
The word definitely dates to older sci-fi, though, and I'm wondering where/when it originated. I couldn't find information in any dictionaries, although several listed the word.
etymology science
New contributor
2
Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953) contains several references to "off-world visitors," "off-world exports," and "off-world sales," and includes a character's remark, "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose."
– Sven Yargs
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs - what about posting a useful answer...
– user240918
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs I appreciate the references. 1953 is already a good upper bound!
– Alex Meiburg
3 hours ago
The OED has published a historical Sci Fi dictionary titled Brave new words. I haven't found a safe online copy to browse. You could try phoning the reference desk of a library that has a copy.
– Phil Sweet
9 mins ago
Googlefu working again - Off-world 1950 books.google.com/…
– Phil Sweet
4 mins ago
add a comment |
"Offworld" meaning "not on the main, current planet" is a term in some sci-fi works, and several works have been named using it, like "Offworld Trading Company" (a video game).
The word definitely dates to older sci-fi, though, and I'm wondering where/when it originated. I couldn't find information in any dictionaries, although several listed the word.
etymology science
New contributor
"Offworld" meaning "not on the main, current planet" is a term in some sci-fi works, and several works have been named using it, like "Offworld Trading Company" (a video game).
The word definitely dates to older sci-fi, though, and I'm wondering where/when it originated. I couldn't find information in any dictionaries, although several listed the word.
etymology science
etymology science
New contributor
New contributor
edited 2 hours ago
New contributor
asked 18 hours ago
Alex Meiburg
1263
1263
New contributor
New contributor
2
Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953) contains several references to "off-world visitors," "off-world exports," and "off-world sales," and includes a character's remark, "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose."
– Sven Yargs
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs - what about posting a useful answer...
– user240918
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs I appreciate the references. 1953 is already a good upper bound!
– Alex Meiburg
3 hours ago
The OED has published a historical Sci Fi dictionary titled Brave new words. I haven't found a safe online copy to browse. You could try phoning the reference desk of a library that has a copy.
– Phil Sweet
9 mins ago
Googlefu working again - Off-world 1950 books.google.com/…
– Phil Sweet
4 mins ago
add a comment |
2
Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953) contains several references to "off-world visitors," "off-world exports," and "off-world sales," and includes a character's remark, "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose."
– Sven Yargs
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs - what about posting a useful answer...
– user240918
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs I appreciate the references. 1953 is already a good upper bound!
– Alex Meiburg
3 hours ago
The OED has published a historical Sci Fi dictionary titled Brave new words. I haven't found a safe online copy to browse. You could try phoning the reference desk of a library that has a copy.
– Phil Sweet
9 mins ago
Googlefu working again - Off-world 1950 books.google.com/…
– Phil Sweet
4 mins ago
2
2
Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953) contains several references to "off-world visitors," "off-world exports," and "off-world sales," and includes a character's remark, "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose."
– Sven Yargs
18 hours ago
Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953) contains several references to "off-world visitors," "off-world exports," and "off-world sales," and includes a character's remark, "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose."
– Sven Yargs
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs - what about posting a useful answer...
– user240918
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs - what about posting a useful answer...
– user240918
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs I appreciate the references. 1953 is already a good upper bound!
– Alex Meiburg
3 hours ago
@SvenYargs I appreciate the references. 1953 is already a good upper bound!
– Alex Meiburg
3 hours ago
The OED has published a historical Sci Fi dictionary titled Brave new words. I haven't found a safe online copy to browse. You could try phoning the reference desk of a library that has a copy.
– Phil Sweet
9 mins ago
The OED has published a historical Sci Fi dictionary titled Brave new words. I haven't found a safe online copy to browse. You could try phoning the reference desk of a library that has a copy.
– Phil Sweet
9 mins ago
Googlefu working again - Off-world 1950 books.google.com/…
– Phil Sweet
4 mins ago
Googlefu working again - Off-world 1950 books.google.com/…
– Phil Sweet
4 mins ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
The earliest instance of "off-world"—in a science fiction setting—that I could find in a Google Books search is from Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953), which uses the term several times:
He relaxed and loafed around the city for almost a week. There were few other off-world visitors; the Iszic authorities discouraged tourism to the maximum degree allowed them by the Treaty of Access.
...
"Yonder are four- and five-pod trees for the artisans. Each district has it unique requirements, the description of which I will not burden you. Our off-world exports of course are not of such critical concern, since we only sell a few standard and easily grown structures."
Farr frowned. It seemed the Zhde Patasz's patronizing manner had become more pronounced. "You could increase your off-world sales tremendously if you chose to diversify."
