He was conning folk on land as well, if my memory serves me right.
You have the con... or com... OK I'm an idiot. Help.
- Thread starter rustyw
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Interference
Destroyer of Words
I used to think "Com" for "Command", but later noticed Shatner was actually saying "Con" (his lips didn't meet - I watched 
) and deduced it was, like so much of Trek, Conning Tower.
) and deduced it was, like so much of Trek, Conning Tower.
Many phrases in common everyday usage in English have a Naval origin:
Imperial War Museum North: Top 5 Naval Phrases
Interference
Destroyer of Words
I said: "... and deduced it was^, like so much of Trek, Conning Tower." ^ of naval origin
I forgot the key phrase
Now, does anyone know how "Conning Tower" got its name?
MstrTal
Valeyard
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I said: "... and deduced it was^, like so much of Trek, Conning Tower." ^ of naval origin
I forgot the key phrase
Now, does anyone know how "Conning Tower" got its name?
Ask and some smart rear-end will look it up!
Well according to the Oxford English Dictionary again, I do so love the OED. . .
Interference
Destroyer of Words
Thank you both
Jake Reynolds
Wordslinger
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Not to mention navigation, cartography, hull, port, starboard, bow, stern (or aft)...
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
Knivesout no more
I've always found the default use of nautical terms in spacefaring SF tales troublesome. Sure, I use the term spaceSHIP as naturally as spacecraft, but it's still something worth thinking about. These nautical terms are so deeply tied in with the 'age of discovery', an era in which mariners from a specific set of countries found routes to other regions and helped extend their countries of origin's commercial and territorial interests. SF writers have mostly stopped giving their characters the same set of Anglo-Saxon/Germanic names everyone in the Golden Age stuff had, but other manifestations of the genre's cultural roots run deeper and harder to shake off or even apparently acknowledge. Doesn't mean it is wrong and bad, but at least it's food for thought. At the very least, writers in a genre that claims to be one of ideas and thought experiments, we should be aware of various dimensions to the language we use.
Unfortunately, there are some readers (for whatever reason) who have trouble with names from a wider variety of sources, as Stephen Palmer has discovered; he has recorded his experiences in this Chrons thread: http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/530601-page-99-a.html.
(I have to admit that the characters in my WiPs have European names
o), but that is for a very particular frame-story-related, not culturally-related, reason.)
Luc Valentine
Random User
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Mosaix is correct, the term originates with submarine jargon from "conning tower". The first submarines were round with a tube rising from the top for the head and torso, from which the pilot controlled or conned the ship. In the round bottom of the vehicle were pedals, like bicycle pedals, where the lower torso and legs would go to power the ship. The tube on top where the head went was the "conning tower".
Kristopher Donner
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On the bridge of a ship, you have an Officer of the Deck whom represents the Commanding Officer on the bridge and has the responsibility for the ship. Under the OOD you will often have a Conning Officer (Conn). The Conn is responsible for the safe navigation of the vessel and issues orders to the helmsman; the Conn is the only person that should issue orders to the helm. During a watch changeover you will hear the exiting officer announce that the incoming officer now how has the Conn so that everyone will know who has control of the ship.
This thread is older than some of the kids I teach !!!
pH
!!!pH
The Ace
Scottish Roman.
Such jargon came into being because it allowed a fairly large number of people to work in concert to control a very large ship. It has survived centuries already because it is useful and concise, and there is no reason to doubt it will continue to be so. There will be minor changes as the language evolves, but that may well be it.
Cathbad
Level 30 Geek Master
I once had the opportunity, at the University of Florida library, to read a 1902 English version of Le Morte D'Arthur.
An extremely interesting read, not the least because of the difficulty in reading it due to those "minor changes" in the language.
Thinking about that just now, I find myself a bit glad that Sci-Fi authors haven't taken to try to emulate those future language changes in their novels!!
Captain Jack
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Why is that Jayaprakash Satyamurthy? I know this is a ten-year-old thread and I just got here because I wanted to know the origin of "con" myself, but I'm curious why you would think that 400 years in the future man wouldn't be using nautical terms in space? Who's to say that an empty cargo ship going from a drop point to a pickup point isn't "deadheading" - a term truckers use for running with an empty trailer and not much of a nautical term (although I could be wrong there)? I'm truly curious if after ten years you've changed your view or if you are still holding fast to your view on the matter.
For me, it would be easier to just use jargon that is already in place. I might consider coining a new term if the circumstances called for it, but for the most part, if there's a proper nautical term, why not just use it? (Yeah, I know, laziness, right? But does a writer really want to spend time making up a whole new template of terms then still have to go back and explain it to the reader?)
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy hasn't visited here since 2015, so I'm not sure you're going to get a speedy response from him.
Valtharius
Thinker
This is a fascinating thread. Too bad it's mostly dead. The naval analogy is correct for a number of reasons:
1. International commerce is mostly done by sea and in a more advanced society so will interplanetary commerce. Whoever controls the seas militarily controls commerce. And whoever controls the sea of space will control commerce in a spacefaring society.
2. The length of journeys on a spaceship will be like the months or years crewmen spend on naval vessels as opposed to maybe hours spent on planes in the airforce.
3. The size of the crews will be like naval crews since the vessels are similarly massive and complex.
4. Naval battlespace in the modern context is in fact three dimensional thanks to planes, submarines, naval mines, and guided missiles.
5. Planets' first line of defense against invasion will be their spaceships, as the navy often is for Earth's nations.
1. International commerce is mostly done by sea and in a more advanced society so will interplanetary commerce. Whoever controls the seas militarily controls commerce. And whoever controls the sea of space will control commerce in a spacefaring society.
2. The length of journeys on a spaceship will be like the months or years crewmen spend on naval vessels as opposed to maybe hours spent on planes in the airforce.
3. The size of the crews will be like naval crews since the vessels are similarly massive and complex.
4. Naval battlespace in the modern context is in fact three dimensional thanks to planes, submarines, naval mines, and guided missiles.
5. Planets' first line of defense against invasion will be their spaceships, as the navy often is for Earth's nations.
Valtharius
Thinker
Good things come to those who wait, no?
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