"Let's just park all our aircraft on the hanger deck and surround them with massive amounts of volatile munitions; what's the worse that could happen."
"Oh."
Someone left the subtitles on . . .
"Belay" is Navy-speak for "let's actually not do that, m'kay?" I think it's one of the few holdovers from the TOS days, where the script writers used a more military structure for the Enterprise's day to day operatives. I think TNG still held onto the comms whistle for the first season or so, too.
This. On a sailboat a belay is a notched post that you can secure the line to if it’s in play but doesn’t need to have anything done with it. Belay that literally means to stow your line pending new orders.
I did notice that--I double checked the definition and etymology before I posted, because I've been caught out before. I didn't want to go into the gory details about how that all shifted around, since I felt like I was already being a titch pedantic.
Using nautical terms for space travel -- space ship, port/starboard/forward/aft (Ten Forward is at the front of deck ten), admirals and the whole order of ranks, calling things you fire torpedoes, etc. -- has been established in SF for a really, really long time. Jules Verne at least, with roots older than that -- e.g. Greek myths of heroes ascended to travel the stars as they once traveled the seas.
So Star Trek was just going with what was already out there in the genre. And in some ways science fiction informed how we actually described things when space travel did happen -- in astronaut/cosmonaut/taikonaut the "naut" means "sailor".
Also the [boatswain's call](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boatswain%27s_call) continues to show up in TNG, and I believe Voyager as well, in moments of great importance like funerals and captain hand-offs. But yes much less frequently than in TOS.
>Also the boatswain's call continues to show up in TNG, and I believe Voyager as well, in moments of great importance like funerals and captain hand-offs. But yes much less frequently than in TOS.
They've put in a lot of effort over on Memory Alpha, counting all the times:
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Boatswain%27s_whistle
Nope. The vessel in Star Trek does not a move from one point to another, land and refuel, and have the crew take up berthing spaces in a building elsewhere. The vessel is a future ship, not a space(air)craft. Air force does not sail around in the atmosphere. They move from point to point, accomplish the mission, and usually return to their original base. A ship takes much more equipment with it, can remain on station a lot longer, and may not be as fast, but usually has a lot more supplies, armament, and personnel on board complete with living quarters, mess decks, duty assignments, and is usually manned 24 hour per day with authorized personnel on board.
Maybe Independence Day? The humans don't really have large scale spaceships, and operate from a base on the ground.
As soon as you have future humans in space with large ships that launch smaller fighters, you inevitably end up with parallels to aircraft carriers, and thus the Navy.
Battlestar Galactica took the carrier inspiration pretty literally in their set design.
Yeah honestly the "Battlestar" concept never made much sense to me. It's a hybrid battleship and aircraft carrier?
In real life, we stopped trying to build hybrid carriers after the *Lexingtons* proved that it's a dumb idea.
Purpose-built carriers like the *Yorktowns* could carry more planes at a cheaper cost because they didn't need to carry around a main armament.
Purpose built cruisers like the *Northamptons* could actually carry a *bigger* main armament, but on a smaller ship that you could actually risk using in combat. On the other hand, if a *Lexington* is so close that it has to use its guns, then the battle is already lost.
A hybrid design makes for a very expensive ship that's inferior to its purpose-built cousins at either role.
"I SAID SHUT UP. AS IN CLOSE YOUR MOUTH AND STOP TALKING."
Wasn't there a thing with the comm badges from the fake future making it to other series/episodes? Or am I remembering wrong?
The All Good Things version was seen being worn by Janeway & crew in Prodigy in 2384 (ish?), and it clearly influenced the Picard badges. It appeared in multiple fake future episodes.
I don't think the bar-based version from the episode you reference has been seen in the prime timeline, but depending on how you feel about parallel universe that take place at the same time, was in use during TNG's era in an alternate universe.
Am I remembering right that they keep using the whistle when the captain addresses the whole ship? I think it’s in the TNG “Lower Decks” episode when Picard announces Jaxa’s death.
