odditudes-and-weirdities

Happy Interstellar Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel Day! This holiday celebrates one of the more interesting Star Trek TNG episodes . In it, the Enterprise meets the Tamarians, a race of people whose words translate well but without much meaning. The Tamarians employ a dangerous strategy to achieve a communications breakthrough; they transport Picard and their captain, Dathon, down to a planet where they'll need to coordinate together to survive against a dangerous predator. Picard eventually figures out that the Tamarians use allegory to express themselves, and if you don't know the allegorical references, their speech sounds like gibberish. Although the Tamarian captain dies, Picard's breakthrough in understanding the Tamarians allows the Federation to develop relations with them. The phrase "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" becomes a new allegory in the Tamarian language, presumably signifying a communications breakthrough or sudden understanding.