Kobayashi Maru

[ColinHowell]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

You're correct, MMM.

In any case, English lacks a single thing like this, but we do have a series of "ship prefixes" depending on situation that are equivalent to -maru in Japanese: Ship prefix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think the closest true equivalent is "HMS" (for Her/His Majesty's Ship) in the UK. To the best of my knowledge, the HMS Titanic was not a British naval ship, but it was still prefixed by "HMS."

On the other hand, in the US, the most famous one (and most likely the only US prefix any American would know) is "USS," or "United States Ship," used only by the US Navy.

In fact, before I pulled that Wikipedia page, the only ship prefixes I knew of were USS and HMS. Well, I also know "SS," but I don't even know if that's used in modern times. It stands for "steamship."

None of those are really at all close to Maru (丸). The use of Maru for Japanese commercial ship names (it's never used for warships) seems to be a matter of naming tradition; it carries no specific meaning. As masaegu said, there really is no equivalent in English ship-naming practices. All the name prefixes you give have specific identification purposes.

First, there are warship prefixes. USS, as you said, identifies a warship of the U.S. Navy, and likewise for HMS and the Royal Navy. (Like USS, HMS is only used for warships; Titanic did not carry that prefix. You're confusing HMS with RMS; see below.) There are a bunch of other warship prefixes for various nations and purposes (e.g. SMS, "Seiner Majestät Schiff" for the Imperial German Navy of World War One), but not all navies have followed this practice. Neither the Imperial Japanese Navy nor the German Kriegsmarine of World War Two used it, though prefixes have been invented after the fact for both navies for convenience.

A prefix is sometimes used with commercial ships for their mode of propulsion, but this is inconsistent. In the days of steamships this was often SS. Nowadays, when most commercial ships are diesel-engined, it's usually MV ("motor vessel").

There have also been prefixes for commercial ships that have special status. Like many British ocean liners of her day, Titanic carried the prefix "RMS", for "Royal Mail Ship" (or "Royal Mail Steamer"). This meant the British government had licensed her to carry the mail.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by StonerPenguin

Y'know, I was gonna say pretty much the exact same thing! Thanks Kyle. BTW People on this forum seem to be well versed in Star Trek All I know is William Shatner and George Takei are in it. Haha.

There was a Star Trek movie released less than two years ago that featured the Kobayashi Maru. It made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.

[p47koji]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

There was a Star Trek movie released less than two years ago that featured the Kobayashi Maru. It made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.

Looks like the older you are, the more you may know about Star Trek...so I guess I am the oldest! I grew up with it and know every line in the short runned TV shows.

The "Kobayashi Maru" was the name afforded a no-win scenario for command-destined cadets of the future (which implies imaginary, of course ) The character Captain Kirk - storybooked to be a "throw away the book" type of great commander - when confronted with the Kobayashi Maru test at the Star Fleet Academy won....by cheating.

[Supperman]

Just FYI
Without any context,
Kobayashimaru might be the name of a nihontoo (Japanese sword).
Maru is also the suffix of nihontoo's name, as well as ships' name.

For example;
日本刀　雷光丸
日本刀　龍神丸
日本刀　紅丸

Sorry in advance, if this information is redundant.

[evanny]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

There was a Star Trek movie released less than two years ago that featured the Kobayashi Maru. It made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.

that's right.
but the tests was a failure in the new movie. how the f* do you experience fear for your team when you know it is a test?
they also did same kind of test to Wezly Crusher who was simply told to sit down and wait - then shit goes BOOM and he has to make life and death decisions without knowing it is a test.
that is how it should have happened.

but i guess thats beside the point.