Did Spock ever speak with a contraction?

[telerites]

I don't (or should I say do not) think he did but have always been curious if some slipped by.

If so, which episode(s)?

Thanks

 

[1001001]

He used several of them in ST:IV.

Excuse me, Admiral. But weren't those a birthday gift from Dr. McCoy? as one example.

I don't know off the top of my head of any in TOS episodes, but I'll bet they are there somewhere...

 

[BillJ]

His second line in "The Cage".

SPOCK: It can't be the screen then. Definitely something out there, Captain, headed this way.

 

[Green Shirt]

"The imposter had some interesting qualities. Wouldn't you say, yeoman?", The Naked Time.

"He'd better." The Conscience of the King

"I've lost myself." All Our Yesterdays

 

[telerites]

Thanks folks. Now a possibly more difficult question. Was it purposeful for the character not to speak with contractions and these examples are either writer or Nimoy slips?

 

[BillJ]

Thanks folks. Now a possibly more difficult question. Was it purposeful for the character nor to speak with contractions and these examples are either writer or Nimoy slips?

I think you're confusing Spock with Data from The Next Generation.

 

[Green Shirt]

Thanks folks. Now a possibly more difficult question. Was it purposeful for the character nor to speak with contractions and these examples are either writer or Nimoy slips?

I read somewhere that since English was a second language for Spock, it was intended for the character to speak it formally.

 

[Melakon]

But Spock grew up with a human mother, so he must have had some knowledge of informal use of Earth languages.

 

[telerites]

Thanks folks. Now a possibly more difficult question. Was it purposeful for the character nor to speak with contractions and these examples are either writer or Nimoy slips?

I think you're confusing Spock with Data from The Next Generation.

No I know about Data, more of a comparisons and idle curiosity. I couldn't think of any with Spock off the top of my head.

I do think Data used contractions in early episodes but was Datalore that used his non use of contractions as a way to spot Lor?

 

[Ssosmcin]

He used contractions all the time.

"I'll have you checkmated your next move."
"In less time than that, he will have attained powers we can't understand and can't cope with. Soon we'll be not only useless to him, but actually an annoyance."

He was precise, but not robotic.

 

[Noname Given]

Thanks folks. Now a possibly more difficult question. Was it purposeful for the character not to speak with contractions and these examples are either writer or Nimoy slips?

Your premise is flawed - it was never the producers/writers intent that Mr. Spock not use contractions. Spock/Nimoy used them in the character' first seen in the second pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before":

Mr. Spock: "I'll have you checkmated your next move."

The character used contractions all the time. The fact you can't remember Spock lines with contractions is non-sequitur.

 

[Lance]

I read somewhere that since English was a second language for Spock, it was intended for the character to speak it formally.

One thing I have noticed is that in TOS, Nimoy used British-English pronunciation for certain words, presumably due to the above explanation. He stopped doing that during the movies.

 

[RandyS]

I can't remember the episode, but I remember Spock saying, in answer to a question from either Kirk or McCoy, "I'm saying they knew there was a risk".

 

[Melakon]

I read somewhere that since English was a second language for Spock, it was intended for the character to speak it formally.

One thing I have noticed is that in TOS, Nimoy used British-English pronunciation for certain words, presumably due to the above explanation. He stopped doing that during the movies.

Nimoy had said he originally based Spock's speaking style on recordings of W. Somerset Maugham, so that's probably coming through. Sometimes I think I detect Nimoy's native Boston accent with certain words, particularly with "been".

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Sometimes I think I detect Nimoy's native Boston accent with certain words, particularly with "been".

Is that why they call it Been Town?

 

[Melakon]

^ I've no idea, but I've heard the same pronunciation from a guy I knew who was from Boston. In my part of the midwest, we pronounced "been" as "ben".

 

[Ssosmcin]

According to the Wikipedia...

Beantown, which refers to the regional dish of baked beans. This nickname is almost exclusively used by non-Bostonians and is rarely used by natives. According to Boston-Online.com, back in colonial days, a favorite Boston food was beans baked in molasses for several hours. Boston was part of the "triangular trade" in which slaves in the Caribbean grew sugar cane to be shipped to Boston, in order to be made into rum and in turn sent to West Africa for the acquisition of more slaves. Sailors and traders called it "Beantown" while the locals did not refer to their city by that nickname.

 

[Indysolo]

"At the rate you're proceeding, calculations show that you'll take a minute and a half more than we have left. You can't afford a safety factor.”

 

[scotpens]

Thanks folks. Now a possibly more difficult question. Was it purposeful for the character nor to speak with contractions and these examples are either writer or Nimoy slips?

I think you're confusing Spock with Data from The Next Generation.

Or with characters created by Damon Runyon.

I read somewhere that since English was a second language for Spock, it was intended for the character to speak it formally.

But Spock grew up with a human mother, so he must have had some knowledge of informal use of Earth languages.

And even people who speak formal and precise English use contractions all the time. Like me, for instance.

 

[EnsignTOS]

^ I've no idea, but I've heard the same pronunciation from a guy I knew who was from Boston. In my part of the midwest, we pronounced "been" as "ben".

Yeah, mine, too!

But maybe we midwesterners are just weird that way and we've actually been saying been the wrong way? (Not like "bean".)?