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Asking the hard questions
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this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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Here’s something I’ve been wondering: in Aliens, weren’t the Marines joking about the possibility of the creature on LV-426 being just a xenomorph? This suggested it was a kind of creature they’d encountered before, and wasn’t a major threat.
How did the Aliens come to be known as xenomorphs?
The simplest answer is that I’m remembering things wrong. If not, though, wtf?
I took that as they have encountered other species before, just nothing like the creature from the Alien franchise. The term xenomorph is just used to describe any creature not found on Earth, aka aliens.
This is backed by an earlier comment made during Ripley's hearing with the company:
Which would indicate they have encountered other aliens, just not this Alien.
The creature was named both Alien and Xenomorph because that's what it is, but came to define the names and took "ownership" of the names, if you will.
Okay. Thank you! I like the “xenomorph is a generic term” explanation. It works with the way people actually use language.
Alien is a stupid name for an alien when you stop to think about it. Just like with the creature in Frankenstein, people are going to grab at any alternate name presented, cos it's just too awkward to talk about otherwise.