# They're illegal aliens; stop making up other names for them. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 20, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468 "2013-03-20T17:16:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468/361 "2013-03-31T19:55:15Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > HAHAHAHA! I get it! It’s funny 'cause you’re a bigoted piece of shit! Exactly. Also you shouldn’t call **LonesomePolecat** a racist because it’s dehumanizing, but he doesn’t care because it doesn’t mean anything, and to show you how unprejudiced and unruffled he is, he’ll toss out a slur against gays. That’s how he rolls. (I’m not gay, **LonesomePolecat** , but it doesn’t matter- being called a queer by someone like you is kind of like being called a niggerlover by a junior Bull Connor type half a century ago.) I’m just frustrated **magellan01** sent **The Second Stone** instead of killer bees. I could’ve had some honey for my trouble at least, but no. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468/362 "2013-04-02T22:28:42Z")
[News from the Associated Press:](http://blog.ap.org/2013/04/02/illegal-immigrant-no-more/) > [@](#): > > The AP Stylebook today is making some changes in how we describe people living in a country illegally. > > Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll explains the thinking behind the decision: > > > [@](#): > > > > The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term “illegal immigrant” or the use of “illegal” to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that “illegal” should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally. > > > > Why did we make the change? > > > > The discussions on this topic have been wide-ranging and include many people from many walks of life. (Earlier, they led us to reject descriptions such as “undocumented,” despite ardent support from some quarters, because it is not precise. A person may have plenty of documents, just not the ones required for legal residence.) > > > > Those discussions continued even after AP affirmed “illegal immigrant” as the best use, for two reasons. > > > > A number of people felt that “illegal immigrant” was the best choice at the time. They also believed the always-evolving English language might soon yield a different choice and we should stay in the conversation. > > > > Also, we had in other areas been ridding the Stylebook of labels. The new section on mental health issues argues for using credibly sourced diagnoses instead of labels. Saying someone was “diagnosed with schizophrenia” instead of schizophrenic, for example. > > > > And that discussion about labeling people, instead of behavior, led us back to “illegal immigrant” again. > > \ > > The updated entry is being added immediately to the AP Stylebook Online and Manual de Estilo Online de la AP, the new Spanish-language Stylebook. It also will appear in the new print edition and Stylebook Mobile, coming out later in the spring. It reads as follows: > > > [@](#): > > > > illegal immigration Entering or residing in a country in violation of civil or criminal law. Except in direct quotes essential to the story, use _illegal_ only to refer to an action, not a person: _illegal immigration,_ but not _illegal immigrant._ Acceptable variations include _living in_ or _entering a country illegally_ or _without legal permission._ > > > > Except in direct quotations, do not use the terms _illegal alien, an illegal, illegals_ or _undocumented._ > > > > Do not describe people as violating immigration laws without attribution. > > > > Specify wherever possible how someone entered the country illegally and from where. Crossed the border? Overstayed a visa? What nationality? > > > > People who were brought into the country as children should not be described as having immigrated illegally. For people granted a temporary right to remain in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, use _temporary resident status,_ with details on the program lower in the story. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468/363 "2013-04-03T20:10:39Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Do you like to use what white people refer to as “the N-word” when talking to blacks? Why are you being racist? Non-whites refer to the “n-word” as the “n-word” too. > [@](#): > > For that matter when talking with me, do you wish you had an excuse to refer to me as “rag head”? Again whats with the racism? Non-“peoples from the Middle East” wear rags on their heads too. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [News from the Associated Press:](http://blog.ap.org/2013/04/02/illegal-immigrant-no-more/) What a bunch of racists. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468/364 "2013-04-04T02:45:04Z")
As a hydrocephalic I am deeply offended that Marley and his cronies did not include me in their Cool Little Sarcasm Club. I fucking hate those anti-white, anti-gay, antisemitic racist bastards. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468/365 "2013-04-04T03:31:02Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > As a hydrocephalic I am deeply offended that Marley and his cronies did not include me in their Cool Little Sarcasm Club. I fucking hate those anti-white, anti-gay, antisemitic racist bastards. :mad: Yeh, that’s just what a typical waterhead would say . . . ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468/366 "2013-04-04T07:18:07Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Why shouldn’t the Republicans be the white party? The Democrats are already the anti-white party. That’s a lie, unsurprisingly. The Republicans are systematically devoted to bigotry (and not just racial bigotry), among their many other evils; the Democrats are not. > [@magellan01](#): > > One thing that amazes me is that so many people who claim to be concerned with the plight of the underclass simply ignore the fact the Black Americans suffer a vastly disproportionate unemployment rate, almost twice that of the national average. They turn a blind eye to the fact that illegals take much of the work that Black Americans and other economically disadvantaged groups with low education levels would do. Nonsense. Not even prisoners are willing to to the kind of work that we want illegal aliens to do; they prefer prison. When we force out illegal aliens (and everyone with a similar skin tone, naturally) from a region in large numbers, the work simply is left undone. Crops rot in the fields and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468/367 "2013-04-04T13:17:28Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Nonsense. Not even prisoners are willing to to the kind of work that we want illegal aliens to do; they prefer prison. When we force out illegal aliens (and everyone with a similar skin tone, naturally) from a region in large numbers, the work simply is left undone. Crops rot in the fields and so forth. Here’s what you miss: people won’t do those jobs for the artificially suppressed wages offered. Illegals, desperate, had-working and coming from corrupt, shithole economies like that of Mexico are all to happy to do the work for more then they would make doing it in their home countries. If you let the market dictate the wages, you will arrive at a price where a willing worker and willing worker overlap. You know, the same way other jobs find people to get them done. This is not a mystery. The mystery is why people on the left cling on to the ridiculous argument that “Americans won’t do those jobs”. No, they won’t do them for the artificially low wages the jobs have become associated with. Do you really think that if I had a farm and offered workers $100 per hour to pick vegetables I would have a shortage of workers? I’d have lines for miles. I could then lower the wage every week until I had a line with a few extra people in it. THAT is the fair wage for the kind of work I need people to do. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468/368 "2013-04-04T18:49:17Z")
Good job AP! 😃 A small but important step in the battle is to reclaim the language of the conflict. Undocumented Workers just want to come here and work and support their families, nothing illegal about that! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468/369 "2013-04-04T19:09:17Z")
On the Colbert Report last night, Stephen Colbert talked about a [survey](http://surveymonkey.com/s/8PXHD8Y) (titled “How Do YOU View the Republican Party”) that the Republican Party is conducting of people under thirty years old. He ridiculed a couple of the questions, but one he didn’t mention was the following: “47. Should the United State build a fence along the US/Mexico border to keep illegal people out of our country?” It seemed wrong to me to describe the people as illegal. (Especially since if they’re Mexican citizens and still in Mexico, they’re not illegal.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-illegal-aliens-stop-making-up-other-names-for-them/653468.md?page=18)