Spock's Vocabulary

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by ZapBrannigan, Sep 20, 2013.

  1. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Judging by your presence here, you still do! :p

    My parents actually did it twice. They bought a Collier's Encyclopedia in 1960 right after they married. But by the time we kids needed it, 20 years later, only half of what was in it was still true, so they shelled out for a Britannica set.
     
  2. Ssosmcin

    Ssosmcin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Spock and Stan Lee both boosted my vocabulary tenfold. When some dude was trying to win an argument, I stopped him with "practicality does suggest capitulation." Some other time, I said to the same guy "mere loquaciousness will not be sufficient to vanquish an enemy." I was, like, 17 and unpopular. But I did proofread a lot of papers.
     
  3. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    I've even managed to occasionally come up with a word that my boss didn't know, and she was a professional Quality Assurance proofreader! I called a manager at work a Martinet once, and she asked me what it meant. I was so proud. :lol:
     
  4. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

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    ... until you explained it to her! :lol:
     
  5. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    Heh. Unclear pronoun usage on my part. I called another manager a Martinet, and my boss asked me what it meant.
    :)
     
  6. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    (hic) how dare you call me a martini...
     
  7. FreddyE

    FreddyE Captain Captain

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    Lol...I did that too...saved my parents quite a lot of stress...for example...they never had to give me "the talk"...I read in the encyclopedia when I was 13 ;-)
     
  8. Praetor Baldric

    Praetor Baldric Lieutenant Commander

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    I read somewhere that Nimoy had suggested that Spock should be on the verbose side not so much because of his being an intellectual than because Nimoy wanted to suggest that English (or Standard if you prefer) was a second language and so therefore he would have a tendency to use a trumped-up vocabulary (which often occurs with second language speakers who either are unaware or uncomfortable with using colloquialisms and the more common vernacular). Also explains why he never used any contractions.
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2013
  9. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Spock really set the stage for Mr. Data, Seven of Nine, and T'Pol. It's a Star Trek archetype: the serious-minded genius who speaks in formal grammar, does math in his head, and makes often-disdainful observations about humans from an outside (and implicitly superior) perspective.

    Before Star Trek came along, this character type appeared in Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (1961). I'm not sure if that's the first case we could think of.

    The 1977 TV series Man From Atlantis is another example of the same type. The lead in that show spoke very much like Heinlein's protaganist.
     
  10. nureintier

    nureintier Commander Red Shirt

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    I just started watching TOS again. Spock is contagious. I have to make a conscious effort not to talk like him.

    Somebody I went to grade school with had an illustrated encyclopedia that he would bring to school. It had everything we wanted to know in it, with pictures. ^_^ We'd sit around during recess looking at stupid naked drawings in there.

    I still have my old encyclopedia sets, and some I inherited from my grandparents.
     
  11. Metryq

    Metryq Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Today a character like Spock would be considered autistic... and probably put in a wheelchair to make him look smarter.