The Reeds and the Royal Navy

[Mr Smith]

Very true. At first I'd thought DK's "very cultured RP" accent as Malcolm was due to Malcolm's upbringing as the son of a Royal Navy Officer. That would make sense in terms of the character. And if Malcolm had attended public school somewhere (I'm sure Stuart Reed would have sent him somewhere like Sandhurst maybe).

And about the Welsh accent...I love how flowing and musical it is. Sir Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Gareth Lloyd-Davies come to mind. My advisor in graduate school was a Welshman (from Cardiff). He had a long poem from "Beowulf" in his office written in Welsh and he recited it for me.

Then I looked through a Welsh grammar and promptly went

I love Welsh accents as well, may in fact be my favourite British Isles accent, though I couldn't tell you why. It does have a certain lyrical quality, though, but then again I'm obsessed with German because I feel it has lyrical qualities, and many people have often disagreed with me.

I agree that Stuart probably sent Malcolm to a public school, even if I really, really don't want to believe it because I hope in Gene Roddeberry's idyllic future the barbaric practice of sending children away to boarding school has been abolished (even if I know some private schools aren't boarding schools, in Britain at least I think the majority are?). Maybe I can imagine the quality education is there without the horrible boarding practices and the children get to live at home. Or I can explain it away by remembering Enterprise was set before Gene Roddenberry's original vision so maybe some of society's failures still needed to be phased out.

Though, speaking of Sandhurst, does it ever strike anyone else as odd that a war-free, famine-free united Earth has a (apparently active) British Royal Navy? I can see retaining the institution, but... what would its purpose be? A precaution? A glorified coast guard? Maybe Britain's just real trigger happy and a little too fond of our boats and submarines.

[ladyrainbow]

I agree that Stuart probably sent Malcolm to a public school, even if I really, really don't want to believe it because I hope in Gene Roddeberry's idyllic future the barbaric practice of sending children away to boarding school has been abolished (even if I know some private schools aren't boarding schools, in Britain at least I think the majority are?). Maybe I can imagine the quality education is there without the horrible boarding practices and the children get to live at home. Or I can explain it away by remembering Enterprise was set before Gene Roddenberry's original vision so maybe some of society's failures still needed to be phased out.

Though, speaking of Sandhurst, does it ever strike anyone else as odd that a war-free, famine-free united Earth has a (apparently active) British Royal Navy? I can see retaining the institution, but... what would its purpose be? A precaution? A glorified coast guard? Maybe Britain's just real trigger happy and a little too fond of our boats and submarines.

Enterprise is, what, about 100-150 years after WWIII? It could be that there are a lot of things in transition, esp concerning a "United Earth". As for the Royal Navy...tradition, maybe? LOL If they can hold on to the pound, why not the RN? Seriously, just because there's a United Earth, I think individual countries would still retain their Armed Forces in some way, shape or form, even if they have something like Starfleet and the MACOs.

Speaking of ST characters from the UK...where's Montgomery Scott "Scotty" from in Scotland? I've heard it's supposed to be Aberdeen. And Jimmy Doohan's accent as Scotty (yeah, I know JD was Canadian) was pretty good. A bit different from someone say from Glasgow (like Carson Beckett in SGA) or Inverness (Amy Pond from the new Doctor Who).

[Mr Smith]

Enterprise is, what, about 100-150 years after WWIII? It could be that there are a lot of things in transition, esp concerning a "United Earth". As for the Royal Navy...tradition, maybe? LOL If they can hold on to the pound, why not the RN? Seriously, just because there's a United Earth, I think individual countries would still retain their Armed Forces in some way, shape or form, even if they have something like Starfleet and the MACOs.

I'm not surprised that they'd keep it, not at all, actually it makes way more sense than abandoning it altogether, particularly as the Navy has been a thing of tradition and pride for Britain for hundreds of years, I was just speculating on what its function would be, particularly as it seems most Earthbound armed forces would be largely demilitarized if Earth is United and each country/region acts somewhat like the states in the USA. I can see it being a time of transition and perhaps there's lingering concern after the war, though, perhaps a sense of not wanting to get too comfortable. It's just interesting to think about!

In regards to speculation about Scotty though, Scottish accents are the few that I find the hardest to discern from each other. Not sure why, maybe I just I don't have a very good ear for that kind of thing!

[EntAllat]

I've been doing the Twitter stuff for too long. I saw "RP" in ladyrainbow and Mr. Smith's posts here and was thoroughly confused until I remembered, "OH!! Received Pronunciation, not Role Play."

*facepalm*

[ladyrainbow]

I've been doing the Twitter stuff for too long. I saw "RP" in ladyrainbow and Mr. Smith's posts here and was thoroughly confused until I remembered, "OH!! Received Pronunciation, not Role Play."

