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The movie poster for the 1986 movie "Big Trouble in Little China". Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/ (May be subject to copyright) |
Sometimes, we develop our own sayings or slang, whether among friends, families, or even co-workers.
Awhile back, I was talking to Chris Vining who was my best friend growing up, and we were concerned about something that involved risk.
“If that happens you’ve got ‘Big Trouble in Little China’,” he said.
Where did that come from? It took me back to a time when we were in high school, and a movie we never saw.
The movie
“Big Trouble in Little China” came out in the summer of 1986, so between Grade 11 and Grade 12. Directed by John Carpenter, it starred Kurt Russell as a truck driver who gets caught up in some intrigue in San Francisco Chinatown and a secret world underneath it.
“Big Trouble in Little China” came out in the summer of 1986, so between Grade 11 and Grade 12. Directed by John Carpenter, it starred Kurt Russell as a truck driver who gets caught up in some intrigue in San Francisco Chinatown and a secret world underneath it.
We went to see a lot of movies in the theatres in Lethbridge, but this was not one of them.
The slang
To be honest, I cannot recall the first time Chris or I said it, but over time it became an occasional thing we said when the subject of getting in trouble came up.
To be honest, I cannot recall the first time Chris or I said it, but over time it became an occasional thing we said when the subject of getting in trouble came up.
Parting thoughts
In the fall of 1991, the fifth season of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was just starting up. The second episode was called “Darmok”, and it is still one of my favourites of all time.
In the fall of 1991, the fifth season of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was just starting up. The second episode was called “Darmok”, and it is still one of my favourites of all time.
The Enterprise comes upon a ship from a race called the “Children of Tama”. When they try to establish communications, the Tamarians are indecipherable, and they cannot understand the Enterprise crew. The captain of the Tamarian ship kidnaps Captain Picard and together they beam down to a nearby planet. He disables the transporter, so they are trapped on the planet.
He keeps uttering the phrase “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”.
He throws Picard a weapon – a daggar – but Picard will not fight him. However, he soon discovers that is not the Tamarian’s goal when they are attacked by an entity hell-bent on killing them.
Ultimately, the Tamarian captain’s goal is to force them to find a way to communicate in order to survive. The Tamarian captain is killed by the entity but in the process Picard discovers the key to communication. The Tamarians speak through metaphor.
“Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” and later “The Beast at Tanagra” is a metaphor for two people coming together in common cause, just like Picard and the Tamarian captain.
In the end, with the two ships preparing for battle, Picard returnsd to the ship and speaks to the Tamarians in their own language, averting a war and possibly setting the stage for a new relationship.
Afterwards, the crew talks a bit about metaphor and how each culture uses it in some way.
Where the Tamarians use “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” from their culture, we use “Big Trouble in Little China” and so many others in our own.
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