Zhde Patasz and Omon Bozhd both exhibited signs of amusement. "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose. Why strive further? Who appreciates the unique and exceptional qualities of our houses? You yourself tell us that Earther regards his house as hardly more than a cubicle to ward off the weather."
An early instance of "off-worlder" appears in an unidentified story in Vintage Science Fiction (1957):
The spaceman's trouble cry brought every off-worlder in the place to his feet. The bouncers started to come after him, hesitated as Bull's blaster swung toward them, and then looked to the house man for instructions.
And in Harry Harrison, Deathworld, serialized in Astounding Science Fiction (1960):
"My home planet? Just about the stuffiest, dullest, dead-en in the universe. ...I was fifteen before I learned to read—out of a book stolen from a noble school. After that there was no turning back. By the time I stowed aboard an offworld freighter at nineteen I must have broken every law on the planet. Happily. Leaving home for me was just like getting out of prison."
A similar term that also seems to have emerged in the 1950s in "off-planet." It shows up in Murray Leinster, The Forgotten Planet (1956):
They had a natural monopoly,—not of moth-fur and butterfly-wing fabric, and panels of irridescent chitin for luxurious decoration, but—of the strictly practical and detailed knowledge of insect-habits which made it possible to obtain them. Off-planet visitors who tried to hunt without local knowledge did not come back from the lowlands.
...
And also it is good sport. The planet is a sportsman's paradise. There are not too many visitors. Nobody may go hunting without an experienced host. And off-planet sportsmen tend to feel somewhat queasy after a session as guest of the folk who have made Burl their planet-president.
Andre Norton, Voodoo Planet (1959) offers examples of both "off-planet" and "off-worlder":
"If these have been in any way meddled with, I would need laboratory analysis to detect it. And I don't believe that Lumbrilo could hide traces of his work so cleverly. Or has he been off-planet? Had much to do with off-worlders?" he asked the Chief Ranger.
"By the nature of his position he is forbidden to space voyage, to have any close relationship with any off-worlder. I do not think, medic, he would choose your healing substances for his mischief. ..."
And again from Harry Harrison' Deathworld (1960):
"Thee is a search on in the city, but we're well ahead of that.I'm sure the Cassylians don't want to advertise their bad sportsmanship so there won't be anything as crude as a roadblock. But the port will be crawling with every agent they have. They know once the money gets off-planet it is gone forever. When we make a break for it they will be sure we still have the goods. So there will be no trouble with the munition ship getting clear."
Jason sounded a little shocked. "You mean you're setting us up as clay pigeons to cover the take-off of the ship."
"You could put it that way. But since we have to get off-planet anyway, there is no harm in our using our escape as a smokescreen."
It thus appears that both off-world and off-planet originated as ways to indicate "away from this world [or planet]" or "coming from another world [or planet]," rather than to specify a moon or artificial satellite orbiting a home planet and serving as an outpost or colony of that home planet.
The specific sense of "off-world" as a subsidiary satellite to a home planet seems to have emerged in the 1960s, as colonialism became a more touchy subject in the real world. For example, Charles Platt, Garbage World (1967) focuses on a small asteroid tht serves as a garbage dump for surrounding pleasure planets—and yet it is the denizens of this asteroid who call the people from those other planets "off-worlders":
"Fair enough," said Gaylord. "Never tried off-world brew."
He picked up the tumbler that Oliver had half-filled for him. His fleshy nose twitched as he sniffed the amber liquid. Then he shrugged and swallowed it all down in a single gulp. He smacked his lips and grimaced, shaking his head.
...
"All right," he said. "Kind of expected we'd have to get things out in the open, though it oughta be clear enough. You know how we feel about off-worlders. Nothing personal, mind, but we can't take their lily-white, pansy-faced pious attitudes. Don't like 'em dropping their garbage on us, then complaining because we're not clean like they are. Now, my girl Juliette, she was upset last night, with my hoard stolen and all. Fed up with the village crowd. You were the alternative, see. She got so drunk she thought it didn't matter you were off-world, even though she'd fallen for you. 'Course it couldn't work out. Full of shame now, she is. And so she oughta be."
The movie Blade Runner (1982) made the notion of "off-world" as a destination for colonists and pioneers seeking a new life away from a degrading planet famou throughout popular culture. The Blade Runner Wiki offers this description of "Off-world":
Off-world refers to the Earth's Orbital Space and also other planets, such as Mars, Kalanthia and Arcadia 234. Many locations in Off-world have been colonized and they are the homes of many humans as well as androids and replicants.
Years after the results from "World War Terminus", the United Nations encouraged people to emigrate to Off-world colonies to preserve the human race from the effects of the radioactive dust. Incentives for human leaving Earth have been promoted aggressively with advertising extolling the adventure and opportunities awaiting them if they leave, as well as promises of financial and personal incentives (for example, all colonists are promised a free android/replicant for their personal use).