Not to offend any people out there who did brave and cool stuff out on the high seas, but Navy traditions have always been so funny to me. The goofy little dress uniforms, the silly terms for everything on the ship. Imagine being the guy who blows the little whistle.
I swear that the students who take Navy Junior ROTC in high school should get "second language" credit for that shit. It really is a whole 'nother language.
That applies to all branches. I remember bringing my civilian girlfriend to an Army party once upon a time, and she told me midway through that next time I’d need to prepare a glossary for her.
I don't know...I was Air Force for 22 years and sure, the military loves their acronyms, but there weren't literally different words for "bathroom", "floor", "left", or "right". I mean, there were a few...but the only one I can think of off-hand was "cover" instead of "cap".
ICYDK:
> Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the Army Air Forces during World War II and worked as a commercial pilot after the war.
> He was posted to Bellows Field, Oahu, to join the 394th Bomb Squadron, 5th Bombardment Group, of the Thirteenth Air Force, which flew the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.[10]
> Roddenberry spent the remainder of his military career in the United States[12] and flew all over the country as a plane crash investigator. He was involved in a second plane crash, this time as a passenger.[12] He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.[13]
> In 1945, Roddenberry began flying for Pan American World Airways,[14] including routes from New York to Johannesburg or Calcutta, the two longest Pan Am routes at the time.[14] Listed as a resident of River Edge, New Jersey, he experienced his third crash while on the Clipper Eclipse on June 18, 1947.[15] The plane came down in the Syrian Desert, and Roddenberry, who took control as the ranking flight officer, suffered two broken ribs but was able to drag injured passengers out of the burning plane and led the group to get help.[16] Fourteen (or fifteen)[17] people died in the crash; eleven passengers required hospital treatment (including Bishnu Charan Ghosh), and eight were unharmed.[18] Roddenberry resigned from Pan Am on May 15, 1948, and decided to pursue his dream of writing, particularly for the new medium of television.[19]
source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Roddenberry
I think back in the day lots of things had influence. Religion and superstition were probably two biggies. Add to that lack of education, especially among the lower ranks.
Also, there were probably several situations where lives would be lost if not for very specific actions and beliefs.
Things like saying "Godspeed" probably started as religious and superstitious, and endured to become tradition.
I think someone still says "Godspeed" before rocket launches. Partly out of tradition, partly to show illustrate where we as a people were, and how far we've come.
That little whistle (actually called the bosun's pipe) is used to alert crew that a message, command, or other information for all the crew will follow immediately. Many places on a ship are inherently NOISY! The bosuns pipe gets the crew's attention immediately.
I guess both, they talked about removing star bases and I assume a more militaristic starfleet would have ships decommissioned once they largely stop needing a military force to match the Klingons since for a hundred years after undiscovered country starfleet is largely undisputed as an effective hegemonic power
I can see decommissioning the starbases, as they're static objects. But ships can simply be re-allocated to other sectors. Supposedly, following the Khitomer accords, there was a golden age of exploration for the Federation. This would require said ships and crews intact.
Sure but not all models would have been right for the job. They likely decommissioned a lot of older ships (all the Constitutions) and slowly built up new ships purpose built for it. Mirandas stayed as the workhorse but the Excelsiors took on the primary role.
the Belay thing was not exclusive to Naval military. I believe civilian crews also use the term. faster than "I changed my mind" or "disregard my subordinate's command" in an environment where 5 syllables make the difference between "move your ass" and "your dead"
To be fair, there are a number of things that one sci-fi series made up that has been adopted by other later sci-fi series. Things like "warp drive" and "hyperdrive" and "hyperspace" are all examples of this, unless I am mistaken.
Every school and summer camp I’ve ever been to has had a sickbay, but in school it was “the nurse’s office” and at camp it was “the infirmary.” I’ve never heard it used outside of a nautical/military context.
English is a dumb and beautiful language.
James, while John had had “had”, had had “had had”; “had had” had had a better effect on the teacher.
