That's not how McCoy got his nickname!

[Aragorn]

After his wife took everything in the divorce, McCoy had a brief stint as a pornstar, thus the nickname.

Or... Kirk found Bones in McCoy's collection of TV shows on DVD, and McCoy was embarrassed to admit he was a fan of the show, which is why the Bones box sets were hidden behind Gilmore Girls, Beverly Hills 90210, Saved by the Bell, One Tree Hill and Smallville.

 

[RoJoHen]

Nobody is denying, of course, that "Bones" came from "sawbones" on the original series.

But apparently we have a new, less dated explanation . . . .

(Honestly, I associate "sawbones" with old westerns.)

I guess I don't see why it can't be both.

 

[Nebula1400]

Stop saying that Kirk gave McCoy the nickname "Bones" from McCoy's line about his ex-wife. That's not why he has that nickname!



Not only does such a genesis for a nickname make no sense, "Hey when we first met you said your wife left you with your bones after the divorce. It was an off-the-cuff flippant remark and using it as a nickname will likely stir up painful memories of your divorce!"

No. His nickname is "Bones" from the term "sawbones" a slang-term for a surgreon!

Thanks for the reminder that Star Trek is all real life, and that there is a clear cut, absolute truth without variation that exists there.

My sister's nickname is Boo. What is the truth about how she got it? You probably don't know, because you weren't there when I uttered the sentence that started the nickname. You can only make assumptions about it, and chances are, you would be wrong.

Same thing holds for how Bones got his nickname. Your assumption, while an understandable one, was wrong.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Nobody is denying, of course, that "Bones" came from "sawbones" on the original series.

But apparently we have a new, less dated explanation . . . .

(Honestly, I associate "sawbones" with old westerns.)

Star Trek was as much as extension of old westerns ("space the final what now?") as it was of Napoleonic sea adventure and pulp SF.

I noted the new origin of the nickname and was somewhat bugged by it but I got over it real fast. I love this movie but I do not respect it and thus nothing it did really bugged me for long. However, there's stuff in the (imao) superior TMP and TWoK that still rankles decades after release.

(It's interesting, though, that McCoy's divorce is finally made official just as the behind-the-scenes origin of his nickname is altered.)

 

[Greg Cox]

Star Trek was as much as extension of old westerns ("space the final what now?") as it was of Napoleonic sea adventure and pulp SF.

Exactly. And tv audiences in the sixties, when westerns were all over the tube, would have been very familiar with "sawbones," so no onscreen explanation was required.

That's not really the case anymore, so I think it was a bright idea to explain it away some other way. It was a practical storytelling decision.

Different century. Different audience. Different explanation.

(On a related note: Can you imagine any modern tv producer trying to pitch a new sf tv series as "WAGON TRAIN in space"? How times have changed! These days a saavy producer is more like to pitch a western as "STAR TREK in the old west!")

 

[Biggshow]

Nobody is denying, of course, that "Bones" came from "sawbones" on the original series.

But apparently we have a new, less dated explanation . . . .

(Honestly, I associate "sawbones" with old westerns.)

I guess I don't see why it can't be both.

Aw, dogonnit, sidewinder. You got to it first. Numb-Tongue, being a well-read, genius-level, multi-offender, could be referencing both.

 

[superdeluxe]

Stop saying that Kirk gave McCoy the nickname "Bones" from McCoy's line about his ex-wife. That's not why he has that nickname!



Not only does such a genesis for a nickname make no sense, "Hey when we first met you said your wife left you with your bones after the divorce. It was an off-the-cuff flippant remark and using it as a nickname will likely stir up painful memories of your divorce!"

No. His nickname is "Bones" from the term "sawbones" a slang-term for a surgreon!

That is how Mccoy got his nickname, How do we know? Because it happened in the movie.

 

[superdeluxe]

Considering it was in an interview with Gene Roddenberry that I learned the origin of Bones being from "sawbones", I'd say that trumps anything Abrams/Orci/Kurtzman say in this movie.

No.

 

[Nebula1400]

Star Trek was as much as extension of old westerns ("space the final what now?") as it was of Napoleonic sea adventure and pulp SF.

Exactly. And tv audiences in the sixties, when westerns were all over the tube, would have been very familiar with "sawbones," so no onscreen explanation was required.

That's not really the case anymore, so I think it was a bright idea to explain it away some other way. It was a practical storytelling decision.

Different century. Different audience. Different explanation.

(On a related note: Can you imagine any modern tv producer trying to pitch a new sf tv series as "WAGON TRAIN in space"? How times have changed! These days a saavy producer is more like to pitch a western as "STAR TREK in the old west!")

It didn't work too well for "Firefly" (A space western?) and that series was awesome!

 

[Kirk's_Tights]

I realy don't understand why some people get angry over this sort of thing.


This Star Trek movie is Abram's own vision of what happened. It doesn't all have to be perfect with the original, it's just him telling a story from his point of view.

 

[shapeshifter]

Not in this universe.

This.

 

[commodore64]

Awww, I'm sorry. I know what you're going through. The nuSpock isn't my favorite, where oldSpock was my favorite character and got me interested in Star Trek and science fiction. We'll just have to realize there's Classic Trek canon and nuTrek canon, and that they don't match.

In this nuTrek, McCoy's name seems to have generated because his wife left him pretty much nothing except a flask.