Blade Runner was inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), but I haven't read this book, and its plot evidently diverges considerably from that of the movie—to the extent that I can't tell whether the term "off-world" even appears in Dick's novel, although there clearly are colonies of Earthlings on surrounding satellites and planetary bodies near the earth. A search for "off-world" through a PDF file of what appears to be the complete novel does not yield any matches.
add a comment |
Because like a quote from assassins creed 4 the game "everything is a boat" so maybe "everything is a world whether it be contained in endless space or in each planet or star or even atom and using the term off world might be classed as " not PC"(politically correct) in the way the word "outcast" refers to someone who's not the same, due to this modern world wishing everyone would fit in one box.
New contributor
I see English words, but I cannot see anything resembling a meaningful English sentence in all that. It looks sort of like it was generated by a random sentence generator. In any case, whatever it is, it’s not an answer to the question asked.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
25 mins ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Alex Meiburg is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f479092%2fwhen-was-off-world-offworld-coined%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
The earliest instance of "off-world"—in a science fiction setting—that I could find in a Google Books search is from Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953), which uses the term several times:
He relaxed and loafed around the city for almost a week. There were few other off-world visitors; the Iszic authorities discouraged tourism to the maximum degree allowed them by the Treaty of Access.
...
"Yonder are four- and five-pod trees for the artisans. Each district has it unique requirements, the description of which I will not burden you. Our off-world exports of course are not of such critical concern, since we only sell a few standard and easily grown structures."
Farr frowned. It seemed the Zhde Patasz's patronizing manner had become more pronounced. "You could increase your off-world sales tremendously if you chose to diversify."
Zhde Patasz and Omon Bozhd both exhibited signs of amusement. "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose. Why strive further? Who appreciates the unique and exceptional qualities of our houses? You yourself tell us that Earther regards his house as hardly more than a cubicle to ward off the weather."
An early instance of "off-worlder" appears in an unidentified story in Vintage Science Fiction (1957):
The spaceman's trouble cry brought every off-worlder in the place to his feet. The bouncers started to come after him, hesitated as Bull's blaster swung toward them, and then looked to the house man for instructions.
And in Harry Harrison, Deathworld, serialized in Astounding Science Fiction (1960):
"My home planet? Just about the stuffiest, dullest, dead-en in the universe. ...I was fifteen before I learned to read—out of a book stolen from a noble school. After that there was no turning back. By the time I stowed aboard an offworld freighter at nineteen I must have broken every law on the planet. Happily. Leaving home for me was just like getting out of prison."
A similar term that also seems to have emerged in the 1950s in "off-planet." It shows up in Murray Leinster, The Forgotten Planet (1956):
They had a natural monopoly,—not of moth-fur and butterfly-wing fabric, and panels of irridescent chitin for luxurious decoration, but—of the strictly practical and detailed knowledge of insect-habits which made it possible to obtain them. Off-planet visitors who tried to hunt without local knowledge did not come back from the lowlands.
...
And also it is good sport. The planet is a sportsman's paradise. There are not too many visitors. Nobody may go hunting without an experienced host. And off-planet sportsmen tend to feel somewhat queasy after a session as guest of the folk who have made Burl their planet-president.
Andre Norton, Voodoo Planet (1959) offers examples of both "off-planet" and "off-worlder":
"If these have been in any way meddled with, I would need laboratory analysis to detect it. And I don't believe that Lumbrilo could hide traces of his work so cleverly. Or has he been off-planet? Had much to do with off-worlders?" he asked the Chief Ranger.
"By the nature of his position he is forbidden to space voyage, to have any close relationship with any off-worlder. I do not think, medic, he would choose your healing substances for his mischief. ..."
And again from Harry Harrison' Deathworld (1960):
"Thee is a search on in the city, but we're well ahead of that.I'm sure the Cassylians don't want to advertise their bad sportsmanship so there won't be anything as crude as a roadblock. But the port will be crawling with every agent they have. They know once the money gets off-planet it is gone forever. When we make a break for it they will be sure we still have the goods. So there will be no trouble with the munition ship getting clear."
Jason sounded a little shocked. "You mean you're setting us up as clay pigeons to cover the take-off of the ship."
"You could put it that way. But since we have to get off-planet anyway, there is no harm in our using our escape as a smokescreen."
It thus appears that both off-world and off-planet originated as ways to indicate "away from this world [or planet]" or "coming from another world [or planet]," rather than to specify a moon or artificial satellite orbiting a home planet and serving as an outpost or colony of that home planet.
