The throwaway line in Aliens that spawned decades of confusion

No, they're not called "Xenomorphs"—at least, not with a capital "X."

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[Cat Killer]

I don't think "bug hunt" refers to bugs, per se. Just a task which would, in their eyes, be a complete waste of their firepower and expertise. Like sending marines to deal with a cockroach infestation rather than, say, counter-insurgency. A waste of time instead of something they could get their teeth into.

 

[Cat Killer]

And xenomorph would be a plausible name for any organism of non-terrestrial origin, given by scientists to that class of thing, without knowledge of these aliens in particular. Colonists and animals that they'd taken with them, no matter how much selective breeding they'd had, would likely be thought of in terms of their origins. Xenomorphic would refer to anything else.