Say That Again? Sci-Fi Phrases We Know and Love

The year is wrapping up. Only twenty-four days until it’s 2022, but we still have Christmas to look forward to, and celebrate if that is your tradition. In the two grand traditions of American TV, my final two posts in 2021 will be “the Christmas episode” and “a look back at the year.” Watch this space, as they say.

But today I thought we take yet another side-step into a topic that is science fiction related, but not overly academic—phrases that have crept into everyday use to a greater or lesser extent.

After a bit of brainstorming, here are a few that I think I use occasionally, except maybe #4 and #6. Not because I don’t like them, or their source material, the need just never seems to arise. I’m guessing others use them, or maybe not.

How many do you use? Do you recall where the phrase came from? Answers are at the end.

1. May the Force be with you. [Confess: you use this, don’t you?]
2. I’ll be back. [Won’t we all at some point?]
3. Live long and prosper. [The geek in me pulls this one out now and then.]
4. May the odds be ever in your favor. [Loved the movies. Haven’t read the books.]
5. Beam me up, Scotty. [I know, I know. He never actually says this.]
6. The truth is out there. [Maybe those UAF (Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon)?]
7. Danger, Will Robinson. [A throwback to the original.]
8. Make it so. [Wouldn’t we like to have that authority?]

A related topic is the generation of new words, or neologisms. In doing a bit of reading, it surprised me how many common terms we associate with science, came from science fiction. Ranging from spacesuit to graviton, science fiction has contributed some familiar words to our language of space and space exploration. I commend the following article to your attention.

Sci-fi is a fertile breeding ground for neologisms: some have entered everyday language and even scientific jargon

By Pisana Ferrari at https://www.capstan.be/sci-fi-is-a-fertile-breeding-ground-for-neologisms-some-have-entered-everyday-language-and-even-scientific-jargon/

Answers, but I’m sure they were easy:

1. Star Wars
2. Terminator
3. Star Trek
4. Hunger Games
5. Just a cool saying, sort of from Star Trek
6. The X-Files
7. Lost in Space
8. Star Trek: The Next Generation

Clearly, I’m a Star Trek/Star Wars guy. No apologies.

What do you think? Do you have some favorites? Any you’d add to the lists that you use? Any that just annoy you?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by.

[Disclaimer: Please accept my apologies for any ads that pop up before the linked videos. They do not reflect my position, nor do I endorse any of the products—it’s just a YouTube thing I can’t get around.]