the meaning of "best be"

[kjc0123]

What is the meaning of "best be" in the following sentences?

Crews are watched for any signs of suspicious behavior. The sea marshals make sure the ship stays its course.
And that course best be far from things like the Golden Gate or any other bridge. A ship may be slow, but as one of the largest moving objects in the world, a hijacked ship could be a devastating weapon of destruction.

[kevh_uk]

"best be" just means "better be", i think that maybe its a northern thing because we say it on liverpool....you know the way you would say that "better be" my bus coming around the corner........we say that "best be" my bus coming round the corner

i think

[andy hughes]

If I may elaborate a little - the phrase is a shortened version of "had better be ...." so the full phrase would read "and that course had beeter be ....." meaning it would be better if the course chosen steered the ship far away from the bridges.

[Peter Pedant]

....and that course would be better away from the Golden gate.

The English is not particularly good or clear. I had to read it two or three times, and initially thoguht KJ can't understand this because it is rubbish.

First thing, the sentence begins with 'and'. You cant begin sentences with and because it is a conjunction.

be is from the verb to be, and is a now very rare example of a subjunctive. you could use 'is' but then best has to follow the verb and not precede it. Be is used here because it is a wish, in the future, and may not be fulfilled. (same sense as 'so be it'). Dont bother about subjunctives, you can always do without them.