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

At least the computer is smart enough to figure out what "hot" means. Sometimes, iirc, the characters would have to specify a temperature

 

I think you have it! lol

 

I don't think so. I was still working in DOS. Although we did have speed dials on phones, so the concept was more or less there to be extrapolated from.

Troi just asks for "hot chocolate" and Beverly asks for "lemon tea".

 

Picard had lots of unusual tics like saying make it so and come whenever anyone wanted to enter his readyroom.

 

You may get one from me. I order tea quite a lot, actually (I loathe coffee, and I like soft drinks only every now and then), and if I want iced tea, I say "iced tea." If I want hot tea, I'll just say "tea" or perhaps "a cup of tea." Sometimes I then get asked if I want it hot or iced, but not usually, and thus far, nobody's assumed that my request for "tea" meant iced tea. Could happen, but it hasn't happened so far.

 

Perhaps it's a courtesy for whomever would be in command. As early as the first season we saw Geordi in the ready room in command, I believe it was Arsenal of Freedom. It would be a faux pas if someone ordered tea and got Picard's blend. So in a way it's an acknowledgment of Picard's fealty to Starfleet.

 

Picard is precise and commanding. He has need for no courtesy towards any simple food slot!

What he wants: Tea.
What kind he wants: Earl Grey.
How he wants it: Hot.

"So shall it be written, so shall it be done. Et cetera, et cetera..."

(Oops, wrong bald guy...)

But it's also still possible TPTB might have even briefly considered 'presets' akin to radio presets of the time, and just as quickly discarded them for precise and commanding.

 

Honestly, if he didn't say it outloud, more of the audience would've wondered "what happened, he just walked to the replicator and it magically knew his order/read his mind?" esp after we've seen crew members verbally order from the replicator on numerous occasions

it's part of the fun/magic of having a replicator -- your wish is its command

 

Amen my American brothers and sisters! If I want iced tea, I say iced tea. If I want hot tea, I say hot tea. There's little ambiguity right there.

Plus the setting you're in often dictates things. If I walk into a diner for lunch on a hot day and order up a burger and fries and a big glass of tea, it's pretty much implied that I want iced. Same thing if I'm at a restaurant and the waiter is asking me what I'd like to drink with dessert. It's implied its hot.

As for Picard, maybe he just wasn't a preset guy. I barely have any numbers programming into my cell phone and none at home. I don't have an address book in outlook. I don't have any presets on my XM radio. I'm just not a preset guy.

Plus it was one of his trademarks.

 

If I want iced tea, I say sweet tea.

 

But hot tea can also be sweet....oh the tangled web we weave!

 

Nope, Cakes, not in the South (which is wear Praetor lives, last I checked). In the South, the phrase "sweet tea" specifically refers to iced tea that has been pre-sweetened. It's becoming popular here in the Midwest, too, which is OK with me so long as I can still get the unsweetened kind. Hot tea that is sweet is "tea with sugar." Really.

 

LOL thanks Kate...all the different regions of the country is almost like different countries !!

But I was just trying to kid around and perpetuate this tea thing a little further....but you've stopped me dead in my tracks!

 

^ Aw - didn't mean to do that. Perpetuate away, Cakes!

 

I'd like to officially say Kate was right in her assessment, Cakes. Just cuz I know she enjoys it.

 

Personally I'd have a button on my touch screen that replicates the correct tea whenever I press it; though it does seem in the Star Trek TNG future everything is voice activated; Tea Earl Gray Hot takes 2-3 seconds to say, but press a button and it takes what, half a second?

 

Who, me? Well, maybe a little bit...

 

could you imagine if everything was voice activated? The bridge alone would sund like a loud restaurant, and it'd take a long time to get anything done