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

[SmoothieX]

JustKate wrote:

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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.

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.

[Praetor]

If I want iced tea, I say sweet tea.

[Cakes488]

Praetor wrote:

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If I want iced tea, I say sweet tea.

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

[JustKate]

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.

[Cakes488]

JustKate wrote:

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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!

[JustKate]

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

[Praetor]

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

[votd]

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?

[JustKate]

Praetor wrote:

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

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

[davidant32]

votd wrote:

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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?

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

[kissthestar]

Yes. it would be loud if everything were voice activated, and wouldn't it confuse the computer? I wonder to what extent things were supposed to have been monitored, and in what degree of detail, by the ship's computer? In "Courtmartial," for instance, it seems like every act and word has been recorded. Thoughts on this?

[I am not Spock]

The real world reason is because Star Trek is an American TV series, and Picard has to specify that he wants the tea hot.

The in-universe reason is because you have to be really specific with the dumbass replicators. Remember Tom's efforts to wade through 40 soup varieties in Caretaker?

[Praetor]

But don't you think if Picard just ordered 'tea' the replicator would ask him to be more specific? I think the qualifiers are necessary whatever country you're from, and it therefore removes the 'regional' aspect from the whole argument.

[kissthestar]

True. It could be any kind.

[Mirror_Barclay]

JustKate wrote:

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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.

BLASPHEMY!

Tea - by which I generally mean hot, sweet tea - should be served with milk and honey. Sugar goes in coffee.

votd wrote:

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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?

That's what I'd do. I usually don't feel like talking first thing in the morning. I'd want a button, and if it had to be voice activated I'd progam the computer to interpret.

'hrmph' = Tea, Red Rose, Hot, with milk and honey

I think buttons and keyboards would be easier for a lot of what they do by voice commands in Star Trek. Giving passwords, for one thing.