To "the" or not to "the"

[ColeMercury]

There's something a bit weird about how the people in each Star Trek series refer to their ships/stations which bugs me a little.

On TOS: the ship is always referred to as "the Enterprise". Other ships are likewise given a "the" before their name. Space stations are not, e.g. K-7, Spacedock.

On TNG: the ship is also always called "the Enterprise" or "the Enterprise-D". Other ships are also given a "the", and stations & starbases are not.

On DS9: the station is always referred to as "Deep Space Nine", no definite article. And their personal warship is always called "the Defiant".

So we have a basic standard: starships are given a "the" before their name, while space stations and other such stationary things are not. Seems straightforward. But now...

On VOY: the ship is always referred to as just "Voyager". It's never called "the Voyager" -- always just "Voyager".

On ENT: the ship is always referred to as just "Enterprise", never as "the Enterprise". Likewise, the second Warp-5 ship is always called "Columbia", and never "the Columbia".

I guess I'm just wondering why.

 

[JustKate]

That isn't just on Trek - you hear it out in Reality Land, too. It's just an oddity of English. Ships usually get the definite article (e.g., the USS Duluth, the Midway), but not always, bases usually do not (AFAIK). I grew up near George Air Force Base, which never got a "the" in front of it," but I worked for a while near the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, which always did.

It isn't consistent even where you'd think it would be, such as when referring to a very specific type of vehicle, such as the space shuttles. You hear about "the space shuttle Columbia," but you also hear simply "Columbia."

But if you try to make sense of English's rules for when to use an article and when not to and when to use or not use the definite article - not just in referring to ships but simply in general - you'll go mad, m-a-a-a-a-a-d! There are guidelines - I wouldn't go so far as to call them rules - but there are a lot of exceptions.

 

[Shatnertage]

I've heard "Enterprise" both ways...and I think I've heard people mention "the Voyager" on that show, too.

I don't know why.

 

[The Wormhole]

Tom Paris referred to the ship as The Voyager in one of the early episodes, Parallax I think. However, saying "the Voyager" just sounds weird, which I'm sure is why they dropped "The" and just called it "Voyager."

With Enterprise, my guess is they just dropped "The" as a means of making it different from the other Treks.

 

[Atticus]

The way they leave it out on Enterprise never sounds right to me.

 

[Jack Bauer]

I'm pretty sure that in the TOS movies the Enterprise was refered to several times as just Enterprise.

 

[ColeMercury]

I'm pretty sure that in the TOS movies the Enterprise was refered to several times as just Enterprise.

Well, whenever they're using the communicators it's always "Kirk to Enterprise" or whatever. But that's different.

 

[JustKate]

I forgot to mention that the guidelines governing the use of articles varies depending on what variety of English you speak. I don't know if it does for ships, but it does for some other things - for example, in U.S. English, we talk about somebody being "in the hospital," whereas in British English, it would be "in hospital."

 

[BlobVanDam]

Tom Paris referred to the ship as The Voyager in one of the early episodes, Parallax I think. However, saying "the Voyager" just sounds weird, which I'm sure is why they dropped "The" and just called it "Voyager."

With Enterprise, my guess is they just dropped "The" as a means of making it different from the other Treks.

I laughed when I heard Tom say "it's the Voyager!" in that episode. It's about the only time they call it that, and it does sound weird.
As I've been watching a lot of ENT lately, it doesn't sound weird to me when they don't use "the".

 

[Owain Taggart]

I think that it goes back to how they referred to ships as being female. It's military tradition as far as I know. I think it dates backs to the days of the tall ships. You'd often hear sailors say, "Treat her like a lady." They'd take care of their ships and treat them as living rather than being a mere object. Historically, they'd also be named after women.

I found this on Wikipedia:

Traditionally ships, even ships named after men such as USS Barry, countries, and oceans have been referred to using the feminine pronouns. The origins of this practice are not certain, and it is currently in decline (though still more common for ships, particularly in nautical usage, than for countries)

And there's more at this link:

http://www.wisegeek.com/why-are-boats-called-she.htm

http://www.ehow.com/about_4606761_why-boats-named-after-women.html

Interestingly enough, there are still things that we still ascribe feminine genders aside from boats, like cars for instance. We've all heard people say, "Ain't she a beaut?" when referring to cars, and it doesn't sound quite right when someone says, "Ain't it a beaut?" It ascribes more of a personality to the car this way. More to the point, it seems that we ascribe that to anything we really care about and put some extra care into. In other words, we often love them just as much as we love women, and I'm sure some often feel married to their boats.

 

[MLJames]

I'm pretty sure that in the TOS movies the Enterprise was refered to several times as just Enterprise.

