I think Spock was an important balance for Kirk's recklessness, The others could be persuaded after a bit of a pep talk by the captain, but Spock just kept that look, with a slightly raised eyebrow if necessary.
To be honest, I tend to just also go with what I think sounds nice. I prefer "to boldly go" as well and Kirk and Spock has a good dynamic imo. Like Fire and Water.
I try to stick with proper grammar in the narrative parts of my fiction (not when a character is speaking/thinking) and non-fiction. But frankly I fudge it when something sounds so gosh darn awkward. "To boldly go" is definitely preferred.
We can't abandon grammar altogether. Communication would break down. But when writing, we need to have things sound natural, esp. when writing dialogue.
You know, it's funny, but I'd never heard of this split infinitive nonsense until I started using ProWritingAid--so about two years ago. Now keep in my mind that I'm French, and I initially learned English when I was a kid a long, long time ago (early 70s). Heck, it's possible it was mentioned at some point back then and I just don't remember it.
Anyway, when PWA started pointing these out I was like whaaat? Are you kidding me? OK, no, I'm just gonna ignore this one LOL.
And that final line in your article was very, uhm, bold... and true 😉
Oh man, French has a TON of silly rules, though they're of a different sort. I generally find English a lot easier.
One of the silliest things about French is that EVERY word has to be either masculine or feminine. And sometimes it feels so random. Why would a car be feminine (especially considering how at the time cars were invented there were only men driving them) and blender masculine (when they were initially used mostly by women)?
I was just having this conversation about gender in language on Thursday with one of our managers, who is Korean. Neither of us could really justify gender in language (Korean is like English in this regard), although we did think specifically about la lune and le soleil. She brought up the fact that the moon is tied to menstrual cycles, which I found fascinating and satisfying as an explanation (although it could just be speculation in this case).
Sure, there are cases where it can make sense, but in others it's like WTF?
Here's another example. When the epidemic hit we started talking about the coronavirus and covid and everyone was using those words in the masculine form. That sort of came naturally, I'm guessing because virus is a masculine word, so it made sense, right? But then the "Académie Française" decided both terms should be feminine. And I'm like why???
But that's the thing with French, the Académie has last say on what is what. They do (sort of) take into account usage, but ultimately they decide what goes into the dictionary, and sometimes their decisions make no sense.
In case you're wondering, the Académie is made up of 40 (literary fiction) authors, linguists, philosophers, and scholars.
That is very interesting! So, one would expect for French to evolve along very different lines than the more organic "Wild West" approach with English, or at least that's one big takeaway for me. The conventions of English probably bend more to the will of the people speaking it.
More or less. It really depends on how willing the majority of people are to follow these 'rules.' People will talk however they want to talk. I still use the masculine forms for corona and covid and I know others who do as well. But there could be a shift if more people use feminine. Time will tell.
So who actually wrote the opening to the show and how many drafts did they have and how many did Shatner have to stand there and record in the booth?
Similarly, Spock and Data are parallel characters who stand in for our need for exposition. I just watched the one where Data took the helm but couldn't "make it so" because he'd gotten his fingers stuck in a Chinese finger puzzle. And at the end of the show he asked Picard if he could beam a box of said finger puzzles to the Farengi ship. And Picard said yes! Haha. Prime Directive my donkey!
But back to the issue of language, our Waze often says, "Okay, drive safe!" And all I can do is imagine a safe with wheels and a steering wheel attached.
And didn't Star Trek get canceled after only 3 seasons?
Uh, you might be right about the level of technology a civilization has before Starfleet will/won't help. I was trying to make a joke about the souring of relations between Starfleet and the HOO-mons once the finger puzzles had been disseminated and deemed to be a weapon.
Oh yeah, it was a good joke! But you know that whenever we start talking about Star Trek lore, there's gonna be some nitpicking. I'm not sure which is worse for that sort of thing: Trek or Wars. Both have pretty fervent fans.
Sadly, zero. I just found out about it a few months ago! Why the school doesn’t have a mural is beyond me. Or at least paint the football field with a gigantic Starfleet emblem. Sad, so sad.
Not only Spock, but perhaps all Vulcans have an excellent command of English grammar. In Voyager, Tuvok tells Captain Janeway, “It was I who made the trade.” How refreshing!
(Btw, Andrew, Gene Roddenberry went to my h.s. 😉 Yay, Star Trek!)
Oh wow! He graduated in 1939, from what I'm reading. Were there lots of Roddenberry-legacy things at your school when you went there? I'm envisioning paintings or murals, statues, maybe some kind of little museum-in-a-case?
Portray them as a romantic couple. I learned of this term exploring fan fiction and theories for television animation, where this speculation is common. But with Kirk and Spock, it's been going on nearly since the show began in the 1960s.
Same with ending a sentence with a preposition. There are some things up with which I will not put.
I’m the same way but I read recently that it’s a bogus rule made up by textbook companies. Still the programming runs too deep.
We're like a third of the way back to thees and thous!
I aim to definitely support this linguistic evolution boldly. Did I right that do?
Depends on the future it does. Do or do not; there is no "try"!
Yoda channel boldly you did. Proud of you I am.
I think Spock was an important balance for Kirk's recklessness, The others could be persuaded after a bit of a pep talk by the captain, but Spock just kept that look, with a slightly raised eyebrow if necessary.
Oh yeah, Spock was always unafraid to call BS!
Yes, grammar is an evolving reality, not a fossilized, unchanging relic.
To be honest, I tend to just also go with what I think sounds nice. I prefer "to boldly go" as well and Kirk and Spock has a good dynamic imo. Like Fire and Water.
