THE OUT-OF-DATE FUTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 234, 3 October 1932, Page 6

THE OUT-OF-DATE FUTURE.

The report that "1933 model" motor cars are already being sold ill the second-hand market is an interesting sample of the curious efforts our world is constantly making to get in front of its nose (says the "Manchester Guardian"). In the sacred cause of up-to-dateness almost everyone is prepared to go almost to any length, even to the extent of trying to get into the future before it has had time to arrive. The thing hae reached such a pass that the word "modern'' itself is in process of losing its meaning. Historians, when they talk about the "modern" world, usually assign its beginning to round about 1453 or even 1750, or at to some time far enough back to be of 110 interest to the -high-pressure salesmen of "consumptionism." But those engaging gentry, whose aim in life is to make us fling away something we probably don't want and buy "instead something wo certainly don't, agree with Mr. Ford that "history is bunk'." In the usage of a score of trader to-day "modern" only describes some article which is slightly different from one that was on sale (let us say) last March. This use of tli£ term will probably be reflected in the development of bur language. "Modern (ob*.), ephemeral, short-lived; (vulg.), a term of abuse," seems to be a confident prediction for the English dictionary of tlie future. " * I