Anyone Think the term "Away Team" sounds stupid?

In spite of the warning you had to take, yours was an act of heroism, and we all thank you from the deepest bottom of our hearts.

The other 3% being when they fly out in a shuttle to empty space for shits and giggles?

Never really cared what they call it.

more likeconfusing having to write for ignorant fools who aren't invested in the show anyways understanding what's being said... but thanks for playing.

There is a Star Trek explanation for this.

They don't speak English. They speak Standard which is English but has been changed to account for differences in cultures among Federation species. So some cultural things that we say in English on earth like landing party or boarding party, which would be based on our ocean going civilization, wouldn't necessarily make sense on a planet like Vulcan. So that stuff has to be changed to something that that majority can understand. Away team is an example.

Who knows but boarding party might be a sexual term on some planet in the Federation. Last thing Star Fleet needs is some officer trying to "board" another crew member because they heard boarding party.

I never heard "away team" used in my five years in the Navy, to be honest.

I've read some fan fiction that's far, far worse. It's about some guy named Power(?) or something like that.

The boarding party brought the booze before they started docking.

I do think the vernacular has evolved to where "party" no longer has work connotations ... outside of politics, the only time you hear it used to refer to a group of people (as opposed to an event) is when they're calling your name at a restaurant.

But did that shift hit a tipping point in the 20 years that elapsed between TOS and TNG, or was the change more likely due to the late-in-life revisionism that had Roddenberry insisting that Starfleet had never been a military?

Why didn't they have any problems using the term "landing party" during the original series era then? The Vulcans were certainly members of the Federation and served in Starfleet then.

Because maybe over time they started to weed out words and phrases that could cause problems.

Just shut up and go with it.

Yeah, when I hear the term “boarding party” I don’t think about folks going over for diplomatic reasons, I think about folks who are planning on taking over the ship they’re boarding.

Was there a real term that was used?

Nope. Never was. Navy uses terms like, "boarding party", "working party", "tiger team", and "[insert purpose here] detail".

However, Obama's Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, referred to the US Navy as a whole as "America's Away Team". Source

Cheerio my autistic friend! Have you considered writing an imaginary letter to Gene Roddenberry, sealing it in an addressed envelope, and putting it in a shoebox? This may help put your unhealthy feelings to rest.

Alternatively you can ask your favourite monthly periodical or newspaper to publish it as you’ve been successful with in the past. Such an outlet would surely ease the mental anguish you find yourself in.

Hell, Civ 4's dark fantasy mod Fall From Heaven 2 has a unit called the Boarding Party, unique to the seafaring (pirate) civ that can board enemy ships from land, and from friendly ships. Good way to score free ships.
Boarding Party has no diplomatic connotations at all.

What about an "Advance Party" or "Advance Team"? For the obvious reasons that they go in "advance" of follow up groups.

Too associated with political campaigns.

Could be right. Though I wonder how much science fiction fans are politically active.

Plus, there often isn't a followup mission, and when there is, it's not like the first mission was just in preparation for it -- the first mission is usually viewed as important in and of itself.

Recall that it was a thing in TNG, for a long while, that the Captain wouldn’t go on away missions. It absolutely makes logical sense - as does the idea of away missions being run by the “second string” - after all, in Roddenberry’s future, everyone was competent, worthy of trust, and without ego.

But with all due respect to Jonathan Frakes, nobody remembers a Riker speech. So putting him front and center on the away missions ultimately hurt the show, even if it made more sense.

It can work with a different cast - DS9 frequently put recurring/secondary/junior characters on away missions, and Discovery’s cast fills fairly non-traditional, junior roles (hell, the captaincy is a guest starring role). But TNG would have really struggled with it.