Casting Pike's Number One

[Nerys Myk]

No it isn't.

I don't recall hearing it prior to Star Trek.

 

[DaveyNY]

This discussion is going in circles. People can just reread my previous posts on the topic, I get tired of repeating myself.

... and we kinda got tired of hearing it...

 

[Kor]

According to JJ Abrams, Karl Urban ad-libbed the line about his bones. It wasn't even in the original script. That makes it even better, IMO.

Kor

 

[Longinus]

Which might mean you haven't done a good job supporting your position.

Convincing certain people that there ever could be anything worth criticising in Kelvin films is an impossible task. It's like some sort of a cult.

I don't recall hearing it prior to Star Trek.

http://www.word-detective.com/2009/10/bones-sawbones/

 

[fireproof78]

Convincing certain people that there ever could be anything worth criticising in Kelvin films is an impossible task. It's like some sort of a cult.

In my experience, the opposite is also true. I'm not saying the Kelvin films are above reproach (nope) but I'm struggling with why the line is so stupid. It makes sense in context, it makes sense as a possible reason why Kirk calls him Bones, and does nothing to undo TOS' origin of the term.

Whether it works as an addition is going to vary, but it is an addition not a subtraction.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Surgeons originally. Though I think using just "bones" might be original to Star Trek.

Well, in fairness, McCoy is a surgeon, chief surgeon.

As for the question of "bones" vs "sawbones," good question, but myself I have no idea.

ed - Thanks, @Longinus, for proving a citation answering that.

 

[Cyrus]

I thought he was called bones because he boned a lot.

 

[CorporalClegg]

According to JJ Abrams, Karl Urban ad-libbed the line about his bones. It wasn't even in the original script. That makes it even better, IMO.

Kor

And Urban was probably aware of the original usage of the word. I think the 'double entendre' (if that's what we want to call it) was completely intentional. It seems to fit right into his sense of humor. And, since he was already a fan of McCoy's, he probably felt it was the witty snip Bones would make himself.

It's such a nonissue.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Convincing certain people that there ever could be anything worth criticising in Kelvin films is an impossible task. It's like some sort of a cult.


http://www.word-detective.com/2009/10/bones-sawbones/

There are a lot reasons to criticize them, this isn't one of them though. It's just a different take on a nickname. As I mentioned, as a kid I thought it was because McCoy was thin. Made sense to me.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I think the 'double entendre' (if that's what we want to call it) was completely intentional.

I wasn't sure what to call it. "Pun" didn't seem right, either.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Either way it gets the point across.

 

[TrickyDickie]

McCoy is a Scots-Irish name.

"Bones" could be a reference to the Bone Caves:

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/geologyOfBritain/secretGeology/theBoneCaves.html

 

[XCV330]

McCoy is a Scots-Irish name.

"Bones" could be a reference to the Bone Caves:

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/geologyOfBritain/secretGeology/theBoneCaves.html

Somehow I doubt GR was thinking that hard about it when he named him McCoy

 

[Nerys Myk]

McCoy was an amateur paleontologist as a boy. The others kids called him "Bones" and the name stuck.

 

[Hythlodeus]

I thought McCoy was just an aficionado of early 21st century crime procedurals

 

[CorporalClegg]

I don't know what that means.

 

[Succubint]

McCoy had an unfortunate habit of getting inappropriate boners in class while being a post grad student in Med school. The name stuck...

 

[Hythlodeus]

I don't know what that means.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bones_(TV_series)

 

[CorporalClegg]

"I don't know what that means." was sort of Brennan's catch phrase.

***ETA I should add that she always said it in response to a pop culture reference.

 

[TrickyDickie]

Somehow I doubt GR was thinking that hard about it when he named him McCoy

I deliberately went in search of something for "extreme head-canon".