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Comment by Joeboy | Hacker News Reader

What I would like to know is, how come David Bowie uses the term "space invader" in his 1971 song Moonage Daydream, when the game didn't come out until 1978? They don't seem to me to be words that naturally belong together. Glitch in the matrix?

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Many 50's and 60's movies that covered many Sci Fi aspects we reinvented time and time again. Actually most of those involved invaders from space, so expect the term "space invaders" got used in many a movie line by the local towns foke - though I don't believe IMDB allows you to search film scripts, that would be cool.

Space Invader Arcade Equipment from 1954, probably pinball

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xB4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA88&dq=...

It's actually a shooting game: https://strangewars.livejournal.com/21891.html

The Oxford English Dictionary has let me down, it doesn't have anything prior to the 1979 game.

https://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/185414#eid2154...

Good answers! I feel slightly more confident in the integrity of the universe now.

That’s a great link. And the gun in the shooting game is very very similar to Han Solos ...

Wow, that 1954 issue of "The Billboard" magazine was absolutely fascinating. Industry info on music charts, jukebox sales, pinball machines, TV, radio, film... full of history!

When did the term "space invader" become popular for people that encroach someone else's personal space?

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