Well, whenever they're using the communicators it's always "Kirk to Enterprise" or whatever. But that's different.

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least three times in the movies where the ship was referred to as just "Enterprise":

TMP -- Decker talking to the Ilia probe: "Enterprise would be unable to function without carbon units."

TWOK -- McCoy to Saavik inside Regula 1: "If Enterprise followed orders, she's long since gone."

TSFS -- Uhura to Spacedock: "Approach control, this is Enterprise. Ready for docking maneuver."

 

[Smellincoffee]

The direct use of "Enterprise", "Defiant", and "Voyager" seem..casual, familiar, informal. The Enterprise, or The Defiant, or The starship Voyager have a stronger, objective, "professional" feel. The use of both seems appropriate at various times, though "The Voyager" sounds silly and I would stick "starship" before it if using a definitive article.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least three times in the movies where the ship was referred to as just "Enterprise":

TMP -- Decker talking to the Ilia probe: "Enterprise would be unable to function without carbon units."

This one is understandable, as Ilia Probe is from V'Ger, which considers the Enterprise to be the same as it, and so is calling the ship by its name. You wouldn't say "The Barry would be unable to function without red blood cells".

As for the other two not sure about them.

Aside from Voyager all other ships suit the "the" in front of the name--especially the Enterprise, she is after all probably the most famous ship in the fleet. In ENT the lack of "the" annoyed me.

I also see in the DS9 relaunch books they seem to be dropping the "the" from the Defiant (this is getting confusing now).

 

[ColeMercury]

I think maybe the reason why "the Voyager" sounds silly to us is because we're not used to it. People have been saying just "Voyager" for the last 16 years, so that's what we're accustomed to -- meanwhile, people have been saying "the Enterprise" for almost 45 years now, which is why that sounds natural and people calling the NX-01 just "Enterprise" sounds stilted.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I think maybe the reason why "the Voyager" sounds silly to us is because we're not used to it. People have been saying just "Voyager" for the last 16 years, so that's what we're accustomed to -- meanwhile, people have been saying "the Enterprise" for almost 45 years now, which is why that sounds natural and people calling the NX-01 just "Enterprise" sounds stilted.

Good point. I'm sure the Royal Navy has used Defiant at some point. They've a knack for zesty names like Indefatigable and Superb.

 

[C.E. Evans]

On ENT: the ship is always referred to as just "Enterprise", never as "the Enterprise".

It's been referred to as "the Enterprise" in several episodes. In particular, "Shadows of P'Jem," "Dawn," and "Bounty." There are likely other instances in passing here and there in other episodes, but you gotta keep a sharp ear for 'em...

 

[Chaos Descending]

In the "real Navy", the correct way to refer to a ship is simply the ship name without the definite article, but in spoken casual conversation the definite article is usually used.

My printed orders said something like "When detached from NPTU CHARLESTON report to Nimitz CVN-68 NLT 08:00 on 1995-Jan-09", but I told my friends, "I got orders to the Nimitz".

So basically the various Star Trek incarnations accurately reflected way the "real Navy" did it.

 

[Gaith]

Good point. I'm sure the Royal Navy has used Defiant at some point. They've a knack for zesty names like Indefatigable and Superb.

The HMS Fabulous, OTOH, was less esteemed by members of the fleet.

 

[Anticitizen]

I'm pretty sure that in the TOS movies the Enterprise was refered to several times as just Enterprise.

Well, whenever they're using the communicators it's always "Kirk to Enterprise" or whatever. But that's different.

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least three times in the movies where the ship was referred to as just "Enterprise":

TMP -- Decker talking to the Ilia probe: "Enterprise would be unable to function without carbon units."

TWOK -- McCoy to Saavik inside Regula 1: "If Enterprise followed orders, she's long since gone."

TSFS -- Uhura to Spacedock: "Approach control, this is Enterprise. Ready for docking maneuver."

These are consistent in the fact that the subject in question is being addressed in a larger sense than the actual ship itself, but as a platform/system/whatever. Best exemplified by McCoy's usage - if he had said, 'If the Enterprise followed orders...' it would sound like the ship itself would be expected to follow orders; rather, he's speaking of the various officers and crew. Similarly, Decker's speaking of a system of ship and crew. Uhura's using the name like a callsign, to designate ship and crew (same with 'Kirk to Enterprise, Enterprise, do you read...')

 

[Forbin]

Good point. I'm sure the Royal Navy has used Defiant at some point. They've a knack for zesty names like Indefatigable and Superb.

The HMS Fabulous, OTOH, was less esteemed by members of the fleet.

And let's not forget that proud little sloop at the battle of Trafalgar, the HMS Pickle!