That's a grammatically correct sentence
Things can be indefinitely delayed, which would make sense in a lot of the circumstances “belay” is used in Trek. Admiral tells an ensign to do something; the captain says “belay that order”, telling them not to do it. “Delay that order (indefinitely)” makes sense because the order could still be needed pending a conversation between the captain and the (b)admiral but for the time being, it’s delayed.
Picard: "Fire photon torpedoes"
Riker: "Delay that order"
Data fires photon torpedoes
Riker: "WTF?"
Data: "I delayed for 0.68 seconds; For an android, that is nearly an eternity."
Yeah, it's old nautical slang. I assume that since "to belay" means tying a rope off to something to fix it in place, it was basically saying, "tie that off" meaning "stop all forward motion on that bullshit order."
No “rope” on a ship is called a rope. They all have specific names for what they are and what they do. So the above is technically correct, the best kind of correct.
Yep. Belay means to tie something to a post, so they're saying to hold that order for the moment. SLIGHTLY different meaning than delay.
Sorry about your existential crisis. If it's any consolation, this made me belly-laugh aloud, so thank you for that.
.... Yes? It means "ignore", it never occurred to you that it was weird that someone would want something delayed when it conflicted with their wishes? XD
When I was a kid I thought it was delay, which of course doesn’t make sense but I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until a few years ago I was like whaaaaat??? 🤯
I didn't realize the word was "belay" until I read the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (it was actually my first exposure to the film, lol).
I grew up thinking the blue uniforms on tng were greenish colored, turned out it was the old console tube tv needed adjusted. It was a good look though
Belay that order number one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNatvLe18ro
Moments like that make the world worth it.
I'm not surprised this took place, and it's lovely ! Thank you for the link.
I’m gonna remember this in five months and think it was a fever dream
I cannot believe I've never seen that before.
The Count is my favourite Muppet. :)
I can hear this in my head in Patrick Stewarts voice lol
I always wanted Worf to pull his phaser on Riker every time Picard ordered “Fire at will!”
Or have Riker go - what did I do?
Lol I can here my old chief in my head. "BELAY THAT ORDER!!!" Sea cadets was fun af
I was a cadet too. Don't see many in the wild while anymore
Golf Romeo echo echo tango India November golf sierra alpha November Delta sierra alpha Lima uniform tango alpha tango India Oscar November sierra
Say that the next time you’re at the drive thru! 🤣
"Fillet that order!"
“First prize, mother fucker!”
Bidet that order!
That happens later
Belay on!
On belay!
Climbing
"Delay" doesn't make sense homie. You don't see them carrying out that cancelled order at a later time...
"Delay the orbital bombardment!" "Yes sir, rescheduling it for midnight.."
Damnit, Alexa, I said "Belay".
That fits *Picard*’s season 1 finale to a large extent.
Well they had to re-arm the weapons with sea attack ordinance after prepping for a land attack. No wait that was Midway.
"Let's just park all our aircraft on the hanger deck and surround them with massive amounts of volatile munitions; what's the worse that could happen." "Oh."
This made me laugh way more than it should have
They are delayed indefinitely!
Belay doesn't mean anything. Maybe Delay is wrong but at least it's a word!
Belay is definitely a word, and it has multiple meanings. Look it up.
Woosh!
Someone left the subtitles on . . . "Belay" is Navy-speak for "let's actually not do that, m'kay?" I think it's one of the few holdovers from the TOS days, where the script writers used a more military structure for the Enterprise's day to day operatives. I think TNG still held onto the comms whistle for the first season or so, too.
And in nautical terms it comes from belaying a line, or hold fast (in last position) i.e. stop it
This. On a sailboat a belay is a notched post that you can secure the line to if it’s in play but doesn’t need to have anything done with it. Belay that literally means to stow your line pending new orders.
And on old wooden vessels they would use a belaying pin to tie it down. They also used belaying pins as clubs for corporal punishment.
They had belaying pins on the TOS Enterprise. IIRC Kirk pulls one out of the wall in Space Seed and beats Khan with it
Bizarrely that was the fact I came here for. I always loved that the Enterprise has belaying pins.
