I could sort of understand it if we handwaved this as "They do have an everyday language, but for silly plot reasons unbreakable cultural convention, Important Stuff is always done with their Ritual Story Reference Language" but even then -
a. If you have a unit which means "okay, we're going to go through a shared experience and then be friends" why the heck wouldn't the UT translate it thusly instead of all that Darmok gibberish and
b. Sure, I can see why you might be super referential when talking about Big Important Stuff, but do these people never have a need to say "Ugh, that went down the wrong way?" or "It's your turn to change the baby's diaper" or "My neighbor is a jerk" or "I got a great deal on exotic luxury goods, party at my house"? (Or do those all have stories attached to them as well?)
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silly plot reasonsunbreakable cultural convention, Important Stuff is always done with their Ritual Story Reference Language" but even then -a. If you have a unit which means "okay, we're going to go through a shared experience and then be friends" why the heck wouldn't the UT translate it thusly instead of all that Darmok gibberish and
b. Sure, I can see why you might be super referential when talking about Big Important Stuff, but do these people never have a need to say "Ugh, that went down the wrong way?" or "It's your turn to change the baby's diaper" or "My neighbor is a jerk" or "I got a great deal on exotic luxury goods, party at my house"? (Or do those all have stories attached to them as well?)