The specific sense of "off-world" as a subsidiary satellite to a home planet seems to have emerged in the 1960s, as colonialism became a more touchy subject in the real world. For example, Charles Platt, Garbage World (1967) focuses on a small asteroid tht serves as a garbage dump for surrounding pleasure planets—and yet it is the denizens of this asteroid who call the people from those other planets "off-worlders":
"Fair enough," said Gaylord. "Never tried off-world brew."
He picked up the tumbler that Oliver had half-filled for him. His fleshy nose twitched as he sniffed the amber liquid. Then he shrugged and swallowed it all down in a single gulp. He smacked his lips and grimaced, shaking his head.
...
"All right," he said. "Kind of expected we'd have to get things out in the open, though it oughta be clear enough. You know how we feel about off-worlders. Nothing personal, mind, but we can't take their lily-white, pansy-faced pious attitudes. Don't like 'em dropping their garbage on us, then complaining because we're not clean like they are. Now, my girl Juliette, she was upset last night, with my hoard stolen and all. Fed up with the village crowd. You were the alternative, see. She got so drunk she thought it didn't matter you were off-world, even though she'd fallen for you. 'Course it couldn't work out. Full of shame now, she is. And so she oughta be."
The movie Blade Runner (1982) made the notion of "off-world" as a destination for colonists and pioneers seeking a new life away from a degrading planet famou throughout popular culture. The Blade Runner Wiki offers this description of "Off-world":
Off-world refers to the Earth's Orbital Space and also other planets, such as Mars, Kalanthia and Arcadia 234. Many locations in Off-world have been colonized and they are the homes of many humans as well as androids and replicants.
Years after the results from "World War Terminus", the United Nations encouraged people to emigrate to Off-world colonies to preserve the human race from the effects of the radioactive dust. Incentives for human leaving Earth have been promoted aggressively with advertising extolling the adventure and opportunities awaiting them if they leave, as well as promises of financial and personal incentives (for example, all colonists are promised a free android/replicant for their personal use).
Blade Runner was inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), but I haven't read this book, and its plot evidently diverges considerably from that of the movie—to the extent that I can't tell whether the term "off-world" even appears in Dick's novel, although there clearly are colonies of Earthlings on surrounding satellites and planetary bodies near the earth. A search for "off-world" through a PDF file of what appears to be the complete novel does not yield any matches.
add a comment |
The earliest instance of "off-world"—in a science fiction setting—that I could find in a Google Books search is from Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953), which uses the term several times:
He relaxed and loafed around the city for almost a week. There were few other off-world visitors; the Iszic authorities discouraged tourism to the maximum degree allowed them by the Treaty of Access.
...
"Yonder are four- and five-pod trees for the artisans. Each district has it unique requirements, the description of which I will not burden you. Our off-world exports of course are not of such critical concern, since we only sell a few standard and easily grown structures."
Farr frowned. It seemed the Zhde Patasz's patronizing manner had become more pronounced. "You could increase your off-world sales tremendously if you chose to diversify."
Zhde Patasz and Omon Bozhd both exhibited signs of amusement. "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose. Why strive further? Who appreciates the unique and exceptional qualities of our houses? You yourself tell us that Earther regards his house as hardly more than a cubicle to ward off the weather."
An early instance of "off-worlder" appears in an unidentified story in Vintage Science Fiction (1957):
The spaceman's trouble cry brought every off-worlder in the place to his feet. The bouncers started to come after him, hesitated as Bull's blaster swung toward them, and then looked to the house man for instructions.
And in Harry Harrison, Deathworld, serialized in Astounding Science Fiction (1960):
"My home planet? Just about the stuffiest, dullest, dead-en in the universe. ...I was fifteen before I learned to read—out of a book stolen from a noble school. After that there was no turning back. By the time I stowed aboard an offworld freighter at nineteen I must have broken every law on the planet. Happily. Leaving home for me was just like getting out of prison."
A similar term that also seems to have emerged in the 1950s in "off-planet." It shows up in Murray Leinster, The Forgotten Planet (1956):
They had a natural monopoly,—not of moth-fur and butterfly-wing fabric, and panels of irridescent chitin for luxurious decoration, but—of the strictly practical and detailed knowledge of insect-habits which made it possible to obtain them. Off-planet visitors who tried to hunt without local knowledge did not come back from the lowlands.
...
And also it is good sport. The planet is a sportsman's paradise. There are not too many visitors. Nobody may go hunting without an experienced host. And off-planet sportsmen tend to feel somewhat queasy after a session as guest of the folk who have made Burl their planet-president.
Andre Norton, Voodoo Planet (1959) offers examples of both "off-planet" and "off-worlder":
"If these have been in any way meddled with, I would need laboratory analysis to detect it. And I don't believe that Lumbrilo could hide traces of his work so cleverly. Or has he been off-planet? Had much to do with off-worlders?" he asked the Chief Ranger.