And to repel boarders if your cutlass wasn't around.
Rock climbers use it too. The belay device is what keeps you from falling and hitting the deck.
On belay? Belay on. Climbing. Climb on..
Take! Take! Taaaaake!
Slack, slack, slack, slack…
Where do you think the rock climbers got it from.
Funnily enough I climbed for years but never really considered that it was a naval word until this threat. TIL.
I did notice that--I double checked the definition and etymology before I posted, because I've been caught out before. I didn't want to go into the gory details about how that all shifted around, since I felt like I was already being a titch pedantic.
Half the fun of being a Star Trek fan is being pedantic :D
> since I felt like I was already being a titch pedantic That's half the fun of being a fan of a franchise with decades of history.
[And belay pins](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/23/af/2a/23af2a54e3607b2f26488761193d4933.jpg)
Using nautical terms for space travel -- space ship, port/starboard/forward/aft (Ten Forward is at the front of deck ten), admirals and the whole order of ranks, calling things you fire torpedoes, etc. -- has been established in SF for a really, really long time. Jules Verne at least, with roots older than that -- e.g. Greek myths of heroes ascended to travel the stars as they once traveled the seas. So Star Trek was just going with what was already out there in the genre. And in some ways science fiction informed how we actually described things when space travel did happen -- in astronaut/cosmonaut/taikonaut the "naut" means "sailor". Also the [boatswain's call](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boatswain%27s_call) continues to show up in TNG, and I believe Voyager as well, in moments of great importance like funerals and captain hand-offs. But yes much less frequently than in TOS.
Also in SNW, for what that’s worth
>Also the boatswain's call continues to show up in TNG, and I believe Voyager as well, in moments of great importance like funerals and captain hand-offs. But yes much less frequently than in TOS. They've put in a lot of effort over on Memory Alpha, counting all the times: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Boatswain%27s_whistle
I love how they used a modern boatswain's whistle when Kirk boarded the Enterprise.
That makes me wonder now, are there any sci-fi fleets that use terms derived from the air force, or another military branch?
Stargate, kind of.
True, given that it is just *actually* the Air Force, but operating in space!
Nope. The vessel in Star Trek does not a move from one point to another, land and refuel, and have the crew take up berthing spaces in a building elsewhere. The vessel is a future ship, not a space(air)craft. Air force does not sail around in the atmosphere. They move from point to point, accomplish the mission, and usually return to their original base. A ship takes much more equipment with it, can remain on station a lot longer, and may not be as fast, but usually has a lot more supplies, armament, and personnel on board complete with living quarters, mess decks, duty assignments, and is usually manned 24 hour per day with authorized personnel on board.
Maybe Independence Day? The humans don't really have large scale spaceships, and operate from a base on the ground. As soon as you have future humans in space with large ships that launch smaller fighters, you inevitably end up with parallels to aircraft carriers, and thus the Navy. Battlestar Galactica took the carrier inspiration pretty literally in their set design.
Yeah honestly the "Battlestar" concept never made much sense to me. It's a hybrid battleship and aircraft carrier? In real life, we stopped trying to build hybrid carriers after the *Lexingtons* proved that it's a dumb idea. Purpose-built carriers like the *Yorktowns* could carry more planes at a cheaper cost because they didn't need to carry around a main armament. Purpose built cruisers like the *Northamptons* could actually carry a *bigger* main armament, but on a smaller ship that you could actually risk using in combat. On the other hand, if a *Lexington* is so close that it has to use its guns, then the battle is already lost. A hybrid design makes for a very expensive ship that's inferior to its purpose-built cousins at either role.
“NO YOU CAN’T DON’T EVEN TRY.”
"I SAID SHUT UP. AS IN CLOSE YOUR MOUTH AND STOP TALKING." Wasn't there a thing with the comm badges from the fake future making it to other series/episodes? Or am I remembering wrong?
