# What is cannon?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 25, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773 "2003-01-25T01:08:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DjPip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DjPip)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/1 "2003-01-25T01:08:42Z")
In startrek and starwars threads people go on about cannon,but what is it?đ
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### Author:  [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/2 "2003-01-25T01:16:55Z")
Canon ?
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/3 "2003-01-25T01:18:04Z")
Itâs just being used to indicate a particularly large, mounted gun/laser/phaser/whatever. I donât think theyâre referring to caisson-mounted muzzle-loading artillery. đ
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### Author:  [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/4 "2003-01-25T01:18:47Z")
What some people would like to shoot at George Lucas for ruining the **Star Wars** franchise?
Actually it is spelled [**canon**](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=canon) entry 5b
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### Author:  [@DjPip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DjPip)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/5 "2003-01-25T01:21:36Z")
Yeah canon my spelling is bad
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### Author:  [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/6 "2003-01-25T01:24:13Z")
Meaning the âofficialâ accepted storyline in this context.
Only complete geeks care about this.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/7 "2003-01-25T01:28:35Z")
Theyâre big, fluffy towels.
To quote MW:
> [@](#):
>
> 3 [Middle English, from Late Latin, from Latin, standard] a : an authoritative list of books accepted as Holy Scripture b : the authentic works of a writer c : a sanctioned or accepted group or body of related works \
When someone says something like âI donât care what the book says, the movies are canon.â(Usually said about SW), they mean that this is the accepted or ârealâ way the events happened.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/8 "2003-01-25T02:42:54Z")
A collection of antique artillery pieces, designed to fire heavy iron balls propelled by the rapid combustion of black powder.
Also, a television series from the 1970âs, starring William Conrad.
Why do you ask?
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/9 "2003-01-25T02:46:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by 5 time champ \*
> What some people would like to shoot at George Lucas for ruining the **Star Wars** franchise?
Yeah, that too â although I thought most fans would prefer to hack him to death with a light saber. Or at least [cut off one of his hands with one](http://members.tripod.com/~Adam_P_B/starwarshands/).
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### Author:  [@cleops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleops)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/10 "2003-01-25T03:51:41Z")
tracer, you made my day.
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/11 "2003-01-25T04:14:51Z")
Chopping Lucasâ hand off is punishment enough. Then weâll get him to make an Episode 1b, which will begin with Obi-Wan waking up and realizing that Episode 1 was just a dream. The movie will then give us a much better version of Anakinâs discovery, the problems on Naboo, etc. I actually liked Episode 2, so weâll leave that alone.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/12 "2003-01-25T04:22:05Z")
Woo hoo! I made somebodyâs day! (But I have to admit, I got the link to the chopped-off hands of Star Wars page from [The Uselessness of Star Wars](http://www.go2net.com/useless/useless/starwars.html).)
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/13 "2003-01-25T07:14:59Z")
An example of what is meant by canon: The producers of the _Star Trek_ television series and movies consider only characters and events from the several live-action _Star Trek_ television series and the theatrical motion pictures to be official, permanent parts of the _Star Trek_ world and ongoing storyline, i.e., âthe canonâ. The producers actually have consultants who keep track of Star Trek âhistoryâ so that scripts donât violate the canon.
On the other hand, characters and events that are only in the _Star Trek_ novels, comic books, and the old animated series are not official parts of the ongoing storyline, i.e., they are ânot canonâ.
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### Author:  [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/14 "2003-01-25T09:03:03Z")
Damn, I thought this was going to be a thread about Pachelbel.
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### Author:  [@Zweistein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zweistein)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/15 "2003-01-25T09:13:42Z")
or a make of photographic equipment. Nikon is better thou.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/16 "2003-01-25T16:10:33Z")
Yes, Nikon is Godlike.
But, Leica rules.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/17 "2003-01-25T20:48:28Z")
Itâs my favorite Monopoly token.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/18 "2003-01-26T00:10:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Walloon \*
> **The producers actually have consultants who keep track of Star Trek âhistoryâ so that scripts donât violate the canon.**
You coulda fooled **me!** _Star Trek_ is notorious for violating its own internal consistency whenever it would make for a good script. Look at the Borg queen in _ST: First Contact_, for example â the Borg were supposed to be a collective mind with no personal individuality, and now weâre being told that one person acts as a âqueenâ?!
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/19 "2003-01-26T00:46:39Z")
It should be noted that, generally, The Canon refers to the body of work that makes up Western literature\*: books/poems/plays that are universally recognized as being of artistic merit and having great cultural import. Exactly which books belong in the Canon and which donât is, of course, open to debate, but there are some writers who are an automatic shoe-in. Shakespeare, for example, or Homer.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cannon/150773/20 "2003-01-26T01:00:54Z")
Well, if you want to get pedantic about it, **Miller** , the term âCanonâ as used today derived from the Roman Catholic Churchâs use of the term to refer to those books that were officially considered Holy Scripture. And Iâm pretty sure the Catholics got the term from an even earlier religious source.
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