*facepalm*

ROTFL!!!!! Yeah, I have to remind myself I'm in linguist mode.

[Kathy Rose]

Enterprise is, what, about 100-150 years after WWIII? It could be that there are a lot of things in transition, esp concerning a "United Earth". As for the Royal Navy...tradition, maybe? LOL If they can hold on to the pound, why not the RN? Seriously, just because there's a United Earth, I think individual countries would still retain their Armed Forces in some way, shape or form, even if they have something like Starfleet and the MACOs.

I'm not surprised that they'd keep it, not at all, actually it makes way more sense than abandoning it altogether, particularly as the Navy has been a thing of tradition and pride for Britain for hundreds of years, I was just speculating on what its function would be, particularly as it seems most Earthbound armed forces would be largely demilitarized if Earth is United and each country/region acts somewhat like the states in the USA. I can see it being a time of transition and perhaps there's lingering concern after the war, though, perhaps a sense of not wanting to get too comfortable. It's just interesting to think about!

In regards to speculation about Scotty though, Scottish accents are the few that I find the hardest to discern from each other. Not sure why, maybe I just I don't have a very good ear for that kind of thing!

It always struck me as strange that there would still be a Royal Navy, but the idea that military structure on Earth in that time period was probably still in transition makes sense. As its name implies, Starfleet was concerned with outer space, not earth-bound matters, so there would eventually have to be some sort of planetary defense system put into place.

I remember wondering, too, about submarines. Malcolm told Archer about his uncle who was the engineer on board a Royal Navy submarine and who died heroically in an accident. Perhaps the navies of the world at that time were more involved in coast guard type matters like search and rescue, as well as scientific research. And of course, if Earth were ever to be invaded by a species that lived in water....

[EntAllat]

I'm not surprised that they'd keep it, not at all, actually it makes way more sense than abandoning it altogether, particularly as the Navy has been a thing of tradition and pride for Britain for hundreds of years, I was just speculating on what its function would be, particularly as it seems most Earthbound armed forces would be largely demilitarized if Earth is United and each country/region acts somewhat like the states in the USA. I can see it being a time of transition and perhaps there's lingering concern after the war, though, perhaps a sense of not wanting to get too comfortable. It's just interesting to think about!

I wondered about that too and then thought - what if the purpose was to make the seas safer? I.e. after WWIII, the Royal Navy has a renaissance period, finding and diffusing unexploded mines, missiles, maybe nuclear powered sunken aircraft or vessels? That would kind of make sense then that Malcolm's grand (great? I don't remember) was an ordinance man.

Nations probably wouldn't have been quick to give up their militaries after WWIII but over a century and a half of peace later they might have started to pool together in Earth's defense, while keeping the traditions of their old culture. (I.e. the Royal Navy might even still be there in Kirk's time, but as a division of Earth's combined planetary defense forces.) Given the Xindi attack and then a Coalition War with the Romulans and a Federation war with the Klingons, Earth would probably keep some ground forces always at the ready.

[ladyrainbow]

Speaking of accents...I know the guys at TriSilk have probably seen this one, but...

Taysiders in Space

I had to look up a translation for this. LOL!

[Mr Smith]

I wondered about that too and then thought - what if the purpose was to make the seas safer? I.e. after WWIII, the Royal Navy has a renaissance period, finding and diffusing unexploded mines, missiles, maybe nuclear powered sunken aircraft or vessels? That would kind of make sense then that Malcolm's grand (great? I don't remember) was an ordinance man.

Nations probably wouldn't have been quick to give up their militaries after WWIII but over a century and a half of peace later they might have started to pool together in Earth's defense, while keeping the traditions of their old culture. (I.e. the Royal Navy might even still be there in Kirk's time, but as a division of Earth's combined planetary defense forces.) Given the Xindi attack and then a Coalition War with the Romulans and a Federation war with the Klingons, Earth would probably keep some ground forces always at the ready.

These are great theories, I'm glad someone else has been thinking about this and not just me. I'm definitely going to be throwing that first part into a fic sometime, though, never thought of that and it sounds like a solid idea about what might've happened.

Speaking of accents...I know the guys at TriSilk have probably seen this one, but...

Taysiders in Space

I had to look up a translation for this. LOL!

I remember seeing this a little while ago! It cracked me up, especially having just returned from a Star Trek convention and gotten chatting to a nice Scottish couple on the plane who went to Nashville for a country music festival.

[EntAllat]

These are great theories, I'm glad someone else has been thinking about this and not just me. I'm definitely going to be throwing that first part into a fic sometime, though, never thought of that and it sounds like a solid idea about what might've happened.

Awesome! I can't wait to read it.