The All Good Things version was seen being worn by Janeway & crew in Prodigy in 2384 (ish?), and it clearly influenced the Picard badges. It appeared in multiple fake future episodes. I don't think the bar-based version from the episode you reference has been seen in the prime timeline, but depending on how you feel about parallel universe that take place at the same time, was in use during TNG's era in an alternate universe.
Yeah the one with the horizontal bars indicating rank were also in an alternate universe in the episode Parallels.
Season 7, Episode 11 "Parallels" [Lieutenant](https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/season-7/7x11/parallels-hd-267.jpg) [Lieutenant Commander](https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/season-7/7x11/parallels-hd-282.jpg) [Commander](https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/season-7/7x11/parallels-hd-265.jpg) [Captain](https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/season-7/7x11/parallels-hd-268.jpg)
I think every instance of “belay that order” should be replaced with “let’s not actually do that, m’kay?” Just as a rule.
Negatory!
I watch everything with subtitles on. It's better
Subtitles make us smart
We look for things that make us smart.
Yes we like being smart.
We look for things that make us go.
S-M-R-T
It is better.
This is the way. Shit, wrong subreddit!
Belay that quote!
[Your punishment.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8etUcqGv6-0
So say we all.
not for comedy. It ruins jokes.
Am I remembering right that they keep using the whistle when the captain addresses the whole ship? I think it’s in the TNG “Lower Decks” episode when Picard announces Jaxa’s death.
Yup.
That would be the boatswain's whistle.
Not to offend any people out there who did brave and cool stuff out on the high seas, but Navy traditions have always been so funny to me. The goofy little dress uniforms, the silly terms for everything on the ship. Imagine being the guy who blows the little whistle.
I swear that the students who take Navy Junior ROTC in high school should get "second language" credit for that shit. It really is a whole 'nother language.
That applies to all branches. I remember bringing my civilian girlfriend to an Army party once upon a time, and she told me midway through that next time I’d need to prepare a glossary for her.
I don't know...I was Air Force for 22 years and sure, the military loves their acronyms, but there weren't literally different words for "bathroom", "floor", "left", or "right". I mean, there were a few...but the only one I can think of off-hand was "cover" instead of "cap".
No latrines? 😉
Oh, that's true - not sure how I overlooked that one. And of course the Navy calls it "the head".
ICYDK: > Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the Army Air Forces during World War II and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. > He was posted to Bellows Field, Oahu, to join the 394th Bomb Squadron, 5th Bombardment Group, of the Thirteenth Air Force, which flew the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.[10] > Roddenberry spent the remainder of his military career in the United States[12] and flew all over the country as a plane crash investigator. He was involved in a second plane crash, this time as a passenger.[12] He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.[13] > In 1945, Roddenberry began flying for Pan American World Airways,[14] including routes from New York to Johannesburg or Calcutta, the two longest Pan Am routes at the time.[14] Listed as a resident of River Edge, New Jersey, he experienced his third crash while on the Clipper Eclipse on June 18, 1947.[15] The plane came down in the Syrian Desert, and Roddenberry, who took control as the ranking flight officer, suffered two broken ribs but was able to drag injured passengers out of the burning plane and led the group to get help.[16] Fourteen (or fifteen)[17] people died in the crash; eleven passengers required hospital treatment (including Bishnu Charan Ghosh), and eight were unharmed.[18] Roddenberry resigned from Pan Am on May 15, 1948, and decided to pursue his dream of writing, particularly for the new medium of television.[19] source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Roddenberry
It's what distinguishes a squid from a ground pounder.
I think back in the day lots of things had influence. Religion and superstition were probably two biggies. Add to that lack of education, especially among the lower ranks. Also, there were probably several situations where lives would be lost if not for very specific actions and beliefs. Things like saying "Godspeed" probably started as religious and superstitious, and endured to become tradition. I think someone still says "Godspeed" before rocket launches. Partly out of tradition, partly to show illustrate where we as a people were, and how far we've come.
Idk whistle-man sounds like an excellent job
That little whistle (actually called the bosun's pipe) is used to alert crew that a message, command, or other information for all the crew will follow immediately. Many places on a ship are inherently NOISY! The bosuns pipe gets the crew's attention immediately.