 

[Shatmandu]

Stop saying that Kirk gave McCoy the nickname "Bones" from McCoy's line about his ex-wife. That's not why he has that nickname!

This is a simple fix:

Kirk doesn't remember or care about McCoy's ex-wife comment.

Kirk calls McCoy "Bones" because of the old slang for doctors, "sawbones."

Joe, answer man

 

[Trekker4747]

You don't have to like it, and you can scream all day that he actually derived the name from an archaic nickname for a surgeon, but the fact is this is how McCoy got his nickname: "She took the whole damn planet in the divorce, and all she left me were my bones."

That's an interesting interpretation of the word "fact".

Indeed. However, what is more likely in this particular situation?


"McCoy, I remember when you told me that in your divorce, your wife left you nothing but your bones, so I'm going to start calling you Bones as a measure of empathy and affection."

- or -

"McCoy, I'm a big fan of ancient military vernacular, and I think you should be given the nickname of Sawbones, which I will shorten to "Bones", because military surgeons of the day, (that being several decades before the Civil War of the United States), used that name."

J.

Really, neither makes much sense.

And, as said, Roddenberry told us where "Bones" came from. That counts more to me than some throw-away line in a movie that might be infered as being the genesis of the nickname.

 

[Plum]

Stop saying that Kirk gave McCoy the nickname "Bones" from McCoy's line about his ex-wife. That's not why he has that nickname!



Not only does such a genesis for a nickname make no sense, "Hey when we first met you said your wife left you with your bones after the divorce. It was an off-the-cuff flippant remark and using it as a nickname will likely stir up painful memories of your divorce!"

No. His nickname is "Bones" from the term "sawbones" a slang-term for a surgreon!

You're wrong, because the only canonical explanation ever given for this nickname is in this movie.

So that's why he has the nickname.

You can say that you don't like it, but you've got no grounds to say that your explanation is the "real one."

100% right and ... my Gods man! Your avatar! A reference to the new film?

And Kirk did once refer to Bones as 'Sawbones'. A Civil War reference, I believe. And no, not just in 'A Piece of the Action' episode.

But just thinking out loud - does this new origin, you know, fit our ole Bones? Sure. Dude, the first girlfriend of his we met was an alien vampire chick. Doctors! They always have a history, ya know?

 

[Daneel]

There's nothing in the movie that suggests the origin of the nickname can't come from both McCoy's comment about his ex-wife and the old term "sawbones". Maybe Kirk remembered McCoy's comment and decided that "Bones" would be a doubly appropriate nickname since he happens to be a doctor.

I really think you can have it both ways here.

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

His nickname is "Bones" from the term "sawbones" a slang-term for a surgreon!

In your world, you are completely and utterly correct.

In other words: Does it matter? It can be both at the same time. It could even have a third reason you don't yet know about.

 

[Brent]

That's an interesting interpretation of the word "fact".

Indeed. However, what is more likely in this particular situation?


"McCoy, I remember when you told me that in your divorce, your wife left you nothing but your bones, so I'm going to start calling you Bones as a measure of empathy and affection."

- or -

"McCoy, I'm a big fan of ancient military vernacular, and I think you should be given the nickname of Sawbones, which I will shorten to "Bones", because military surgeons of the day, (that being several decades before the Civil War of the United States), used that name."

J.

Really, neither makes much sense.

And, as said, Roddenberry told us where "Bones" came from. That counts more to me than some throw-away line in a movie that might be infered as being the genesis of the nickname.

i'm gonna go with what was said onscreen in the movie, unless they tell me differently in a future movie

 

[Trekker4747]

There's nothing in the movie that suggests the origin of the nickname can't come from both McCoy's comment about his ex-wife and the old term "sawbones". Maybe Kirk remembered McCoy's comment and decided that "Bones" would be a doubly appropriate nickname since he happens to be a doctor.

I really think you can have it both ways here.

It just strikes me as a really silly way to get a nickname.

"Hey, my mother just died and all I got from the inheretance were her bones!"

"I'm going to call you Bones!"

Makes as much sense.

Why give someone a nickname off a flippant, quick, comment they made over a painful situation that forced them into a whole new life?

But I guess it "more bothers me" that many are saying "OMG!!! We finally know why Kirk calls him Bones!!!"

Which makes me roll my eyes and say: "We ALREADY KNEW!"

It just strikes me as silly.

Given how much McCoy was rambling Kirk could've just as easily have nick'd him "Blood Boiler", "Flask", "Scruff." Why pick one flippant, quick, word out of a whole conversation?

I will say, though, that I loved the scene and it instantly sold me on Urban as McCoy.

i'm gonna go with what was said onscreen in the movie, unless they tell me differently in a future movie

Then show me where on screen it's said that Kirk comes up with that nickname based on this one, quick, rambling rant of a conversation?

I *might* give it to you if after McCoy said it Kirk said, "Well, Bones, it's nice to meet you. I'm Jim Kirk."

But that doesn't happen. Therefore, there's nothing in this conversation that tells us *for sure* that this is how McCoy got the nickname. So my theory (backed by the guy who created the character in the first place) is just as valid (if not a bit more so.) Since you're infering on a throw-away line that was probably more of a wink to the knowing audience than it was to be a genesis of a nickname.

 

[Brent]

Ok, like I said before, you can dislike the reasoning, but it is what it is now.