[Maurice]

I was reading through some correspondence from original Star Trek production, and one thing that got mentioned frequently in notes on the scripts was misuse of "aye" "yes sir" and "negative". As I see this a LOT in fan films (and, as Middyseafort points out, Babylon 5 is rife with it), I thought a little cheat sheet about this might be useful:

"Aye" means "understood", not yes. "I don't want to see another tribble!" "Aye."

"Aye aye," means "order understood and I will carry it out", and not yes or an emphatic yes. "I want you to get every tribble off this bridge!" "Aye, aye, sir!"

"Yes" and "No" are the appropriate responses to questions, as in, "Have you tried hailing them?" "Yes, sir." Do not use "affirmative" and "negative".

"Affirmative" and "Negative" are NOT used in normal conversation. They are "voice procedure" cues used over radios, etc. Like the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, they are used over communications equipment where it's possible that "yes" or "no" can be missed or misheard, much the way you'd say "niner" instead of "nine" because the latter can be mistaken for "five", or why Craps dealers say "Yo-leven" instead of "eleven" because the latter can be misheard as "seven".