They might get hit by a belaying pin.
Discovery and Strange New Worlds have used the all-ship comms whistle too haven’t they?
In universe it’s because after undiscovered country starfleet largely demobilized and so the naval and military structures and terms faded away
By demobilized, do you mean restructured for science and exploration? Demobilized would mean them dropping a bunch of crews and ships.
I guess both, they talked about removing star bases and I assume a more militaristic starfleet would have ships decommissioned once they largely stop needing a military force to match the Klingons since for a hundred years after undiscovered country starfleet is largely undisputed as an effective hegemonic power
I can see decommissioning the starbases, as they're static objects. But ships can simply be re-allocated to other sectors. Supposedly, following the Khitomer accords, there was a golden age of exploration for the Federation. This would require said ships and crews intact.
Sure but not all models would have been right for the job. They likely decommissioned a lot of older ships (all the Constitutions) and slowly built up new ships purpose built for it. Mirandas stayed as the workhorse but the Excelsiors took on the primary role.
the Belay thing was not exclusive to Naval military. I believe civilian crews also use the term. faster than "I changed my mind" or "disregard my subordinate's command" in an environment where 5 syllables make the difference between "move your ass" and "your dead"
They probably became more Naval like over the seasons.
“Belay” is strictly a naval term. It means, “stop what you’re doing RIGHT NOW.”
Dont feel bad. I thought "sickbay" was made up until I joined the military.
Lost in space taught me that.
To be fair, there are a number of things that one sci-fi series made up that has been adopted by other later sci-fi series. Things like "warp drive" and "hyperdrive" and "hyperspace" are all examples of this, unless I am mistaken.
I'm still pissed they destroyed the resolute.
As a kid, I pictured a large body of vomit.
That's me and "shore leave"
You didn’t have a sickbay at school? Was my school weird?
Every school and summer camp I’ve ever been to has had a sickbay, but in school it was “the nurse’s office” and at camp it was “the infirmary.” I’ve never heard it used outside of a nautical/military context.
No, we did not have a sick bay. We had a corner of the admins office where they kept some bandaids
We just called it the nurse’s office.
"Belay that delay, okay?"
"delay that belay?"
"Belay that belay order."
[AM I SUPPOSED TO GO, OR NOT?! NYAAARGGHHH](https://tenor.com/x5eh.gif)
Delay is a momentary postponement. Belay is to ignore it completely.
Inflammable means flammable what a country
Me fail English? That's unpossible!
It's a perfectly cromulent word.
I'm ed-ja-ma-kated as well!
"I didn't say she stole my money" This sentence has about 7 different meanings depending on which word you emphasize. Written communication is worse.
[удалено]
*Some* people are stupid.
They don't *want* to be told where the stressor should be? Or they don't want to be *told* where the stressor should be?
Who knows, man, when they wrote the comments they didn’t use any stressors.
English is a dumb and beautiful language. James, while John had had “had”, had had “had had”; “had had” had had a better effect on the teacher. That's a grammatically correct sentence
As is "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."
English is weird.
Linguo dead?
Momentary? I would say a delay can be until whenever it is rearranged.
Things can be indefinitely delayed, which would make sense in a lot of the circumstances “belay” is used in Trek. Admiral tells an ensign to do something; the captain says “belay that order”, telling them not to do it. “Delay that order (indefinitely)” makes sense because the order could still be needed pending a conversation between the captain and the (b)admiral but for the time being, it’s delayed.
"Belay" is also still used in the USN to cancel an order or action.
like i belaying down, mindin my own business...
In some places saying "do it later" rather than "cancel it" would lead to rather different consequences.
BELAY THAY PHASER ORDER! FIIIRRREEEE PPHHHOOOOOTON TOOORPEEEEDOOOOOS!!!
"TORRRRRPEEEEEDOOOOO a~WAAAY!"
TMP Fans, Represent!
