# Aliens: What are they? Quick Survey **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 19, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786 "2004-07-19T07:31:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/1 "2004-07-19T07:31:31Z")
I have a theory and I’m trying to test it out. 1. When you hear the word **Alien** , what defination comes to mind? 2. What is your age? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/2 "2004-07-19T07:40:25Z")
It would depend very much on the context in which the word was being used, but generally I’d say: B. Lifeform from another planet I’m 40 ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/3 "2004-07-19T07:49:31Z")
I can’t imagine hearing the word without context so I don’t think I can really answer acurately. The closest thing I can say is that I think “foreign.” Whether it be a foreign concept, a foreign person, a foreign instrument, or a foreign creature, well, that all depends on the context. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/4 "2004-07-19T09:48:16Z")
if the word is ‘alien’ by itself, then i’m thinking of E.T. If, on the other hand, it’s ‘illegal alien’ then I most certainly am not thinking of E.T. on a crime spree. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/5 "2004-07-19T10:41:27Z")
My first thought is “life form from another planet”, outside of any context that would give it the other meaning. I’m 41. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/6 "2004-07-19T11:17:52Z")
Hmm. Without context, here’s what I think of: Alien: [Alien](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/) Aliens: [Aliens](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/) Illegal alien: [Starman](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088172/) I’m 30. I suffered from “Too Much HBO” in the late 80s. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/7 "2004-07-19T11:53:39Z")
Of course they’re from another planet. That’s been the main use of the term, in what I’ve seen and read, all my life. When I was a kid, they used to run “public service ads” on TV, especially early in the morning. One of the common ones was “Aliens Must REgister in January of Every Year.” Of course, I couldn’t help but think of extraterrestrial aliens. And the cheapo animation they used for the commercials didn’t help. The “aliens” who were registering were blob=faced, chinless, off-color mutants, very unlike the square-jawed postal employees suggested by the elementary animation behind those post office windows. “Aliens” isn’t the only common word to be hijacked into a much better-known SF usage. “Martian” used to be a perfectly acceptable terrestrial, mundane word before H.G. Wells stole it. And one of my professors, during a lecture, wistfully remarked that “‘Phasor’ used to be a perfectly good term until **Star Trek** came along.” (And, yes, I know it’s spelled differently. But it’s pronounced the same.) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/8 "2004-07-19T11:58:07Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “Martian” “Phasor” What do they mean? Martian, according to Merriam-Webster, means what I thought it meant. Phasor is one of those words you have to pay for (I’ve never paid for them but I’ve gotten the impression that many or all of them aren’t words at all… :dubious:.) ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/9 "2004-07-19T12:04:36Z")
Alien = from another planet. 48 year old sci-fi reader here ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/10 "2004-07-19T12:15:40Z")
Yeah, they ain’t from this part of the galaxy. I learned that 41 years ago, when our ship crashed. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/11 "2004-07-19T12:42:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by CalMeacham > “Martian” “Phasor” > > What do they mean? Martian, according to Merriam-Webster, means what I thought it meant. Phasor is one of those words you have to pay for (I’ve never paid for them but I’ve gotten the impression that many or all of them aren’t words at all… .) “Martian” meant a warlike person, one who favored a military response/ Kinda like the current self-applied slang of “Vulcans” for a lot of the Bush crew. (That’s going to result in a lot of interesting editorial cartoons). “Phasor” is a way of reporting the length and angle of a vector quantity. “phasor notation” used to be pretty popular in science and engineering courses. A good complete Webster’s or Oxford dictionary ought to have these. What do you mean “Phasor is one of those words you have to pay for” ? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/12 "2004-07-19T13:00:08Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > What do you mean “Phasor is one of those words you have to pay for” ? Go to [www.m-w.com](http://www.m-w.com) and type in “Phasor”. You have to pay to get the definition. Unfortunately, it’s the only dictionary I have at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/13 "2004-07-19T13:08:06Z")
A. Life from another planet. I’ve rarely heard it used otherwise. B. 19 ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/14 "2004-07-19T13:31:10Z")
> [@One And Only Wanderers](#): > > if the word is ‘alien’ by itself, then i’m thinking of E.T. If, on the other hand, it’s ‘illegal alien’ then I most certainly am not thinking of E.T. on a crime spree. Oh and Im 28 Im also prone to answering the question before I’ve read it to the end. Must remember to be less impulsive. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/15 "2004-07-19T13:57:04Z")
> [@](#): > > When I was a kid, they used to run “public service ads” on TV, especially early in the morning. One of the common ones was “Aliens Must REgister in January of Every Year.” Of course, I couldn’t help but think of extraterrestrial aliens. I remember those! XETV (channel 6) in San Diego. I was convinced that they meant space aliens had to register. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/16 "2004-07-19T14:02:09Z")
B. Definitely lifeform from another planet. I think “alien” when used as someone from another country is actually kind of insulting. It seems to define a much larger gap between them and I then I really intend, as if they could never be anything but an alien. And I’m 28. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/17 "2004-07-19T14:22:45Z")
1 B. 1. 1. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/18 "2004-07-19T14:42:38Z")
B; 49. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/19 "2004-07-19T14:48:56Z")
B 41. Did I sink you Battleship? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786/20 "2004-07-19T15:31:34Z")
Unless I’m in GD, almost definitely someone from another planet. I’m more likely to discuss sci-fi than immigration. By the way, I’m 16. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-what-are-they-quick-survey/255786.md?page=2)