Where Does The Phrase “flying Saucer” Come From?

The phrase was first used in connection with pilot Kenneth Arnold's sighting of something unusual in the skies over Oregon in 1947. Arnold described what he had seen excitedly to his co-workers. Word filtered out and was soon being reported in the news media. According to Arnold, what he had seen was a formation of nine crescent-shaped flying objects, moving with a kind of undulating motion "like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water." Journalists picked up on this phrase and adapted it to form "flying saucer."

It is interesting to note, however, that Arnold did not describe the objects as having a saucer shape. Speculation raged about what the objects might have been. Arnold himself thought at first that it might be some new secret weapon being tested by his government, or even a foreign government. Later, however, he became convinced that what he had seen was extra-terrestrial in origin.

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