A puzzle clue should evoke the answer, but, as Bear_Nenno guessed, there are certain conventions involved. One of the most basic such rules is that the clue should indicate the part of speech of the answer. For instance, you can’t use a noun to clue an adjective, unless you say “Like a …” “Resistance is futile” is a slogan; “Borg” is a [that was my question: a group of beings?]. If you wanted to use the “Resistance is futile” idea, you’d have to say something like “Resistance to them is futile” or "Their motto is, `Resistance is futile,’ " with the “them” or “their” serving to indicate that you’re referring to a [whatever the hell they are: collectivity?]
Since no one’s actually explained what the Borg are, I’ll thumbnail it.
The Borg are organic/mechanical beings (the species name is formed from the word “cyborg,” cybernetic organism). Each Borg “drone” is part of a vaster “collective” or hive mind. In their initial appearances in Next Generation, they were interested in assimilating technology. In later appearances they assimilated both technology and organisms. Notably, the Borg assimilated Jean-Luc Picard to use him as a liaison to facilitate the assimilation of the human species. He was of course recovered and restored to humanity.
The Borg featured heavily in Voyager, to the point where a Borg drone, Seven of Nine, was severed from the collective.
I won’t get into a discussion of the travesties that Voyager did to the Borg concept, althugh others are certainly welcome to chime in.
As for a non-Bjorn clue, how about “Cy- and Sweden- to name two”?
and I’ve been a fan since the late 1960’s when, while I was a nipper. Kaiser Broadcasting, based in Ohio, was the first channel to syndicate the original series.
I’m guessing Cartooniverse was teasing (threatening?) me, since clearly I’m the only one who has no idea what she’s talking about in this thread. Well, other than with how clues work – I’m good on that.
I’m starting to get confused again – according to what FilmGeek and a couple of others have said, in the Star Trek universe, there’s no such word as “Borgs.” Is that correct or not? The word I have to write a clue for is “Borgs,” so I went back to “Bjorn et al.” Is it possible to have more than one Borg? Is it like sheep, where the singular and the plural is the same? Or like gravity or karma, where there basically is no meaningful plural?
(The only version I watched regulary was the original series, which we used to watch every afternoon in college, in the mid-'70s.)
A Borg. Although one is more likely to say “a drone” than “a Borg.”
Two Borg. Although again, “two drones” is more likely.
The Borg. Collectively refers to the species.
The Borg introduce themselves, when about to launch an attack of assimilation, with the line “We are the Borg.” When a specific drone is speaking, it will say “We are Borg.” There was a Next Gen episode in which a drone was temporariliy separated from the collective and an individual identity emerged, which was revealed when he began referring to himself as “I.” When Seven of Nine was severed from the collective in Voyager, she almost immediately began referring to herself as “I” and also continued to identify as Borg by saying “I am Borg.”
