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Length: 01:54
Posted: 7/23/2009
The film opens in a California forest as a group of alien botanists collect vegetation samples. U.S. government agents appear and the aliens flee in their spaceship, leaving one of their own behind in their haste. The scene shifts to a suburban California home, where a boy named Elliott plays servant to his older brother, Michael, and his friends. As he fetches pizza, Elliott discovers the stranded alien, who promptly flees. Despite his family's disbelief, Elliott leaves Reese's Pieces candy in the forest to lure it into his bedroom. Before he goes to bed, Elliott notices the alien imitating his movements. watch
Question: I have a bet with a friend: She says the first use of the term "E.T." was in the title of Steven Spielberg's movie; I think it started with the UFO movie craze of the '50s. What's the truth?Answer: It's so rare to get an etymological question in this column — why couldn't this one have been easier to nail down? As of 2004, the OED was still looking for written citations predating the 1940s for the word "extraterrestrial" as a noun (apparently it's been kicking around as an adjective since the 1860s); presumably the shortened form will be part of their ever-scholarly entry on the term. In the meantime, I must rely on anecdotal evidence, notably the testimony of a friend who recalls hearing sci-fi geeks using the term "ETs" in reference to the then-new TV-movie The People. That would have been around 1972, predating Steven Spielbergread more
