posted
I got to thinking the other night. . . we talk about "the Enterprise" or "the Defiant" but never "the Voyager." Sure, we don't always put a "the" in front - such as in "Sisko to Defiant." But we never say "the Voyager." Maybe we're just used to it by now, but all the same it just sounds so weird when you try.
So I decided to go through my shiplist and put "the" in front of every one. I quickly discovered that this was a) very boring, and b) the very the bloody the hard the to the stop.
Results were mixed. "The Bogue" sounds a bit odd, but mainly because it puts you in mind of some Roald Dahl monster. For a while I though it might be the "-er" sound, such as in "the Gander" or "the Steamrunner" - but "the Mayflower" and "the Stargazer" ruled that out.
Maybe it's better when you talk about several at once? Like "the Zapata and the Merrimac will be here in four hours?" Hmm. "The Nash and the Voyager are patrolling the Neutral Zone." No, still doesn't sound right.
It's not the fact it starts in a "v" - or any other letter, although I recommend NOT saying "the Zapata" out loud unless you want to clean your screen afterwards.
Oops, gotta go, there's another starship coming in - it's the The!
------------------ Luke Ford: "What's it like having a dick in your ass?"
Zoe: "Imagine taking your bottom lip and pulling it over the top of your head. You get used to it but it does hurt."
posted
I guess it's simply because voyager is such an ordinary word used elsewhere that it sounds like a description instead of a name, if you don't skip the THE.
Strange it is also if a ship would have a name in plural. "We're being hailed. It's the Thunderlips!"
You could also change the prefix.
"She's coming out of warp now. It's the USS Himmler. They're heiling us."
------------------ Here lies a toppled god, His fall was not a small one. We did but build his pedestal, A narrow and a tall one.
Actually, I think it only sounds weird because of six years of no "the". I noticed this a few years ago, but it only sounds strange at first. If I think about it for a moment, it doesn't sound so wrong. Unusual, yes, but not wrong...
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posted
"The" is rarely part of a ship's official name. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is a destroyer called "The Sullivans," named after 4 or 5 brothers that were killed on the same ship. So don't include "The" on any ship list. Whether to include "The" when the name is spoken or written seems to be a matter of style or custom. I usually prefer not to use "the."
------------------ When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
quote:"The Nash and the Voyager are patrolling the Neutral Zone."
Sounds a little better to me. But I guess certain names just don't sound right with the word 'the.' The Deep Space 9, but if you add the word project, making it a title, it sounds much better "The Deep Space 9 Project" or "The Voyager Project."
posted
A lot might also depend on how pompous the ship's captain is as a person. Of course the Enterprise would always be "the Enterprise" when Kirk or Picard speaks of her to aliens-of-the-week. A seasoned commander of a smaller ship would downplay that pomposity. And unfamiliarity would promote formality - when a new ship enters hailing range, she's always a "the" at first.
There's something of a pecking order in this, too. "Sisko to Gander" implies casual possessiveness, while "Sisko to the Odyssey" sounds more like a humble request to get the attention of a superior...
posted
Ooh, I wonder what Juan originally said about me, must have been really terrible to be edited out like that!
Relax, Masao, I'm messing with ya. I didn't really edit my ship list to put "the" in front of every name. All I'm doing is commenting on how weird it sounds to say "the Voyager."
------------------ Luke Ford: "What's it like having a dick in your ass?"
Zoe: "Imagine taking your bottom lip and pulling it over the top of your head. You get used to it but it does hurt."
posted
Ack! Philosophy alert! After all, in a sense we're all voyagers, voyagers through life. . . Therefore you can't have THE voyager because there's more than just one. . . oh, help, somebody stop me. . .
------------------ Luke Ford: "What's it like having a dick in your ass?"
Zoe: "Imagine taking your bottom lip and pulling it over the top of your head. You get used to it but it does hurt."
posted
Vogon, you read too much into things. Relax, guy! You need to take a rest. Maybe you should go outside, get some sun in your eyes! I hear it's healthy.
------------------ Here lies a toppled god, His fall was not a small one. We did but build his pedestal, A narrow and a tall one.
posted
I recall there being at least one instance of "The Voyager" being used in an episode. It was in the first season of Voyager and it involved the ship encountering another ship trapped in a singularity and discovered that that ship was Voyager.
Anyway, the scene went like this: They managed to clear up the fuzzy image of the singularity and the ship on the viewscreen. It's an Intrepid-class ship. Paris jumps up and looks back at the captain and says, "It's the Voyager!"
I have to agree that saying the Voyager does sound a bit odd to the ears. I have no idea why, but I don't think it's from all the years of not hearing it. Before the show came out, I remember thinking to myself that the Voyager sounded odd.
------------------ 694 consecutive rejections by women since January 1993.
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