It's *almost never* annoying or inconvenient to the narrative to give topicalized variables names.

The loop is the discussion and the alias variable is what's being talked about. It's the topic--the subject--and it has a name, even if you don't feel like giving it one. And using "for" when you really mean "foreach" element in some list doesn't help anyone either (again, when the code's for public consumption, not when it's just for you.)