Feb 16th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Only on the Internet
A comprehensive (?) list of times characters have used the word “penny” on the various Star Trek shows. Apparently such “old Earth” adages as “a penny for your thoughts” and “in for a penny, in for a pound” will persist into the distant future.
38 Responses to “Only on the Internet”
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February 16th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Of course they will. That’s so in the 23rd century everyone will be able to recognize Abe Lincoln when he’s battling Genghis Khan.
February 16th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
See also.
February 16th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Hey, we’re still using phrases coined by Shakespeare in the 16th century.
Although the cataloging thing is a little weird.
February 16th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Fogeyman Says:
February 16th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Hey, we’re still using phrases coined by Shakespeare in the 16th century.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“coined” Get it?? Ha, ha, ha, ha!!! That Fogeyman mints some good ones! Hey! “mints” I can do it too!!!
February 16th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Good to see that MattY has finally found something he can understand.
Oops. He forgot to note ST’s stilted use of invented events when naming historical events: “the Magna Carta, the Jaiexmwim Agreement, the Fwoq23 Compact” and so on. Presumably the same forces which cause them to remember the first cause them to remember the last two (made up by me).
February 16th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
As language evolves, words and phrases that were formerly slang and metaphor lose their contextual meaning and become integrated into the language proper.
It’s likely that we’ll still have a word penny, meaning “an small but insignificant token,” long after anyone’s seen one in circulation. And the adages will persist longer than anything.
Go[o]db[ewith]ye!
February 16th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Although the cataloging thing is a little weird.
Not really. A core part of Star Trek’s fan base are people who enjoy cataloging things. Cast a wide enough nerd-net and you’ll catch all kinds of nerds. People have been doing this sort if thing for years and years. I suspect that with a fixed sample like Star Trek, eventually every aspect will be cataloged.
Anyways, think of the word trek itself. A trek is a slow or arduous journey. People in Star Trek beam about and travel in hyperspace.
February 16th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
most people have no idea what “lock, stock and barrel” or “flash in the pan” originally meant, but the phrases remain common.
February 16th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
If I could distinguish between phrases that have become idioms for something and anachronisms, I wonder if the English usage of “torch” for “flashlight” is one of the more anachronistic (of the “album” for “CD” sort)
February 16th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
In the “Horta” episode, Dr. McCoy said to Kirk, “I’m a doctor not a bricklayer.” This always struck me as anachronistic.
I’m just sayin’
February 16th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I’ll see yout Star Trek penny, and raise you Star Wars pants (pants!):
February 16th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
@bdbd
“album” in place of “CD” is OK, it’s when you start calling them “records” that you trend toward anachronism.
February 16th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
I was always more bothered by Han Solo saying that he’d see someone “in Hell.” Since when do they have Christian Hell a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away?
“album” for “CD”
is “CD” supposed to be the anachronistic term here? or “album”? They both seem a bit anachronistic, but “album” tends to refer to a grouping of songs more often than it is used to mean a bundle of 78’s.
February 16th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Pants I say!
February 16th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Guys! Star Trek is translated back into current English. Everyone knows it is a documentary sent back in time. Geesh.
February 16th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Meanwhile, on Terminator, the nascent Skynet John Henry has discovered…Bionicles!
This can only be bad.
Based on the physical design of Bionicles, he wanted to ask God how come humans didn’t have more ball and socket joints.
Given that John Henry now has Internet access, you’d think he would have found Wikipedia by now.
Meanwhile, Catherine Weaver, alerted by John Henry that an unsecured radio broadcast from her secret factory making who knows what was recorded by him, went to the factory and killed EVERYBODY – including the use of thrown bits of her body and about twenty foot long steel spikes!
Catherine Weaver kicks @$$
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uXTav2dgAY
February 16th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
thanks to mkd and rufus… for the further info — I’m glad I made the clumsy stab with “‘album’ for ‘CD’”
February 16th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
If the characters spoke in 23 century lingo, we would not be able to understand them.
That is why it’s called FICTION.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
People still “dial” a phone number, and probably will for some time into the future even though most people Yglesias’ age have probably never actually used a dial phone.
February 17th, 2009 at 12:01 am
The crew of the Enterprise considers the Atomic Age to be part of ancient history. But meanwhile, Soran quotes the poet Delmore Schwartz, and Kirk asks Spock if Spock ever engaged in “mischevious [sic] pranks,” such as sticking a girl’s pigtails in an inkwell.
