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 Spielberg
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