Everyday Speech

[Kali Nicholotti]

There are a number of quotes from our favorite television shows that we can return to, inviting a flood of memories back about the episode and what we were doing in our day when we heard the words. Few shows have grown beyond that, but Star Trek is definitely one of them. Rather than having to stop and explain a scene to your friends or co-workers, it's easy to let one of these popular phrases fly and get a response from nearly any audience. Even those who don't consider Star Trek a part of their lives will recognize some of them.

Perhaps that is why Trek had such an amazing following throughout the years. It wasn't just the progressive attitudes and the willingness to delve into the unknown both in the show's reality, and in our own psyche, but the manner in which the words resonated through multiple generations. And that, of course, brings us to our poll of the week. What is your favorite famous Trek saying? Let us know if it's one of those we love, or if you have your own, and don't forget to join the conversation and tell us when you put your favorite phrase to work below.

[Sal Taybrim]

My all time favorite:

That's why you came to me, isn't it, Captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing? Well, it worked. And you'll get what you want: a war between the Romulans and the Dominion. And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant. And all it cost was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal, and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain.

[Guest]

Garak definitely has the best quotes.

This exchange, from The Wire, is one of my favourites;

Dr. Julian Bashir: You know, I still have a lot of questions to ask you about your past.

Elim Garak: I have given you all the answers I'm capable of.

Dr. Julian Bashir: You've given me answers all right; but they were all different. What I want to know is, out of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?

Elim Garak: My dear Doctor, they're all true.

Dr. Julian Bashir: Even the lies?

Elim Garak: Especially the lies.

But as it's not a single quote, I'll instead go for my second favourite;

"Do you know what the sad part is, Odo? I'm a very *good* tailor."

Edited October 18, 2015 by Hutch

[Brek]

I'll go with the simplistic 'resistance is futile', which I also use in rl .

[Ayiana Sevo]

My *favorite* is:

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

However, for the more culturally-pervasive saying, its probably either:

Beam me up

or:

I'm a doctor, not a ...

[+ Trellis Vondaryan]

Like Shakespeare (perhaps even in the original Klingon), Trek has given us more than its fair share of sayings. All of the above are fantastic (and I'd forgotten that revenge is a dish best served cold came from Trek, that's how ingrained it is), I went with 'Other'.

I think 'I'm a doctor, not a [insert profession here]' is still wildly popular, and one of my favourites.

[Sal Taybrim]

If I had to say the thing from Star Trek that I absolutely quote the most (though I know and can rattle off my favorite Garak quote by memory) my mother and I to this day quote together:

Do you guys like Italian?

No.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

No.

"I love italian. And so do you."

Yes.

Every single time before we get pizza or pasta together. We also melodramatically quote:

"I. HAVE HAD. ENOUGH. OF YOU!" pretty often whenever the situations dictates. Also Spock's 'colorful metaphors'

She raised me on old trek and the movies seemed to stick.

[Lupo]

I voted "Make it so" because it's what the title of the poll says, something I'm using often in everyday speech.

But my most favorite of all is from DS9 Episode "Armageddon Game"

Listen to me, Julian! You're the one who's always talking about adventure. Huh... adventure... Oh... marriage is the greatest adventure of them all. It's filled with pitfalls and setbacks and mistakes and... But it's a journey worth taking... 'cause you take it together. I know Keiko's been unhappy about us coming to the station... We still argue about it. But that's all right... At the end of the day we both know we love each other. That's all that matters.

[Guest]

Pretty sure the "cold revenge" quote predates Star Trek by a century or two. Earth centuries that is, not Klingon ones.

[T'Mihn]

Live long and prosper is mine. Although those quotes mentioned are awesome. Any McCoy quote.

I have used a few of McCoy's quipes in sims, but I don't think they went overbwell.