"By the nature of his position he is forbidden to space voyage, to have any close relationship with any off-worlder. I do not think, medic, he would choose your healing substances for his mischief. ..."
And again from Harry Harrison' Deathworld (1960):
"Thee is a search on in the city, but we're well ahead of that.I'm sure the Cassylians don't want to advertise their bad sportsmanship so there won't be anything as crude as a roadblock. But the port will be crawling with every agent they have. They know once the money gets off-planet it is gone forever. When we make a break for it they will be sure we still have the goods. So there will be no trouble with the munition ship getting clear."
Jason sounded a little shocked. "You mean you're setting us up as clay pigeons to cover the take-off of the ship."
"You could put it that way. But since we have to get off-planet anyway, there is no harm in our using our escape as a smokescreen."
It thus appears that both off-world and off-planet originated as ways to indicate "away from this world [or planet]" or "coming from another world [or planet]," rather than to specify a moon or artificial satellite orbiting a home planet and serving as an outpost or colony of that home planet.
The specific sense of "off-world" as a subsidiary satellite to a home planet seems to have emerged in the 1960s, as colonialism became a more touchy subject in the real world. For example, Charles Platt, Garbage World (1967) focuses on a small asteroid tht serves as a garbage dump for surrounding pleasure planets—and yet it is the denizens of this asteroid who call the people from those other planets "off-worlders":
"Fair enough," said Gaylord. "Never tried off-world brew."
He picked up the tumbler that Oliver had half-filled for him. His fleshy nose twitched as he sniffed the amber liquid. Then he shrugged and swallowed it all down in a single gulp. He smacked his lips and grimaced, shaking his head.
...
"All right," he said. "Kind of expected we'd have to get things out in the open, though it oughta be clear enough. You know how we feel about off-worlders. Nothing personal, mind, but we can't take their lily-white, pansy-faced pious attitudes. Don't like 'em dropping their garbage on us, then complaining because we're not clean like they are. Now, my girl Juliette, she was upset last night, with my hoard stolen and all. Fed up with the village crowd. You were the alternative, see. She got so drunk she thought it didn't matter you were off-world, even though she'd fallen for you. 'Course it couldn't work out. Full of shame now, she is. And so she oughta be."
The movie Blade Runner (1982) made the notion of "off-world" as a destination for colonists and pioneers seeking a new life away from a degrading planet famou throughout popular culture. The Blade Runner Wiki offers this description of "Off-world":
Off-world refers to the Earth's Orbital Space and also other planets, such as Mars, Kalanthia and Arcadia 234. Many locations in Off-world have been colonized and they are the homes of many humans as well as androids and replicants.
Years after the results from "World War Terminus", the United Nations encouraged people to emigrate to Off-world colonies to preserve the human race from the effects of the radioactive dust. Incentives for human leaving Earth have been promoted aggressively with advertising extolling the adventure and opportunities awaiting them if they leave, as well as promises of financial and personal incentives (for example, all colonists are promised a free android/replicant for their personal use).
Blade Runner was inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), but I haven't read this book, and its plot evidently diverges considerably from that of the movie—to the extent that I can't tell whether the term "off-world" even appears in Dick's novel, although there clearly are colonies of Earthlings on surrounding satellites and planetary bodies near the earth. A search for "off-world" through a PDF file of what appears to be the complete novel does not yield any matches.
add a comment |
The earliest instance of "off-world"—in a science fiction setting—that I could find in a Google Books search is from Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953), which uses the term several times:
He relaxed and loafed around the city for almost a week. There were few other off-world visitors; the Iszic authorities discouraged tourism to the maximum degree allowed them by the Treaty of Access.
...
"Yonder are four- and five-pod trees for the artisans. Each district has it unique requirements, the description of which I will not burden you. Our off-world exports of course are not of such critical concern, since we only sell a few standard and easily grown structures."
Farr frowned. It seemed the Zhde Patasz's patronizing manner had become more pronounced. "You could increase your off-world sales tremendously if you chose to diversify."
Zhde Patasz and Omon Bozhd both exhibited signs of amusement. "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose. Why strive further? Who appreciates the unique and exceptional qualities of our houses? You yourself tell us that Earther regards his house as hardly more than a cubicle to ward off the weather."
An early instance of "off-worlder" appears in an unidentified story in Vintage Science Fiction (1957):
The spaceman's trouble cry brought every off-worlder in the place to his feet. The bouncers started to come after him, hesitated as Bull's blaster swung toward them, and then looked to the house man for instructions.
