Herbert

[Broccoli]

Okay...so humor me...what does "Herbert" mean exactly? I know it was slang the space-hippies used, but what was the term meant to represent? The "man"? Authority, in general?

 

[M'Sharak]

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Herbert_%28slang%29

 

[Michael]

Only a Herbert would attempt to ask!

Just jokin'! I really think it means "bureaucrat", "conservative" and "uncool". But what does Memory Alpha say? *follows the link and reads* Yeah, that's a "Herbert". But this one looks like a Herbert, too!

 

[jimbo1973]

it basically means closed minded

 

[Nerys Myk]

When I was a kid the only "Herbert" I could think was Frank Herbert, author of the Dune book. I couldn't figure out what Frank Herbert did to piss off Roddenberry.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

IRL, I always imagined it was a friendly jab at Herbert F. Solow.

Sir Rhosis

 

[M'Sharak]

Sir Rhosis said:
IRL, I always imagined it was a friendly jab at Herbert F. Solow.

I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that it was exactly that.

To the OP -- You'll also find the explanation in this dialogue from the episode itself:


Spock: They regard themselves as aliens in their own worlds,
a condition with which I am somewhat familiar.
Kirk: Spock... what does Herbert mean?
Spock: It is... somewhat... uncomplimentary, Captain. Herbert was a minor official... notorious for his rigid and limited... patterns of thought.
Kirk: Well, I shall try to be less rigid in my thinking.

 

[Steven Of Nine]

I also like the term "Great White Captain" Adam uses to describe Kirk.

 

[Kryton]

My uncle's name is Herbert. And, as it happens, he's EXACTLY what Adam and Sevrin's other hippies MEANT by it. Utterly and literally. I even have a photo of him from 2000 holding a local newspaper headline about Bush "winning" the election.

I wonder if he's still in that 28 percentile?

 

[Plum]

^^^
Haaa... I'm gonna ring my bell and jump for joy, I got a clean bill o' health from Doctor McCoy!

 

[seigezunt]

one, brotha.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

No they were watching the only thing availible on the stolen shuttle, and tha was old re-runs of "WKRP" and they compared Kirk to Herb Tarlek

 

[M'Sharak]

Kirk in a red plaid suit?


AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

"As God is my witness, I thought Tribbles could fly."

 

[Amaris]

I always thought "Herbert" referred to Herbert Hoover.


-J.

 

[Mandra]

Babaganoosh said:
"As God is my witness, I thought Tribbles could fly."

:thumbsup:

 

[Rat Boy]

"Oh, the humanity!"

 

[Outpost4]

Carl Spock as Venus Flytrap?

 

[M'Sharak]

But what about the Slim Whitman records?

 

[Garibaldi O'brien]

LOOK, AS a Slim Whitman relative, I take offense at that remark. He was no HERBERT.

Maybe a Bob @ worst, but really, that's bollocks all around

mmmm.... Vodka.