It is such a bore and an irritation to continually see the word “intergalactic” misused, sprinkled willy-nilly throughout coverage of media science-fiction adventures, as in your story on the mini-series “Taken,” (“`Taken,’ not stirred,” Tempo, Dec. 2).
We don’t have intergalactic adventures; nobody does, not even in fiction (though rare exceptions are occasionally made).
In almost all cases, sci-fi talks of “interplanetary” or “interstellar” explorations. The latter term means between the stars within our own galaxy.
The misused word means between galaxies.
Thus, ET’s saucer made an interstellar journey.
Han Solo and Luke Skywalker crossed interstellar space and Ray Bradbury’s Mars explorers crossed interplanetary space. Regarding your next intergalactic trip, abandon all hope ye who enter there!