And in Harry Harrison, Deathworld, serialized in Astounding Science Fiction (1960):
"My home planet? Just about the stuffiest, dullest, dead-en in the universe. ...I was fifteen before I learned to read—out of a book stolen from a noble school. After that there was no turning back. By the time I stowed aboard an offworld freighter at nineteen I must have broken every law on the planet. Happily. Leaving home for me was just like getting out of prison."
A similar term that also seems to have emerged in the 1950s in "off-planet." It shows up in Murray Leinster, The Forgotten Planet (1956):
They had a natural monopoly,—not of moth-fur and butterfly-wing fabric, and panels of irridescent chitin for luxurious decoration, but—of the strictly practical and detailed knowledge of insect-habits which made it possible to obtain them. Off-planet visitors who tried to hunt without local knowledge did not come back from the lowlands.
...
And also it is good sport. The planet is a sportsman's paradise. There are not too many visitors. Nobody may go hunting without an experienced host. And off-planet sportsmen tend to feel somewhat queasy after a session as guest of the folk who have made Burl their planet-president.
Andre Norton, Voodoo Planet (1959) offers examples of both "off-planet" and "off-worlder":
"If these have been in any way meddled with, I would need laboratory analysis to detect it. And I don't believe that Lumbrilo could hide traces of his work so cleverly. Or has he been off-planet? Had much to do with off-worlders?" he asked the Chief Ranger.
"By the nature of his position he is forbidden to space voyage, to have any close relationship with any off-worlder. I do not think, medic, he would choose your healing substances for his mischief. ..."
And again from Harry Harrison' Deathworld (1960):
"Thee is a search on in the city, but we're well ahead of that.I'm sure the Cassylians don't want to advertise their bad sportsmanship so there won't be anything as crude as a roadblock. But the port will be crawling with every agent they have. They know once the money gets off-planet it is gone forever. When we make a break for it they will be sure we still have the goods. So there will be no trouble with the munition ship getting clear."
Jason sounded a little shocked. "You mean you're setting us up as clay pigeons to cover the take-off of the ship."
"You could put it that way. But since we have to get off-planet anyway, there is no harm in our using our escape as a smokescreen."
It thus appears that both off-world and off-planet originated as ways to indicate "away from this world [or planet]" or "coming from another world [or planet]," rather than to specify a moon or artificial satellite orbiting a home planet and serving as an outpost or colony of that home planet.
The specific sense of "off-world" as a subsidiary satellite to a home planet seems to have emerged in the 1960s, as colonialism became a more touchy subject in the real world. For example, Charles Platt, Garbage World (1967) focuses on a small asteroid tht serves as a garbage dump for surrounding pleasure planets—and yet it is the denizens of this asteroid who call the people from those other planets "off-worlders":
"Fair enough," said Gaylord. "Never tried off-world brew."
He picked up the tumbler that Oliver had half-filled for him. His fleshy nose twitched as he sniffed the amber liquid. Then he shrugged and swallowed it all down in a single gulp. He smacked his lips and grimaced, shaking his head.
...
"All right," he said. "Kind of expected we'd have to get things out in the open, though it oughta be clear enough. You know how we feel about off-worlders. Nothing personal, mind, but we can't take their lily-white, pansy-faced pious attitudes. Don't like 'em dropping their garbage on us, then complaining because we're not clean like they are. Now, my girl Juliette, she was upset last night, with my hoard stolen and all. Fed up with the village crowd. You were the alternative, see. She got so drunk she thought it didn't matter you were off-world, even though she'd fallen for you. 'Course it couldn't work out. Full of shame now, she is. And so she oughta be."
The movie Blade Runner (1982) made the notion of "off-world" as a destination for colonists and pioneers seeking a new life away from a degrading planet famou throughout popular culture. The Blade Runner Wiki offers this description of "Off-world":
Off-world refers to the Earth's Orbital Space and also other planets, such as Mars, Kalanthia and Arcadia 234. Many locations in Off-world have been colonized and they are the homes of many humans as well as androids and replicants.
Years after the results from "World War Terminus", the United Nations encouraged people to emigrate to Off-world colonies to preserve the human race from the effects of the radioactive dust. Incentives for human leaving Earth have been promoted aggressively with advertising extolling the adventure and opportunities awaiting them if they leave, as well as promises of financial and personal incentives (for example, all colonists are promised a free android/replicant for their personal use).
Blade Runner was inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), but I haven't read this book, and its plot evidently diverges considerably from that of the movie—to the extent that I can't tell whether the term "off-world" even appears in Dick's novel, although there clearly are colonies of Earthlings on surrounding satellites and planetary bodies near the earth. A search for "off-world" through a PDF file of what appears to be the complete novel does not yield any matches.