I try to stick with proper grammar in the narrative parts of my fiction (not when a character is speaking/thinking) and non-fiction. But frankly I fudge it when something sounds so gosh darn awkward. "To boldly go" is definitely preferred.
Yes! This is how language works. Do what feels right.
We can't abandon grammar altogether. Communication would break down. But when writing, we need to have things sound natural, esp. when writing dialogue.
Yeah, that's what I mean. Plus: we are the ones who will reshape language, and it's a living thing!
Just wasn’t sure MY meaning was clear. Have a very lovely day!
Same.
You know, it's funny, but I'd never heard of this split infinitive nonsense until I started using ProWritingAid--so about two years ago. Now keep in my mind that I'm French, and I initially learned English when I was a kid a long, long time ago (early 70s). Heck, it's possible it was mentioned at some point back then and I just don't remember it.
Anyway, when PWA started pointing these out I was like whaaat? Are you kidding me? OK, no, I'm just gonna ignore this one LOL.
And that final line in your article was very, uhm, bold... and true 😉
Alex, I learned some French when I was a kid! We're like inverts of one another (except I never got very good with French, or at least not yet).
I know of no language that has more of these silly rules than English.
Oh man, French has a TON of silly rules, though they're of a different sort. I generally find English a lot easier.
One of the silliest things about French is that EVERY word has to be either masculine or feminine. And sometimes it feels so random. Why would a car be feminine (especially considering how at the time cars were invented there were only men driving them) and blender masculine (when they were initially used mostly by women)?
Ultimately, I think all languages are weird 🤣
I was just having this conversation about gender in language on Thursday with one of our managers, who is Korean. Neither of us could really justify gender in language (Korean is like English in this regard), although we did think specifically about la lune and le soleil. She brought up the fact that the moon is tied to menstrual cycles, which I found fascinating and satisfying as an explanation (although it could just be speculation in this case).
Sure, there are cases where it can make sense, but in others it's like WTF?
Here's another example. When the epidemic hit we started talking about the coronavirus and covid and everyone was using those words in the masculine form. That sort of came naturally, I'm guessing because virus is a masculine word, so it made sense, right? But then the "Académie Française" decided both terms should be feminine. And I'm like why???
But that's the thing with French, the Académie has last say on what is what. They do (sort of) take into account usage, but ultimately they decide what goes into the dictionary, and sometimes their decisions make no sense.
In case you're wondering, the Académie is made up of 40 (literary fiction) authors, linguists, philosophers, and scholars.
That is very interesting! So, one would expect for French to evolve along very different lines than the more organic "Wild West" approach with English, or at least that's one big takeaway for me. The conventions of English probably bend more to the will of the people speaking it.
More or less. It really depends on how willing the majority of people are to follow these 'rules.' People will talk however they want to talk. I still use the masculine forms for corona and covid and I know others who do as well. But there could be a shift if more people use feminine. Time will tell.
So who actually wrote the opening to the show and how many drafts did they have and how many did Shatner have to stand there and record in the booth?
Similarly, Spock and Data are parallel characters who stand in for our need for exposition. I just watched the one where Data took the helm but couldn't "make it so" because he'd gotten his fingers stuck in a Chinese finger puzzle. And at the end of the show he asked Picard if he could beam a box of said finger puzzles to the Farengi ship. And Picard said yes! Haha. Prime Directive my donkey!
But back to the issue of language, our Waze often says, "Okay, drive safe!" And all I can do is imagine a safe with wheels and a steering wheel attached.
And didn't Star Trek get canceled after only 3 seasons?
Wait, doesn't the Prime Directive only apply to civilizations that have not yet created a warp signature? I might be off on this, though.
I've read that there was quite a bit that went into this initial show intro.
Uh, you might be right about the level of technology a civilization has before Starfleet will/won't help. I was trying to make a joke about the souring of relations between Starfleet and the HOO-mons once the finger puzzles had been disseminated and deemed to be a weapon.
Oh yeah, it was a good joke! But you know that whenever we start talking about Star Trek lore, there's gonna be some nitpicking. I'm not sure which is worse for that sort of thing: Trek or Wars. Both have pretty fervent fans.
Indeed.
Sadly, zero. I just found out about it a few months ago! Why the school doesn’t have a mural is beyond me. Or at least paint the football field with a gigantic Starfleet emblem. Sad, so sad.
Clearly, nerds do not run this school.
No, not this one. 🫤
Not only Spock, but perhaps all Vulcans have an excellent command of English grammar. In Voyager, Tuvok tells Captain Janeway, “It was I who made the trade.” How refreshing!
(Btw, Andrew, Gene Roddenberry went to my h.s. 😉 Yay, Star Trek!)
Oh wow! He graduated in 1939, from what I'm reading. Were there lots of Roddenberry-legacy things at your school when you went there? I'm envisioning paintings or murals, statues, maybe some kind of little museum-in-a-case?
Haha! Never noticed that before!
“Can you imagine Leonard Nimoy’s logical voice violating an age-old convention of grammar?”
Didn’t he do so at the end of ‘Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan”?
This line?
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one."
The epilogue right before the end credits.
https://youtu.be/LXVqSa2l6mg @ 2 min. 40 sec.
Nice! I'm sure I noted this as a kid, but I likely haven't revisited this in my mind since the movie was in theaters. Whew!
I suppose the opposites-attracting nature of Kirk and Spock is what has caused so many fan-fiction writers to "ship" them...
"Ship" them?
Portray them as a romantic couple. I learned of this term exploring fan fiction and theories for television animation, where this speculation is common. But with Kirk and Spock, it's been going on nearly since the show began in the 1960s.
Oh wow, new term for me! Thanks!