• DannyBoy
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    3 months ago

    The word “alien” was used for people from a foreign country well before it was used for extra-terrestrials.

    • laverabe@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      yeah but it ceased being used 8 years ago by the US government because of it’s use as a derogatory term and the dehumanizing effect it has.

      Words tend to have a liquid definition over a period of decades. Take the british term for cigarettes that most people know and what it now means; innocent words tend to very easily morph and are weaponized in a way that is distant from their original meaning. Seemingly moreso in modern times.