The earliest instance of "off-world"—in a science fiction setting—that I could find in a Google Books search is from Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953), which uses the term several times:
He relaxed and loafed around the city for almost a week. There were few other off-world visitors; the Iszic authorities discouraged tourism to the maximum degree allowed them by the Treaty of Access.
...
"Yonder are four- and five-pod trees for the artisans. Each district has it unique requirements, the description of which I will not burden you. Our off-world exports of course are not of such critical concern, since we only sell a few standard and easily grown structures."
Farr frowned. It seemed the Zhde Patasz's patronizing manner had become more pronounced. "You could increase your off-world sales tremendously if you chose to diversify."
Zhde Patasz and Omon Bozhd both exhibited signs of amusement. "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose. Why strive further? Who appreciates the unique and exceptional qualities of our houses? You yourself tell us that Earther regards his house as hardly more than a cubicle to ward off the weather."
An early instance of "off-worlder" appears in an unidentified story in Vintage Science Fiction (1957):
The spaceman's trouble cry brought every off-worlder in the place to his feet. The bouncers started to come after him, hesitated as Bull's blaster swung toward them, and then looked to the house man for instructions.
And in Harry Harrison, Deathworld, serialized in Astounding Science Fiction (1960):
"My home planet? Just about the stuffiest, dullest, dead-en in the universe. ...I was fifteen before I learned to read—out of a book stolen from a noble school. After that there was no turning back. By the time I stowed aboard an offworld freighter at nineteen I must have broken every law on the planet. Happily. Leaving home for me was just like getting out of prison."
A similar term that also seems to have emerged in the 1950s in "off-planet." It shows up in Murray Leinster, The Forgotten Planet (1956):
They had a natural monopoly,—not of moth-fur and butterfly-wing fabric, and panels of irridescent chitin for luxurious decoration, but—of the strictly practical and detailed knowledge of insect-habits which made it possible to obtain them. Off-planet visitors who tried to hunt without local knowledge did not come back from the lowlands.
...
And also it is good sport. The planet is a sportsman's paradise. There are not too many visitors. Nobody may go hunting without an experienced host. And off-planet sportsmen tend to feel somewhat queasy after a session as guest of the folk who have made Burl their planet-president.
Andre Norton, Voodoo Planet (1959) offers examples of both "off-planet" and "off-worlder":
"If these have been in any way meddled with, I would need laboratory analysis to detect it. And I don't believe that Lumbrilo could hide traces of his work so cleverly. Or has he been off-planet? Had much to do with off-worlders?" he asked the Chief Ranger.
"By the nature of his position he is forbidden to space voyage, to have any close relationship with any off-worlder. I do not think, medic, he would choose your healing substances for his mischief. ..."
And again from Harry Harrison' Deathworld (1960):
"Thee is a search on in the city, but we're well ahead of that.I'm sure the Cassylians don't want to advertise their bad sportsmanship so there won't be anything as crude as a roadblock. But the port will be crawling with every agent they have. They know once the money gets off-planet it is gone forever. When we make a break for it they will be sure we still have the goods. So there will be no trouble with the munition ship getting clear."
Jason sounded a little shocked. "You mean you're setting us up as clay pigeons to cover the take-off of the ship."
"You could put it that way. But since we have to get off-planet anyway, there is no harm in our using our escape as a smokescreen."
It thus appears that both off-world and off-planet originated as ways to indicate "away from this world [or planet]" or "coming from another world [or planet]," rather than to specify a moon or artificial satellite orbiting a home planet and serving as an outpost or colony of that home planet.
The specific sense of "off-world" as a subsidiary satellite to a home planet seems to have emerged in the 1960s, as colonialism became a more touchy subject in the real world. For example, Charles Platt, Garbage World (1967) focuses on a small asteroid tht serves as a garbage dump for surrounding pleasure planets—and yet it is the denizens of this asteroid who call the people from those other planets "off-worlders":
"Fair enough," said Gaylord. "Never tried off-world brew."
He picked up the tumbler that Oliver had half-filled for him. His fleshy nose twitched as he sniffed the amber liquid. Then he shrugged and swallowed it all down in a single gulp. He smacked his lips and grimaced, shaking his head.
...
"All right," he said. "Kind of expected we'd have to get things out in the open, though it oughta be clear enough. You know how we feel about off-worlders. Nothing personal, mind, but we can't take their lily-white, pansy-faced pious attitudes. Don't like 'em dropping their garbage on us, then complaining because we're not clean like they are. Now, my girl Juliette, she was upset last night, with my hoard stolen and all. Fed up with the village crowd. You were the alternative, see. She got so drunk she thought it didn't matter you were off-world, even though she'd fallen for you. 'Course it couldn't work out. Full of shame now, she is. And so she oughta be."