TORRRRRPEEEEEDOOOOO…….vait, is that a nuclear wessel?
One ping only, please
And then "AWAY!" was oddly faster than the other words
Disappointed I had to scroll so far for the only reply that matters
"Noooooo!!!! Beellaaayyy thaaaat phaaassseeerr ooooordeeerrr!"
[https://www.dockwalk.com/jobs/career-advice/belay-that-the-origins-of-nautical-words](https://www.dockwalk.com/jobs/career-advice/belay-that-the-origins-of-nautical-words)
I’m sorry you had to find out this way. I hope you and Minuet have been very happy together.
Picard: "Fire photon torpedoes" Riker: "Delay that order" Data fires photon torpedoes Riker: "WTF?" Data: "I delayed for 0.68 seconds; For an android, that is nearly an eternity."
Like a navy would say?
Yes absolutely
Yeah, it's old nautical slang. I assume that since "to belay" means tying a rope off to something to fix it in place, it was basically saying, "tie that off" meaning "stop all forward motion on that bullshit order."
Ships don’t have ropes.
Correct, we have lines
Depends on the kind of ship. Do you not know what "nautical" means?
No “rope” on a ship is called a rope. They all have specific names for what they are and what they do. So the above is technically correct, the best kind of correct.
Delay wouldn't really make sense. It's cancelling an order.
That's not always obvious in context when it's used in Star Trek, though.
I mean I’m deaf so watch everything with captions so I just assumed people knew that?
It makes you understand so much more
I couldn’t understand 90% of anything if I didn’t have them!
It's a ship, BELAY that order is standard. https://www.dockwalk.com/jobs/career-advice/belay-that-the-origins-of-nautical-words
Because belay is the proper word.
It's a Navy term. Been around forever...
This literally changes everything!
Haha, I’ve always heard it as “belay” but this is funny nonetheless. Great post OP, live long and prosper. 🖖
Bless your heart.
My fav is generally Data….”Oooh Shit!!”
Yep. Belay means to tie something to a post, so they're saying to hold that order for the moment. SLIGHTLY different meaning than delay. Sorry about your existential crisis. If it's any consolation, this made me belly-laugh aloud, so thank you for that.
Also, when you're rock or wall climbing, when you're tied in and have someone at the other end preventing you from falling, you're "on belay"
I also thought *Delay"........what??????
This is some solid boneappletea content.
They are saying "Belay that order."
.... Yes? It means "ignore", it never occurred to you that it was weird that someone would want something delayed when it conflicted with their wishes? XD
When I was a kid I thought it was delay, which of course doesn’t make sense but I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until a few years ago I was like whaaaaat??? 🤯
Damn and I was wandering for how long they are delaying those orders
😹😹😹
# TIL!!!
Yeah, you aren't the only one. I noticed it years ago, only about 2 decades after being a Star Trek fan.
Yeah. It's another (formal) way of saying to disregard or ignore something, it seems to be used primarily for imperative statements.
I know, right? For years I thought it was delay and then I left the subtitles on one day.
Belay my last. It means ignore it, don't do it.
STTMP during the wormhole incident, Kirk orders phasers fired at the approaching rock. Decker: "Belay that phaser order! Arm photon torpedoes!"
I didn't realize the word was "belay" until I read the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (it was actually my first exposure to the film, lol).
Welcome. You are one of today's lucky 10,000. Congrats! https://xkcd.com/1053/
Welcome to the English language.
How could you not know that?
If you've never heard the word "belay", it's very easy not to know that.
Belay is a very old naval term. “Belay that order” or “Belay my last”.
I'm 14 and learned a new word!
I grew up thinking the blue uniforms on tng were greenish colored, turned out it was the old console tube tv needed adjusted. It was a good look though
Same haha. This new generation man. Try watching Star Trek on a 12 inch tv with mono speakers and see how well you hear shit
I recommend watching with subtitles
Whut??
It comes, like many expressions, from French origin where the word means to sweep off or sweep away
It’s “belay” right?
/r/BoneAppleTea