Does Spock (Ethan Peck) ever say fascinating on Strange New Worlds or Discovery just like he (Leonard Nimoy) said the phrase on the original series?
- Thread starter Kristine
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and it was fascinating.
I love Peck’s Spock to no end — and he certainly has the “Fascinating” down pat — but I do wish he would dial down on the constant overuse of saying “thee” instead of just “the”. I’m no native speaker, but it always sounds so wrong to my ears. Although I wanna say they actually did dial it down somewhat in the current season.
He does? I haven't noticed it even once.
I don’t doubt you, but I find that so hard to believe, because trust me, he’s saying it a lot. Just randomly I looked at the pilot and last week’s episode, writing down all instances of him saying it like that:
“Strange New Worlds”
14:30 “thee mission”
18:23 “thee power of transformation”
20:56 “thee ship is empty” (that’s also where he says “Fascinating” for the first time on the show, by the way)
21:07 “thee ship’s manifest”
22:37 “thee signal variance”
22:58 “thee Vulcans invented First Contact”
34:06 “thee pain is quite remarkable”
34:08 “thee recoding seems to have stabilized”
35:29 “thee pain”
37:18 “thee destiny of this world”
40:49 “thee true cost of a civil war”
“The Sehlat That Ate Its Tail”
13:16 “thee data from our encounter with the alien vessel”
13:56 “thee ranking officer”
14:13 “one of thee vessels”
14:17 “thee hull plating”
19:59 “thee scavenger vessel”
21:00 “thee path”
32:32 “thee captain has given his orders”
36:29 “thee scavenger vessel”
37:29 “thee sehlat has eaten its tail”
37:32 “thee scavenger ship”
42:21 “thee life signs are all human”
Again, I’m not a native speaker, so what the do I know?
Maybe that’s just how some English people talk, I don’t know. It’s certainly not a big deal or anything, but all I can say is that it always sounds odd and somewhat distracting to me. 
Nor i.
I've heard both pronunciations, though "thee" is more regional and I've heard it less.Again, I’m not a native speaker, so what the do I know?
Same here.
Yeah, it's a variation. Thee and Thuh are both acceptable. I was thinking more of a thee and thou type of thing like T'Pau, which is different.I don’t doubt you, but I find that so hard to believe, because trust me, he’s saying it a lot. Just randomly I looked at the pilot and last week’s episode, writing down all instances of him saying it like that:
“Strange New Worlds”
14:30 “thee mission”
18:23 “thee power of transformation”
20:56 “thee ship is empty” (that’s also where he says “Fascinating” for the first time on the show, by the way)
21:07 “thee ship’s manifest”
22:37 “thee signal variance”
22:58 “thee Vulcans invented First Contact”
34:06 “thee pain is quite remarkable”
34:08 “thee recoding seems to have stabilized”
35:29 “thee pain”
37:18 “thee destiny of this world”
40:49 “thee true cost of a civil war”
“The Sehlat That Ate Its Tail”
13:16 “thee data from our encounter with the alien vessel”
13:56 “thee ranking officer”
14:13 “one of thee vessels”
14:17 “thee hull plating”
19:59 “thee scavenger vessel”
21:00 “thee path”
32:32 “thee captain has given his orders”
36:29 “thee scavenger vessel”
37:29 “thee sehlat has eaten its tail”
37:32 “thee scavenger ship”
42:21 “thee life signs are all human”
Again, I’m not a native speaker, so what the do I know?
Yeah, sorry, that can be confusing. I didn’t mean “thee” as in the old English pronoun, but as a simplified pronunciation respelling of [ðiː] for “the”. I’m never sure how many people can even read the International Phonetic Alphabet.
It’s not that I didn’t know that “thee” instead of “thuh” exists as an alternative pronunciation of “the”, but I learned in school that it’s only used when the word following it begins with a vowel sound. That’s why Spock’s usage sounds so wrong compared to how I learned it. Sometimes he will use “thuh”, but in the two episodes I looked at, he definitely used “thee” way more often. I get the feeling that it’s meant to sound … intellectual / intelligent / educated, for lack of a better word. But to me it only ends up making him sound a bit pretentious.
He also excessively says “ay” / [eɪ] when he uses the article “a”, instead of the less formal “uh” / [ə]. But this I find way less noticeable, personally.
English is a fount of rules that are constantly broken.
Definitely! But maybe not by the one character known for his logic and intelligence. And certainly not at the rate he’s breaking it.
Definitely! But maybe not by the one character known for his logic and intelligence. And certainly not at this rate.
“Thee” implies a certain level of education and status. Might be Amanda’s fault as she’s a teacher.Definitely! But maybe not by the one character known for his logic and intelligence. And certainly not at the rate he’s breaking it.
The closed captions say 'the'.I don’t doubt you, but I find that so hard to believe, because trust me, he’s saying it a lot. Just randomly I looked at the pilot and last week’s episode, writing down all instances of him saying it like that:
“Strange New Worlds”
14:30 “thee mission”
18:23 “thee power of transformation”
20:56 “thee ship is empty” (that’s also where he says “Fascinating” for the first time on the show, by the way)
21:07 “thee ship’s manifest”
22:37 “thee signal variance”
22:58 “thee Vulcans invented First Contact”
34:06 “thee pain is quite remarkable”
34:08 “thee recoding seems to have stabilized”
35:29 “thee pain”
37:18 “thee destiny of this world”
40:49 “thee true cost of a civil war”
“The Sehlat That Ate Its Tail”
13:16 “thee data from our encounter with the alien vessel”
13:56 “thee ranking officer”
14:13 “one of thee vessels”
14:17 “thee hull plating”
19:59 “thee scavenger vessel”
21:00 “thee path”
32:32 “thee captain has given his orders”
36:29 “thee scavenger vessel”
37:29 “thee sehlat has eaten its tail”
37:32 “thee scavenger ship”
42:21 “thee life signs are all human”
Again, I’m not a native speaker, so what the do I know?
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