Talk:Stay the course

Really the first popular usage?
Is Ronald Reagan's use of the phrase 'stay the course' in the 1980s really the first usage by a significant personage? I find that very hard to believe.

I am pretty sure Reagan used the term during the 1984 elections. Remember, he was first elected in 1980, so "staying the course" would have meant re-electing Carter. 67.99.40.15 19:05, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
 * At this point the article should answer your question with a resounding "no". It is true, at least in my experience, that the phrase has become especially associated with Reagan and his ideological steadfastness. It was definitely the 1982 Congressional elections, though (not the re-election campaign), which took place during a recession and were a shellacking for the House GOP similar to last November. --Dhartung | Talk 09:11, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Shakespeare uses "Stand the course" (Gloucester in King Lear, Scene VII) and "Fight the course" (Macbeth in Macbeth, Scene VII) to mean the same thing. I thought that it was originally a horse-racing term. I'm struggling to find a pre-1980 popular example of its usage in the current sense, though. Incidentally, apologies - I forgot to sign my question above; it was me Nowheir Apparent 14:50, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
 * There are hundreds of examples on Google Books of literary precedents. I think the narrative now is generally correct, that it had obtained the present meaning long ago, but was brought into the right-wing rhetoric bucket by the Alsop anecdote (which he also wrote about in 1958 to much less attention), then made public property by Reagan. Since then the GOP has frequently invoked it, probably as a deliberate coded reference to Reagan. I suspect it's favored by speechwriters because it sounds poetic, even though the meaning has changed completely. --Dhartung | Talk 18:49, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Sailing reference?
I thought this was some kind of sailing reference, originally.1Winston 20:28, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
 * So did William Safire, so you're in good company! --Dhartung | Talk 09:07, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Popular Culture: Star Wars
I can't seem to remember the entire sentence, but in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode Storm Over Ryloth, Ahsoka Tano while in her starfighter over the planet Ryloth said, "Stay the course." I believe it was "Stay the course gentlemen." but i may be incorrect, But she did say "Stay the Course." --Kahn Iceay 02:12, 8 May 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kahniceay (talk • contribs)

Popular Culture: Terminator Salvation
In Terminator Salvation, John Connor (portrayed by Christian Bale) says, "If we stay the course, we are dead. WE ARE ALL DEAD!".

NOTE: This quote can also be heard in one of the trailers for Terminator Salvation. That's where I most remember it from.

Not so sure how to say this in the article, can someone help?!

What if I add,

"This phrase can also be heard as John Connor (Christian Bale) confers with his superiors about their battle plan in Terminator: Salvation"

72.183.110.214 (talk) 06:07, 12 June 2009 (UTC)


 * It sounds like it's nothing more than a passing use of a common idiom. If the use of "stay the course" became the thing that everyone was talking about when they talk about the movie, that's one thing.   (Bush Senior's use of the phrase, for instance, was a big story during the '88 election, and was lampooned on Saturday Night Live.)  But Wikipedia's not supposed to cross-reference every single line uttered in every big movie.  It would just be too unwieldy. --M @ r ē ino 23:11, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
 * His superior tells him, in a military context, that they have to stay the course, and he in turn uses in it in conversation. in the film it is used within the context as described within the article and not simply as a common idiom. --86.136.68.44 (talk) 22:14, 8 August 2009 (UTC)