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

[TheSeeker]

Something that occurred to me the other day with regards to replicators.

Why would Picard need to specify "Earl Grey. Hot" when ordering tea? If the computer can recognize an individual surely it would be able to remember their preferences. All Picard should have needed to say was "tea".

Of course if that were the case then we would have been deprived of one of Picard's trademark lines.

 

[backstept]

holy crap I'm drinking some right now! haha

 

[votd]

Yeah, you'd have thought they'd have replicator 'bookmarks'; maybe Picard could confuse people by ordering Tea, Earl Grey, Hot but a pint of lager appears on the replicator, "Don't worry," says Picard, "it's Kaliber; only the beer gets drunk" ;-)

 

[El Chupacabra]

People don't always drink their drinks the same way everytime.

 

[TheSeeker]

People don't always drink their drinks the same way everytime.

Right, so only then would they need to specify. In my opinion it's kinda like going to a coffee shop where the staff know you and get your coffee without asking. It's only when you want something different that you need to tell them.

Just my two cents.

 

[Triskelion]

People don't always drink their drinks the same way everytime.

Right, so only then would they need to specify. In my opinion it's kinda like going to a coffee shop where the staff know you and get your coffee without asking. It's only when you want something different that you need to tell them.

Just my two cents.

Yeah, I hate that though, being anticipated by servers announcing your order as soon as you walk in. It feels like they can't be bothered to wait for a regular customer to think about his order.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Didn't help him look more like a Frenchman. I know, cliches and such, but still....

Maybe he was drinking Earl Grey for the first time, I don't know. Or he usually drinks it properly, with milk, and was feeling adventurous.

 

[Cakes488]

People don't always drink their drinks the same way everytime.

They don't? I would think that most of the time you'd take your tea the same way. I know I have my coffee the same way every day without deviation. The only time it changes up is when I move to iced coffee for the summer months.

 

[cb31]

I never drink anything but iced green tea but my wife drinks hot tea in the mornings and then iced tea during the day so I guess it just depends on the person.

 

[True Trek Fan]

I think Tea. Earl Grey. Hot is a very Americans thing to say. Everyone in the rest of the world when ordering tea knows it is severed hot, Americans presume it is cold and have to specify if they want it hot. Kinda strange as the rest of the tea drinking world always serves tea hot. Living in Canada I always find it amusing when an American orders tea in a restaurant, as a former waiter I enjoyed the look on our southern neighbours faces when I brought them the tea as they were always shocked it is served hot. Here as in England and much of the world if you want an Iced Tea you have to specifically order it in that way. So for myself whenever I hear Picard using the catch phrase, I assume only an American writer could have come up with something like that.

 

[urbandk]

It's just Picard's way of doing things. I'm sure the computer could figure it out without the extra specifications.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

It's just Picard's way of doing things. I'm sure the computer could figure it out without the extra specifications.

I tend to agree, I think it was more of a habit than anything else.

 

[Cakes488]

I think Tea. Earl Grey. Hot is a very Americans thing to say. Everyone in the rest of the world when ordering tea knows it is severed hot, Americans presume it is cold and have to specify if they want it hot. Kinda strange as the rest of the tea drinking world always serves tea hot. Living in Canada I always find it amusing when an American orders tea in a restaurant, as a former waiter I enjoyed the look on our southern neighbours faces when I brought them the tea as they were always shocked it is served hot. Here as in England and much of the world if you want an Iced Tea you have to specifically order it in that way. So for myself whenever I hear Picard using the catch phrase, I assume only an American writer could have come up with something like that.

Same thing in America. I've never ever heard of anybody ordering TEA and someone getting confused that it's not supposed to be hot. I waitressed years ago and when someone asked for tea I never said would you like that tea hot or cold? When we want cold tea we say iced-tea. We always say iced-tea on this side on the pond...always! The only thing we may ask about the ice tea is if it's sweetened or not. Can I get an Amen from my fellow Americans on this very very important issue.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

The sequence of Picards words make me think of how the US military describes supply items.

