HERBERT!

'PIE IN THE SKY'

"DOGGETT'S COAT AND BADGE"

When retired DCI Stryker - "Stryker Of The Yard" - spoke contemptuously of how long he had been trying to track down the man who had stolen a rare bottle of wine from his police organization, he said, "I've been chasing this herbert."

It would take at least four hundred years before "Herbert" would come into fashion as a pejorative.

Chief Herbert, who served in the Enterprise transporter room under Captain Picard, may have been descended from that bureaucratic functionary.

In the case of Stryker's usage, it may have been an example of Cockney rhyming slang - with "herbert" standing in for "pervert"......

OTHER SHOWS CITED:

• 'Star Trek' - "The Way To Eden"
• 'Star Trek': The Next Generation' - "We'll Always Have Paris" & "The Icarus Factor"

BCnU!