5 ms·

I've never liked "xenomorph" as a name for them. It's like calling them "serpentines" if they were snake-shaped or "quadrupeds" if they had 4 legs. So-called fa

I've never liked "xenomorph" as a name for them. It's like calling them "serpentines" if they were snake-shaped or "quadrupeds" if they had 4 legs. So-called fandoms really are filled with stooges. Should be something like Gigeroids.

A4ET8a8uTh0 2y ago
Ahh, but you miss out on the 'cool' aspect embodied by letter X, the underlying meaning that effectively refers to the title of the movie and other things are likely going over my head. Gige prefix does not have the same impact. Alien in fake latin sounds a lot better.
- 1986 2y ago
  Greek, not Latin
  - A4ET8a8uTh0 2y ago
    Thank you for catching this. Will leave original in place.
- dylan604 2y ago
  Yeah, if they used Z instead of X, the Brits would have said Zedenomorph and that's just not right in any language
tivert 2y ago
> Should be something like Gigeroids. Xenomorph sounds way cooler. That's what's important in a movie/toy franchise.
0x1ceb00da 2y ago
Xenomorph sounds cooler.
- corytheboyd 2y ago
  Rule of cool wins again
- dylan604 2y ago
  plus, it's gotta be a killer word score in Scrabble
actionfromafar 2y ago
But they morph to resemble their hosts?
- WorldMaker 2y ago
  The "morph" in "xenomorph" as a purely Greek scientific jargon construction mostly just means "shape". It is interesting in English "morph" as a verb has come to mean "change shape", and it is possible the users of the term in the franchise do intend that. But technically if that were the intended meaning it would be something closer to "xenotransmorph".
  - MrVandemar 2y ago
    The use of the term "xenomorph" in the film predates the development of the morphing technology, seen early on in Willow, The Abyss, and it largely entered popular perception after T2 in the early 90s. So: no.
  - Apocryphon 2y ago
    Same morph as in polymorphism.
ruw1090 2y ago
The Xenomorph term wasn't created by the fandom. It was first used in-universe in "Aliens".
- condour75 2y ago
  But it’s based on a misunderstanding. Xenomorph just means “alien”— it wouldn’t make any sense for that to be the term for that specific alien, because their existence isn’t common knowledge.
  - NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
    It's just an adjective. It would literally be like calling your aliens "humanoids". It describes a shape, literally "alien-shaped", probably because all the other animal-shape adjectives were inadequate.
  - sigzero 2y ago
    It doesn't just mean "alien". It's a portmanteau or blend word. Only the xeno part means alien. The morph part describes its growth process.
    - WorldMaker 2y ago
      It isn't a portmanteau, it's a classic Greek word construction (an ordinary expression of classic Greek morphology). "Morph" generally just means "shape" as a Greek root so "xenomorph" is more accurately "alien-shaped". Which gets back to it being a very generic term said in a fancy way (like "we don't even know if it is an alien, we just know it is alien-shaped"), like much technical and scientific jargon will do when it goes to constructing Greek words to describe something ("gynomorph" => "woman-shaped"; to call to a different sci-fi horror Species).
  - GMoromisato 2y ago
    I agree with this--if I understand you correctly. In "Aliens", when Hudson (or was it Hicks?) asks, "is this another bug hunt?" the lieutenant says, (paraphrasing) "there may be a xenomorph involved". I interpret this to mean that (a) The marines have previously fought alien creatures of some kind (and they had no problem dealing with them). (b) They used the term "xenomorph" to mean any alien creature--not specifically the titular alien, which they had never before encountered. So I agree. Calling it "the Xenomorph" is a misunderstanding. At best it's like calling something "the Beast", or calling all ships of a certain size "dreadnoughts".
kspacewalk2 2y ago
Should be [unpronouceable-mix-of-vowels-and-cosonants], which in their language means "actual people" or "true people". That seems to be the name of most of the ethnic and cultural groups on our planet. There are people (i.e. us) and there are "those funny looking weirdos over there" (i.e. them). No reason it would be different for space-faring slimy mutant thingies.
- dhosek 2y ago
  My favorite of these is the Czech word (and its cognates in other Slavic languages) for German, němec, is derived from the word for mute, apparently because on the Slav’s first contact with Germans, they found their speech so incomprehensible as to assume that these strange beings just couldn’t speak.

