"Darmok" is the 102nd episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." It is considered one of the finest "Star Trek" episodes of all time. It concerns an encounter with an alien race of creatures who, for the first time ever, defeat the Universal Translator device that is used as a trope in the Star Trek universe to explain how humans manage to converse with all the various forms of life that they encounter out there. In "Darmok," the aliens say things, the translator renders their words, but nothing they say makes sense.

As the plot unfolds, the aliens announce, "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra." The Enterprise crew is baffled. What the heck does that mean? And just like that, the Captain is beamed down to the planet below, along with the captain of the alien ship. The aliens pull some magic that prevents the Enterprise crew from beaming their captain back up, so the two of them are stuck down on the planet together. The alien captain greets Captain Picard by saying, "Temba, his arms wide" as he hands Picard a knife. Picard figures he is being challenged to a duel to the death, which is not something he had in mind. 

At the sound of a mighty roar, it becomes obvious that there is also a very dangerous creature on this planet that looks like it would like to eat them both. The rest of the episode turns on how these two men interact as they try to deal with this creature.

Something the alien says makes Picard realize that the alien is speaking in allegories. "Darmok and Jalad" are people in his planet's history. They did something together at a place called Tanagra. Temba was another historical figure, and at some point he held his arms wide. Everyone on the alien's planet knows these stories. They know what Darmok did. They know why Temba opened his arms. Picard figures out that the "Darmok" story is similar to our Epic of Gilgamesh: two strangers meet and must cooperate to defeat a common foe. They become friends during the encounter. This is why the two captains are on the planet. The aliens knew about the creature, and they have staged this incident to re-create "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra." Their intent is that the two captains will become friends. Temba was known for his generosity. "His arms wide" means the alien is giving Picard the knife as a friend, to help him. There is no duel; he doesn't want a fight. He is providing the knife so Picard can defend himself against the creature.

The idea of a language that consists entirely of allegories — of references to heroic tales and historical incidents — has been analyzed at some length by academic linguists. There is a peer-reviewed scientific paper called "Darmok and Jalad on the Internet." While there is no such language on Earth, we in fact use a lot of allegories in everyday speech. People speak of "Road to Damascus conversions" (Paul on the road to Damascus) and Washington at Valley Forge. Caesar at the Rubicon. We all know what these events were, and we know that we are not to take them literally, but as symbols of a sudden change in life's purpose, or having to endure extreme hardship on the way to victory. 

Let me suggest that this is how President Trump's head works. He quite often speaks in allegories. When Trump says he wants to reopen Alcatraz, he is not referring to that overgrown rock in San Francisco Bay, but to the Alcatraz that we all know as the storied (and movied) cage for the worst of the worst, the place from which no one escapes. Everyone in our culture knows what Alcatraz is. If Trump had said he wants to expand Atwater, no one would have paid any attention. The Democrats and their media wouldn't have gone berserk. Trump's plea for prison expansion would have died right there. Instead we got several days of people telling us how stupid re-opening Alcatraz would be, followed by, "Well, maybe not Alcatraz, but how about expanding the SuperMax?"

More: Trump Has Big Plans for Notorious Alcatraz Prison—'This Will Be a Huge Win!’

Qatar Signs Big, Beautiful Deal With Boeing for 160 Aircraft

I suspect the Qatari jumbo jet is another allegory. He can get a new Air Force One from some backwater in the Middle East faster than he can from Boeing. In case people don't know this, it shouldn't be like that. (In fact, it isn't, and he almost certainly knows it. Turning a plain-vanilla 747 into a VC-25 would cost billions and take longer than waiting for Boeing.) But somebody needs to light a fire under Boeing, and he's trying.

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