User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-188432-20130124024307/@comment-1209840-20130331030636

User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-188432-20130124024307/@comment-1209840-20130331030636 Humanoid is definitely the proper term. Alien Bodies put it best:

''In Alien Bodies, the word “man” is used to describe any male sentient life-form, and the word “woman” is used to describe any female sentient life-form, even when the life-forms in question aren’t technically human. This may not be strictly accurate, but it does get rid of awkward sentences like “the male multi-armed semi-humanoid Kelzonian fish-person shook his head”. Similarly, the word “humanoid” is used to describe any life-form that resembles a human being, even when a non-human is speaking; a Time Lord would actually describe someone as “looking Gallifreyan” instead of “looking humanoid”, but this looks clumsy and slightly embarrassing on paper. Anyone requiring further information about cross-species translation conventions should consult Preface III of Professor Thripsted’s excellent Genetic Politics Beyond the Third Zone. Ask your local library if they can order you a copy. But only if you enjoy wasting people’s time.''

On the other hand, the novel Down used the term "human-ish."