Tolkien was a linguist before he was an author, inventing his first language at the age of 13.īecause of this, the diverse species of Middle Earth all speak fully realized tongues, complete with their own alphabets and rules of diction. For those not up on their Elvish, that roughly translates to read “A star shines on the hour of our meeting,” spoken by Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings. That McCoy spoke with such candor is what gave him credibility, or, as he said in a different context, “The machine is capable of almost anything, but I’ll still put my trust in a healthy set of tonsils.Authors have long been inventing unique languages in sci-fi and fantasy stories, but what value could these made-up languages possibly have in a world where they aren’t spoken?Įlen síla lumenn’omentielvo, dear friends. McCoy never sugarcoated his diagnoses and never bit his tongue, no matter how bitter the truth was. McCoy was Kirk’s trusted confidant because Kirk could always trust McCoy’s to tell him his honest opinion – whether he asked for it or not. McCoy meant what he said and said what he meant, often forcefully, leaving an amused Kirk to mockingly quip: “Don’t mince words, Bones, what do you really think?” Where Spock would calmly delineate problems and solutions with perfectly precise logic, McCoy would snap back with genuinely heartfelt outbursts and emotional appeals. Not only would McCoy go straight to the heart of the issue, his candor came straight from the heart. He liked common language which he’d use like a surgeon’s scalpel to cut to the heart of an issue – eschewing such esoteric verbiage as, well, “eschewing,” “esoteric,” or “verbiage.” No matter the question, McCoy would use simple, straightforward words and the occasional metaphor or expletive to put Kirk’s options into stark relief. Kirk invariably turned to McCoy and Spock for their opinions whenever he was faced with difficult decisions. Importantly, McCoy rarely questioned Kirk in front of others, except for Spock, he’d do it behind closed doors in either the captain’s quarters or sickbay. Kirk benefited from McCoy’s frank counsel, as, by extension, did the crew of the Enterprise. McCoy delivered his unvarnished views in the best possible way – with the bark off. When it came to advising his commanding officer and friend James T.
STAR TREK DAMMIT JIM SKIN
He was comfortable enough in his own skin to define himself by what he wasn’t, and he was sufficiently secure within his area of expertise to readily concede his ignorance in others. When something came up outside his comfort zone, McCoy would invoke some variation of his most famous catchphrase. While McCoy had a healthy regard for his own abilities and never shied away from expressing his opinions, he wasn’t without humility. Yet, it was his brusque and blunt demeanor which earned him the trust of his captain and crewmates. Gregory House, shared many of his sharper edges: McCoy wasn’t a stickler for rules, he didn’t suffer fools gladly, and his penchant for action led the ends to justify his means. Later characters, such as Hugh Laurie’s Dr.
McCoy was the archetype of the irascible, emotional, and argumentative doctor now common in popular culture. McCoy’s bristling bedside manner remains a masterclass in how candor is key to garnering trust. Not only does the program’s space age technology continue to inspire health care innovations, Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, the late DeForest Kelley, but both still offer us timeless teachings.
STAR TREK DAMMIT JIM SERIES
It’s been fifty years since the original Star Trek television series ended and twenty years since the death of the man who starred as the earthy Dr.
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