If I had to guess about this habit, I'd wager that Picard got a huge cup or glass of dissapointment early in his career and from that point on was quite explicit with the replicator about his tea drinking needs.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

I think Tea. Earl Grey. Hot is a very Americans thing to say. Everyone in the rest of the world when ordering tea knows it is severed hot, Americans presume it is cold and have to specify if they want it hot. Kinda strange as the rest of the tea drinking world always serves tea hot. Living in Canada I always find it amusing when an American orders tea in a restaurant, as a former waiter I enjoyed the look on our southern neighbours faces when I brought them the tea as they were always shocked it is served hot. Here as in England and much of the world if you want an Iced Tea you have to specifically order it in that way. So for myself whenever I hear Picard using the catch phrase, I assume only an American writer could have come up with something like that.

Same thing in America. I've never ever heard of anybody ordering TEA and someone getting confused that it's not supposed to be hot. I waitressed years ago and when someone asked for tea I never said would you like that tea hot or cold? When we want cold tea we say iced-tea. We always say iced-tea on this side on the pond...always! The only thing we may ask about the ice tea is if it's sweetened or not. Can I get an Amen from my fellow Americans on this very very important issue.

It depends on the kind of restaurant. A lot of places that serve iced-tea don't have regular ol' hot tea. But yeah, usually (in Texas, at least) people say "iced tea" (which is assumed unsweetened) or they say "sweet tea" (which is assumed to be cold, or "iced"). Occasionally, if you ask for "iced tea," the server will follow up with "sweetened or un(sweetened)?" A lot of fountain machines have some sort of unsweetened iced tea (with lemons, sugar, and artificial sweetener nearby) or sweetened, flavoured (lemon, raspberry, peach, etc.) iced tea as an option. Sometimes (especially in the sweltering, Texas summer heat) I stock my refrigerator with cans of sweet, lemon Brisk iced tea. The best place to get sweet tea in the US is at Chicken Express, a fastfood chain where it's brewed fresh every day and can be purchased by the gallon. CE is also unique in that the fountain machines have delicious Dublin Dr. Pepper. That's been my experience, anyway.

Also, regular hot tea is nasty. Whoever figured out that adding ice made it 1000x better was a true genius, in every sense of the word.

 

[Plecostomus]

It's a security protocol he worked out with Worf. If he orders anything other than Tea... Earl Grey... Hot the security system activates and troops storm the Ready Room.

 

[Praetor]

If he had presets, everyone would just get confused.

Picard would be having a talk with Riker in the ready room, and would casually stroll to the replicator.

R:"So I turned down another promotion this week--"
P:"Number One."
R:"Sir?"
P:"I was talking to the replicator. I was ordering my tea."
R:"Well, why didn't you just tell it what you wanted, instead of having a numbered preset?"
P:"Because a numbered preset is easier."
R:"But then we would still be talking about my rejected promotion, and you wouldn't have had to explain it to me."
P:"Would you like to be demoted to Number Two?"

 

[Darth_Pinche]

Were bookmarks as a concept around in 1987 when the show started? The perceptions of computers at the time I think were much different than they are now. It agree that the line was a reflection of who Picard was. Did any of the other characters order in a similar manner?

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

I remember Janeway often said "Coffee. Black." and Tom Paris yelled at the replicator about just wanting plain, hot tomato soup (after the replicator asked him a million questions specifying said soup) in an early VOY episode

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I think Tea. Earl Grey. Hot is a very Americans thing to say. Everyone in the rest of the world when ordering tea knows it is severed hot, Americans presume it is cold and have to specify if they want it hot. Kinda strange as the rest of the tea drinking world always serves tea hot. Living in Canada I always find it amusing when an American orders tea in a restaurant, as a former waiter I enjoyed the look on our southern neighbours faces when I brought them the tea as they were always shocked it is served hot. Here as in England and much of the world if you want an Iced Tea you have to specifically order it in that way. So for myself whenever I hear Picard using the catch phrase, I assume only an American writer could have come up with something like that.

Most people north of Virginia expect ordering tea will give them a hot drink (Iced Tea is the cold drink).

Tea, Earl Grey, Hot is 4 syllables. That's not that hard to say, so I don't see the need to program something in.