The movie Blade Runner (1982) made the notion of "off-world" as a destination for colonists and pioneers seeking a new life away from a degrading planet famou throughout popular culture. The Blade Runner Wiki offers this description of "Off-world":
Off-world refers to the Earth's Orbital Space and also other planets, such as Mars, Kalanthia and Arcadia 234. Many locations in Off-world have been colonized and they are the homes of many humans as well as androids and replicants.
Years after the results from "World War Terminus", the United Nations encouraged people to emigrate to Off-world colonies to preserve the human race from the effects of the radioactive dust. Incentives for human leaving Earth have been promoted aggressively with advertising extolling the adventure and opportunities awaiting them if they leave, as well as promises of financial and personal incentives (for example, all colonists are promised a free android/replicant for their personal use).
Blade Runner was inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), but I haven't read this book, and its plot evidently diverges considerably from that of the movie—to the extent that I can't tell whether the term "off-world" even appears in Dick's novel, although there clearly are colonies of Earthlings on surrounding satellites and planetary bodies near the earth. A search for "off-world" through a PDF file of what appears to be the complete novel does not yield any matches.
answered 54 mins ago
Sven Yargs
111k18236494
111k18236494
add a comment |
add a comment |
Because like a quote from assassins creed 4 the game "everything is a boat" so maybe "everything is a world whether it be contained in endless space or in each planet or star or even atom and using the term off world might be classed as " not PC"(politically correct) in the way the word "outcast" refers to someone who's not the same, due to this modern world wishing everyone would fit in one box.
New contributor
I see English words, but I cannot see anything resembling a meaningful English sentence in all that. It looks sort of like it was generated by a random sentence generator. In any case, whatever it is, it’s not an answer to the question asked.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
25 mins ago
add a comment |
Because like a quote from assassins creed 4 the game "everything is a boat" so maybe "everything is a world whether it be contained in endless space or in each planet or star or even atom and using the term off world might be classed as " not PC"(politically correct) in the way the word "outcast" refers to someone who's not the same, due to this modern world wishing everyone would fit in one box.
New contributor
I see English words, but I cannot see anything resembling a meaningful English sentence in all that. It looks sort of like it was generated by a random sentence generator. In any case, whatever it is, it’s not an answer to the question asked.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
25 mins ago
add a comment |
Because like a quote from assassins creed 4 the game "everything is a boat" so maybe "everything is a world whether it be contained in endless space or in each planet or star or even atom and using the term off world might be classed as " not PC"(politically correct) in the way the word "outcast" refers to someone who's not the same, due to this modern world wishing everyone would fit in one box.
New contributor
Because like a quote from assassins creed 4 the game "everything is a boat" so maybe "everything is a world whether it be contained in endless space or in each planet or star or even atom and using the term off world might be classed as " not PC"(politically correct) in the way the word "outcast" refers to someone who's not the same, due to this modern world wishing everyone would fit in one box.
New contributor
New contributor
answered 1 hour ago
Peter olessurburger
1
1
New contributor
New contributor
I see English words, but I cannot see anything resembling a meaningful English sentence in all that. It looks sort of like it was generated by a random sentence generator. In any case, whatever it is, it’s not an answer to the question asked.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
25 mins ago
add a comment |
I see English words, but I cannot see anything resembling a meaningful English sentence in all that. It looks sort of like it was generated by a random sentence generator. In any case, whatever it is, it’s not an answer to the question asked.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
25 mins ago
I see English words, but I cannot see anything resembling a meaningful English sentence in all that. It looks sort of like it was generated by a random sentence generator. In any case, whatever it is, it’s not an answer to the question asked.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
25 mins ago
I see English words, but I cannot see anything resembling a meaningful English sentence in all that. It looks sort of like it was generated by a random sentence generator. In any case, whatever it is, it’s not an answer to the question asked.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
25 mins ago
add a comment |
Alex Meiburg is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Alex Meiburg is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Alex Meiburg is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Alex Meiburg is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f479092%2fwhen-was-off-world-offworld-coined%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
2
Jack Vance, The Houses of Iszm (1953) contains several references to "off-world visitors," "off-world exports," and "off-world sales," and includes a character's remark, "We sell as many trees off-world as we choose."
– Sven Yargs
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs - what about posting a useful answer...
– user240918
18 hours ago
@SvenYargs I appreciate the references. 1953 is already a good upper bound!
– Alex Meiburg
3 hours ago
The OED has published a historical Sci Fi dictionary titled Brave new words. I haven't found a safe online copy to browse. You could try phoning the reference desk of a library that has a copy.
– Phil Sweet
9 mins ago
Googlefu working again - Off-world 1950 books.google.com/…
– Phil Sweet
4 mins ago