A4ET8a8uTh0 2y ago

Ahh, but you miss out on the 'cool' aspect embodied by letter X, the underlying meaning that effectively refers to the title of the movie and other things are likely going over my head. Gige prefix does not have the same impact. Alien in fake latin sounds a lot better.

1986 2y ago
Greek, not Latin
- A4ET8a8uTh0 2y ago
  Thank you for catching this. Will leave original in place.
dylan604 2y ago
Yeah, if they used Z instead of X, the Brits would have said Zedenomorph and that's just not right in any language

tivert 2y ago

> Should be something like Gigeroids. Xenomorph sounds way cooler. That's what's important in a movie/toy franchise.

0x1ceb00da 2y ago

Xenomorph sounds cooler.

corytheboyd 2y ago
Rule of cool wins again
dylan604 2y ago
plus, it's gotta be a killer word score in Scrabble

actionfromafar 2y ago

But they morph to resemble their hosts?

WorldMaker 2y ago
The "morph" in "xenomorph" as a purely Greek scientific jargon construction mostly just means "shape". It is interesting in English "morph" as a verb has come to mean "change shape", and it is possible the users of the term in the franchise do intend that. But technically if that were the intended meaning it would be something closer to "xenotransmorph".
- MrVandemar 2y ago
  The use of the term "xenomorph" in the film predates the development of the morphing technology, seen early on in Willow, The Abyss, and it largely entered popular perception after T2 in the early 90s. So: no.
- Apocryphon 2y ago
  Same morph as in polymorphism.

ruw1090 2y ago

The Xenomorph term wasn't created by the fandom. It was first used in-universe in "Aliens".

condour75 2y ago
But it’s based on a misunderstanding. Xenomorph just means “alien”— it wouldn’t make any sense for that to be the term for that specific alien, because their existence isn’t common knowledge.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
  It's just an adjective. It would literally be like calling your aliens "humanoids". It describes a shape, literally "alien-shaped", probably because all the other animal-shape adjectives were inadequate.
- sigzero 2y ago
  It doesn't just mean "alien". It's a portmanteau or blend word. Only the xeno part means alien. The morph part describes its growth process.
  - WorldMaker 2y ago
    It isn't a portmanteau, it's a classic Greek word construction (an ordinary expression of classic Greek morphology). "Morph" generally just means "shape" as a Greek root so "xenomorph" is more accurately "alien-shaped". Which gets back to it being a very generic term said in a fancy way (like "we don't even know if it is an alien, we just know it is alien-shaped"), like much technical and scientific jargon will do when it goes to constructing Greek words to describe something ("gynomorph" => "woman-shaped"; to call to a different sci-fi horror Species).
- GMoromisato 2y ago
  I agree with this--if I understand you correctly. In "Aliens", when Hudson (or was it Hicks?) asks, "is this another bug hunt?" the lieutenant says, (paraphrasing) "there may be a xenomorph involved". I interpret this to mean that (a) The marines have previously fought alien creatures of some kind (and they had no problem dealing with them). (b) They used the term "xenomorph" to mean any alien creature--not specifically the titular alien, which they had never before encountered. So I agree. Calling it "the Xenomorph" is a misunderstanding. At best it's like calling something "the Beast", or calling all ships of a certain size "dreadnoughts".

kspacewalk2 2y ago

Should be [unpronouceable-mix-of-vowels-and-cosonants], which in their language means "actual people" or "true people". That seems to be the name of most of the ethnic and cultural groups on our planet. There are people (i.e. us) and there are "those funny looking weirdos over there" (i.e. them). No reason it would be different for space-faring slimy mutant thingies.

dhosek 2y ago
My favorite of these is the Czech word (and its cognates in other Slavic languages) for German, němec, is derived from the word for mute, apparently because on the Slav’s first contact with Germans, they found their speech so incomprehensible as to assume that these strange beings just couldn’t speak.