"Tea. Earl Grey. Hot." Did Picard really need to say it?

Someone with your username should remember this.

Jarok in "The Defector" asked for water, giving the temperature in "onkians" (apparently a Romulan scale) but the computer didn't understand it.

He then just demanded that the water be "on the cold side of whatever your system is". The replicator understood that and gave him his water.

 

One of the most discouraging aspects of visiting the USA is the first time one orders a cup of tea at a cafe. Second only to water as to the amount of the stuff that is imbibed by the world's population, but from New Haven to San Diego you receive a cup full of slowly cooling water, accompanied by a saucer hosting a teabag wrapped around a spoon.

In my experience, this disappointment is only superceded by the sheer hell that ordering a cup of coffee produces!

 

I've never heard it called that but I drink it a lot. Over the years I have learned NOT to ask for sweet tea if I travel south of Kentucky. Ugggg. That stuff in the south has 4 times the suger I would ever want in tea.

My question is, why the fixation with Earl Grey tea in Star Trek. Picard. Janeway. T'Pol. All the tea drinkers ask for Earl Grey.

 

The trouble with the 24th century is that you could automate so much of life. You could run the ship on autopilot. You could sent out probes out to explore the galaxy on your behalf which would send back their data. It's an age where human goals can be achieved without really needing humans to play an active role in seeing those goals through.

So sometimes we just want to retain a degree of humanity. It's nice to be able to express our preferences, and we don't necessarily want the computer to anticipate them.

 

When I travel abroad I have always adapted to the customs of the country I visit. Perhaps this would make your experience more pleasant. God forbid you were at First Contact... we'd be a war with Vulcan over tea!!

Hmmm.... shades of the Boston Tea Party!

Jadzia: I do not know the name of the episode, but when Picard defended Data as a person instead of property... the same argument was used. ..."an army of Datas"

 

Oh, Sector 7, you are way tooo easy.

BTW, using the Boston Tea Party in a post about avoiding conflict, doesn't actually cut the mustard, although, to be fair to you, it's probably a good illustration of why neither of us would be suited to First Contact situations.

 

You know, I've been watching TOS lately and two thoughts occur to me. Whenever anyone goes to a food slot, they have to put in a disc and push some buttons. Whenever someone talks to the computer, they usually have to push a button first, and sometimes after.

Having Picard and co. actually just talk to the computer rather than inserting a memory card or pushing a button - in this particular case, Picard to the replicator - was probably a conscious effort to avoid this and make the D feel more futuristic than her TOS counterpart. In retrospect, I really think a preset button, given what we'd seen on TOS, wouldn't have felt more futuristic.

The single time I can think of anyone having to touch a panel to talk to the computer is in 'Encounter at Farpoint,' when the female crewman explains how the ship's computer works to Riker. There may be others, but I really think they generally avoided it.

 

Please re-read my post. Perhaps I should explain it in simpler terms:
1) Nice people try to get along wherever they are.
2) You may not be trying to do that since you don't seem to adapt to new countries and situations.
3) I, however, try to adapt to the countries where I have been.
4) IF you had been at First Contact... yada yada, it would have been LIKE the Boston Tea Party with you causing a war over tea or some such.

I have done well in First Contact situations throughout the globe. Perhaps it is because of my belief in IDIC rather than criticizing those who do things differently (tea included). The whole point of my post/response was about avoiding conflict rather than causing it by complaining about other customs. Hopefully this will help your understanding.

 

Picard spent 20 years in command of the Stargazer, with its over-worked and under-powered replicators, I think that it was a habit formed by years of having to be specific. The E-D was supposed to be a quantum leap in technology and I beleive that Picard being older was less willing to vary his routine.

 

What has become clear, Sector 7, is that you and I are in the middle of our very own First Contact situation, and so far neither of us appears to be handling it very well - based on the reactions we have given to each other's posts, and the uncomfortable feeling that whatever else has been achieved, a meeting of minds has not been achieved.

So, perhaps we should just call this one back to Starfleet HQ as an unfortunate failure of communication. Such things happen. No doubt we will have another opportunity to re-establish tentative contact in another thread, and hopefully we may both work out a better way of communicating our thoughts by then.

 

I think it just became sort of a trademark line for the character, so the writer's decided to have him say the entire thing every time. No real logical reason as far as the show goes.

 

he might as well have said - "the usual".

 

Nonsense. You choose to complain about the places you visit. I choose to adapt. In actual First Contact situations I prevail and you do not. We both evidently have differing ideas regarding First Contact. You prefer the Klingon style (you expect them to change for you) and I prefer the Prime Directive style (I do not expect them to change for me). This is a far cry from a "tie". I stand by my first analysis.

 

My family is from Tennessee so I grew up with sweet tea. Somewhere along the line I switched to unsweetened. And then to (gasp!!!) hot tea. My mother, being the gracious Southern Lady that she is, always makes sure there is a pitcher of unsweetened tea in the fridge when I visit.

If I visit the Enterprise I could go either way. I hope the replicators can handle it.

 

You'd think "the usual" would cover it - though that's also four syllables, so not much of an abbreviation

 

By far the easiest thing would be a button that gave him his usual order, at least in his ready room or quarters. But then the audience wouldn't know what he was drinking.

 

Picard: Tea.
Computer: Please specify.
Picard: Earl grey.
Computer: Please specify temperature.
Picard: Hot.

And the rest is history.

 

Picard: Tea
Computer: There are 14 varieties of Tea available from this repliator; with rice, with vegetables, Bolian style, with pasta
Picard: Bloody machine!

 

And technology is supposed to make things easier!

 

Exactly.