February 17th, 2009 at 12:15 am
That’s right – because Star Trek, supposedly Gene Roddenberry’s revolutionary vision of a society so egalitarian that it could foresee black people advancing as far as ship’s secretary (!) couldn’t envision a society where women were treated as actual people.
Yeah, I said “secretary.” Uhura is a secretary. “Communications Officer” my ass. Did you ever see her build a transmitter? Use Morse Code? Analyze SigInt? Translate something? She answers the phones and takes messages. Sometimes she brings Kirk something to sign. She’s a secretary.
February 17th, 2009 at 12:42 am
You’ve got to admit that Kirk getting frisky with alien life forms is pretty radical.
February 17th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Richard, do I really need to explain to you that John Henry’s question was largely rhetorical? That is to say, his primary purpose was to point out the logical inconsistencies in what Ellison had been telling him by noting that the human body has remarkable design deficiencies for having been allegedly designed from scratch by God. It’s a sign that John Henry has moved beyond believing everything Ellison tells him and is beginning to question and critique his assertions using the materials at hands (a box full of Bionicles and a T888 endoskeleton.)
February 17th, 2009 at 1:18 am
Yeah, I said “secretary.” Uhura is a secretary. “Communications Officer” my ass. Did you ever see her build a transmitter? Use Morse Code? Analyze SigInt? Translate something? She answers the phones and takes messages. Sometimes she brings Kirk something to sign. She’s a secretary.
She did something useful in digging up some Klingon language books in Star Trek VI. So there you have it, a black female does something relatively important. In 1991.
February 17th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Actually, Chet, I was thinking of the anachronism of having inkwells in a grade-school classroom. Even in the 50’s that was unknown.
Maybe they have them on Vulcan.
But I’m pleased to think that centuries hence, someone will still be reading Delmore Schwartz.
February 17th, 2009 at 7:50 am
“Records” isn’t anachronistic because CDs and vinyl are both recordings regardless of the medium. “Albums” were originally ornate productions that looked like photo albums from special events. Like a wedding. They often had multiple records in them. Most long playing recordings just came in a simple paper sleeve with a cardboard jacket.
February 17th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Zack, it may have been rhetorical, but I’m basicalloy just noting what somebody else said on the official Wiki forums.
Also, it’s hard to tell with John Henry when he gets rhetorical, wouldn’t you say? It’s not like we have a huge backlog of previous conversation with him that we can identify with. He’s not even Cameron in that respect.
If you’re assuming everybody watching the show is “getting” all the little points, you’re mistaken.
Which is why I complain about how the writers are trying to be TOO “cool” and smart, if that’s possible. And which is why I prefer there to be more “realism” in the show, because it’s exactly that kind of failure to suspend disbelief that does damage.
I might also point out that if John Henry was really using the Internet, he would have blown Ellison off totally, not rhetorically – because a comparative religion study would have shown him the whole thing was bogus. Granted, John Henry isn’t supposed to be a hyper-intelligent AI – which is good because if Skynet were that smart, John Connor would have been toast early on in the war.
Still, John Henry appears to be developing quickly, perhaps too quickly. The bit about looking into Weaver’s eyes and not seeing anything there is a bit much for an AI that is fixated on Bionicles.
This is the problem of trying to deal with the concept of AI in a technical vacuum. You might do well to have some AI consultants on hand to avoid dumb mistakes.
Or at least review the scripts for obvious inconsistencies, which have plagued the show all season. Not that anybody can catch everything, but I think you guys needs a few more “script reviews” by people other than the studio and network execs.
February 17th, 2009 at 7:53 am
They frack you up, your mom and dad
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fracked up in their turn
By fools in old-stylen hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.
Man hands on misery to man
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Resurrect as early as you can
And don’t have any kids yourself.
– Philip Larkin (cylon)
February 17th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
A Penny For Their Thoughts Would Clearly Cost Too Much.
CRAZY PEOPLE
February 17th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
“Did you ever see her build a transmitter?”
She repaired the communications equipment on the bridge in several episodes.
“Use Morse Code?”
Star Trek V.
“Analyze SigInt?”
Numerous episodes, as well as put messages into code, and inform the captain of broken codes.
“Translate something?”
Star Trek VI, using books and her own knowledge to translate English into Klingon.
Thanks for playing.
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