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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary
Alien for extraterrestrial
Hi,
As a French I found it disturbing that the word "alien" means also extraterrestrial, instead of only "someone from elsewhere". Is this word really means officially "extraterrestrial" (dictionnary), or is it an abuse of language, influenced by the movie "alien"? Indeed, I'm pretty sure that sometime ago, english people used rarely this word for extraterrestrial... Am I wrong?
Stéphane
As a French I found it disturbing that the word "alien" means also extraterrestrial, instead of only "someone from elsewhere". Is this word really means officially "extraterrestrial" (dictionnary), or is it an abuse of language, influenced by the movie "alien"? Indeed, I'm pretty sure that sometime ago, english people used rarely this word for extraterrestrial... Am I wrong?
Stéphane
Top answer
Hi, As a French Frenchman / Frenchwoman / French person I found it disturbing that the word "alien" means also extraterrestrial, instead of only "someone from elsewhere". Is this word really means officially "extraterrestrial" (dictionnary), Yes, that's one meaning or is it an abuse of language, influenced by the movie "alien"? No Indeed, I'm pretty sure that sometime ago, english people used rarely this word for extraterrestrial...
- Hi, As a French Frenchman / Frenchwoman / French person I found it disturbing that the word "alien" means also extraterrestrial, instead of only "someone from elsewhere".
- Is this word really means officially "extraterrestrial" (dictionnary), Yes, that's one meaning or is it an abuse of language, influenced by the movie "alien"?
- No Indeed, I'm pretty sure that sometime ago, english people used rarely this word for extraterrestrial...
- Am I wrong?
- Look here for the etymology.
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2 Answers
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Hi,
As aFrench Frenchman / Frenchwoman / French person I found it disturbing that the word "alien" means also extraterrestrial, instead of only "someone from elsewhere".
Is this word really means officially "extraterrestrial" (dictionnary), Yes, that's one
As a
Is this word really means officially "extraterrestrial" (dictionnary), Yes, that's one
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AnonymousIs this word really means officially "extraterrestrial" (dictionnary),Yes. When I was growing up, the onlymeaning I knew for 'alien' was 'extraterrestrial'. I didn't find out about the other meaning until later in life in the context of immigration. So for me, the main meaning of 'alien' is 'someone from outer space', and I still find it od
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