# Did this conversation ever happen in the Star Trek universe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [February 26, 2024, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094 "2024-02-26T09:28:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/101 "2024-03-01T21:17:19Z")
You mean pronounce solar to rhyme with dollar? I don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2024, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/102 "2024-03-01T21:39:53Z")
No, solar gets its standard pronunciation. But sol needn’t just be a sawed-off version of the same pronunciation. Just because solar has a long vowel doesn’t mean sol has to (“Patriots” —\> “Pats”). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/103 "2025-10-02T00:53:42Z")
Solar is “Sole-uhr”. Sol rhymes with “shawl”. All else is error (air-or). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/104 "2025-10-02T01:42:08Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > I would expect “sahl”, rhyming with “alcohol”. For me, _alcohol_ rhymes with “hall”/"haul\*. > [@markn\_1](#): > > None of them recognize “sohl” with a long O as a valid pronunciation. Which is the way I’ve always pronounced it. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/105 "2025-10-02T02:26:38Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > How do you like them apples, Assy McAssface, the Blehassolian from planet Asshole!? Strangely enough, this conversation did pretty much take place on Discovery: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/cVOT4xkkDAc/maxresdefault.jpg "I've never eaten a real apple") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVOT4xkkDAc) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/106 "2025-10-02T07:52:58Z")
> [@solost](#): > > **A** : (Alien laughter) What did you say you named your spaceship? Wait, let me guess-- “The Spaceship”. **SC:** No, it’s called The Enterprise **A:** So… like… ‘The _Project_’? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/107 "2025-10-02T09:23:27Z")
Earth is the substance things grow in; dirt is unwanted contamination you wash off. They aren’t really the same. Clothing gets dirty, not earthy. As far as translation and Universal Translator problems, it’s not the same setting but I recall how in the Sector General series their version of a universal translator rendered _every_ race’s name for itself as “human”. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/108 "2025-10-02T11:12:37Z")
I’ve always hated that when the enterprise is visiting a planet of the week, the people of that planet call their planet Rancon-4 or whatever. I mean, I guess that could be the universal translator translating a proper noun, and the federation would refer to the 4th planet of the rancon system that way, but it sound so awkward for the aliens to refer to their own planet that way. Certainly they’d never call it that themselves without a universal translator – every language would have a word for their home planet before they even knew they were a planet in a solar system, let alone which number. It just seemed like lazy writing to me that they couldn’t come up with home world names. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/109 "2025-10-02T11:34:46Z")
I have been puzzled by the assumption that the numbers would refer to the distance from the star. Sol I = Mercury Sol II = Venus Sol III = Earth It seems more likely to me that planets would be cataloged by date of discovery, and the larger ones would be discovered first. Sol I = Jupiter Sol II = Saturn Sol III = Uranus I started thinking about this when I read the novel of _Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan_, and I couldn’t figure out where Ceti Alpha V and Ceti Alpha VI were located. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/110 "2025-10-02T12:16:36Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > **SC:** No, it’s called The Enterprise > > **A:** So… like… ‘The _Project_’? Well, yes, but-- ummm…(consulting Personal Access Display Device) an especially difficult, complicated, or risky project! > **[Definition of ENTERPRISE](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enterprise)** > > a project or undertaking that is especially difficult, complicated, or risky; a unit of economic organization or activity; especially : a business organization; a systematic purposeful activity… See the full definition ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/111 "2025-10-02T13:54:16Z")
To me in the UK, the Martian day is a Sol, pronounced Soll. As in Costa del Sol, (Koster del Soll). As a comparison, Saul Goodman is pronounced Sawl Gudmun. Completely different. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/112 "2025-10-02T16:28:26Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Earth is the substance things grow in; dirt is unwanted contamination you wash off. They aren’t really the same. Clothing gets dirty, not earthy. Depends who you ask; A lot of Americans call soil (that I would call ‘earth’) ‘dirt’. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/113 "2025-10-02T17:51:38Z")
Soil and dirt can also mean feces. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/114 "2025-10-02T18:02:00Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > A lot of Americans call soil (that I would call ‘earth’) ‘dirt’. Yeah, we don’t differentiate. The word “soiled” means “dirty” or “tainted” or “ruined” after all; it doesn’t mean “great for growing things”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/115 "2025-10-02T18:24:17Z")
In British English (at least my dialect), soil and earth are synonymous (the material the ground is made of) but dirt is not. Dirt carries the specific connotation of uncleanliness or contamination. So even though soil or earth could be the thing that composes the ‘dirt’ contaminating an object (or the object might have some other kind of dirt such as oil or soot or food waste), we’d not normally say that we’re digging _dirt_ in the garden. Interestingly soiled means the same as dirty here, but earthy means something else (usually referring to a smell or taste, and not in a negative sense - for example root vegetables taste deliciously earthy) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/116 "2025-10-02T19:40:19Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Interestingly soiled means the same as dirty here, but earthy means something else (usually referring to a smell or taste, and not in a negative sense - for example root vegetables taste deliciously earthy) Same here, in the sense that “earthy” usually does not have negative connotations, and is a common culinary descriptor. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/117 "2025-10-02T20:39:07Z")
In my world, soul and /so:l/ are pronounced the same, despite the ‘u’. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/118 "2026-08-08T17:43:03Z")
To me, beets are “earthy”; i.e., they taste like dirt. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/119 "2026-08-08T18:05:00Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’ve met ESL speakers for whom I could determine the UK region where their English tutor had come from, because they had traces of Welsh or Mancunian accents etc When I was teaching English in Moscow, a teacher from Ireland was assigned a class of teenagers in an outlying district. When a Brit took over his lessons, he found all of the Russians were speaking English with an Irish accent. Another class taught by a Brit always said “In-jar” when referring to the country bordering Pakistan. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094/120 "2026-08-08T19:59:49Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > we’d not normally say that we’re digging _dirt_ in the garden. We wouldn’t? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-conversation-ever-happen-in-the-star-trek-universe/998094.md?page=7)