Someone should send Florida State Senator Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, a dictionary. Better yet, she ought to enroll in a continuing education class that would teach her how to use a dictionary.
Wilson has introduced a bill that aims to put an end to the use of the term “illegal alien,” at least within the halls of government. The bill states simply that “A state agency or official may not use the term ‘illegal alien’ in an official document of the state.”
Surprisingly, the word “illegal” is not the problem – “‘Illegal,’ I can live with,” says Wilson. Rather, it’s the word “alien” that she takes issue with, “An alien to me is someone from out of space,” she told the news-press.com.
Regrettably, the words, “from out of space,” or even “from outer space,” don’t generally appear in dictionary definitions of the word “alien.” Instead, the most common definition is something similar to what can be found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “relating, belonging, or owing allegiance to another country or government.”