Borg designations... nuances

[c0rnedfr0g]

In TNG, Hugh was the drone "Third of Five," while in Voyager, Seven was the drone "Seven of Nine."

See the difference? Why was Hugh not "Three of Five" or Seven not "Seventh of Nine" ??

What gives?

 

[Sci]

In TNG, Hugh was the drone "Third of Five," while in Voyager, Seven was the drone "Seven of Nine."

See the difference? Why was Hugh not "Three of Five" or Seven not "Seventh of Nine" ??

What gives?

Presumably because they realized that "Seventh" would be a really awkward name for her to have in the series. It's just a retcon.

You can probably justify it by presuming that the Borg language's distinction between the noun and adjective forms of numerical values has to be determined based upon context rather than strict vocabulary, and that therefore "Three of Five" and "Third of Five" or "Seven of Nine" and "Seventh of Nine" would both be accurate translations that the Universal Translator could use.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Grammar is not the Borg's strong suit.

 

[Misfit Toy]

"Resistance am futile."

 

[Sci]

"Resistance am futile."

Not really all that different from the English to be's lack of a distinction between the second person singular, first person plural, and third person plural grammatical persons, really.

 

[Amaris]

"Resistance am futile."

I just spit water. Thank you.


J.

 

[Timo]

Of course, we could also assume that Third of Five and Three of Five are two different, specific designations and that a Borg could immediately tell the difference.

Obviously, such designations are merely the "relevant end" of a much longer string of identifiers: Three of which Five? I vaguely remember we heard a longer version of Seven's designation during the course of the show, but that, too, would have been shorthand of something even more extensive. After all, there are trillions of Drones out there...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[captcalhoun]

Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One.

 

[Saga]

grammar is irrelevant.

 

[Jamee999]

syntax is futile

 

[Saga]

your language will adapt to service us.

 

[roguephoenix]

current borg designation methods are highly inefficient and unnecessarily impractical. they really should just have serial numbers rather than subset designations like that.

 

[Sci]

current borg designation methods are highly inefficient and unnecessarily impractical. they really should just have serial numbers rather than subset designations like that.

And spheres are more space-efficient than cubes. It's art. Everything doesn't have to be literally, technically accurate and efficient.