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Being ashamed of saying the name of a video game aloud

chris on the moon

By chris on the moon
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chris on the moon

chris on the moon

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There's something that happened to me years ago that's been going around my head lately.

 

When I was a teenager of about 13 or 14, I went on a school trip to Germany. It was fun. I took my game boy with me. When I got home I realised I was missing some game cartridges.

Those of us who went on the trip were told that there was some missing property found on the bus. I went to see Ms. Reed about the game boy games.

Ms Reed had a reputation of being a horrible, strict, unfathomably old woman - She was apparently working at the school when some my friends' dads were students there, and there were many stories of her taking issue with their behaviour back then. But her reputation was at odds with the well-known fact that she was barred from the local pub for dancing on the tables. She was also quite pleasant on the Germany trip.

Anyway, I went to see her about my game boy games. I told her that I'd lost some on the bus. She asked me what they were, and I just got embarrassed, looked away and said "ermm..."

I knew exactly what I'd lost, but I was just too embarrassed to say the names of the video games out loud.

"There's one... Mario and... Yoshi?" she suggested. She pronounced Yoshi correctly, like "Yo! sushi!" (imagine a food made out of Mario's friend/horse lol), wheras me and my friends used to pronounce it to rhyme with "posh". Poshy Yoshy.

Anway I said "yes!" because it was one of my games. "Were there any more?" I asked, and she said "no" and went away, dejected.

I told my friends about this and they pointed out to me that she wanted to know the names of the games so that she knew I had actually lost them, and that I hadn't just gone to claim other people's things.

But I was still too embarrassed to go up to her and say the names of my games. So I never got the other ones back. One of them was "The Legend of Zelda: Link's awakening". I can say that now.

So I'm sharing my story now in the hopes of letting it go. Because I'm playing a Mario game at the moment, and every time I read the name "Yoshi" I'm hearing it in my old teacher's voice. "...Yoshi?"

 

Please share your stories of how you were too ashamed to say the name of a video game and how it affected you.

 

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dug

dug

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I don't have any of my own stories on this topic because I can't remember ever being too embarrassed to name a game. But I'm intrigued about your story.

 

Was it general teenage social anxiety that prevented you from being able to say "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening"? Or was there something specific about that particular name? Was it that gaming was a pretty nerdy hobby at the time, and saying that name in full would have exposed your nerdiness to your fellow pupils? If you'd lost a game with an overtly macho name like "Gunguts: Gorekill" or something, would you have been able to say that? Or "Sportsball: Blokesport"?

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phillv85

phillv85

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I had this very recently. A guy was round measuring the windows for some blinds. I’ve got a couple of posters up in one of the downstairs rooms where my arcade cabinets are. He was having a nosey at them, pointed to one and asked which game one of them is. Embarrassed I paused for a moment and said “DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou”. He looked at me blank for a moment, then asked what it meant. Again, I stood for a moment and explained DoDonPachi is supposed to be onamatopeia for a gun shot. Dai Ou Jou translates as blissful death. Another blank look, and all he said was “right”. I don’t think I’ve ever had such an awkward conversation about a game. It shouldn’t have even been weird, but I was pretty sure he’d probably never played Street Fighter Zero 2, but could read the title on that one. I’m glad he never asked about gameplay on DDP, I can’t imagine trying to explain it without wanting the world to swallow me up.

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phillv85

phillv85

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11 minutes ago, Marlew said:

At least it wasn't SaiDaiOuJou. 

 

"Well, you see, you control these elemental dolls and..."

 

Haha, and here’s me thinking I’m glad I’ve never hung my Deathsmiles posters. SDOJ would have been terrible.

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

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19 minutes ago, Olly88 said:

She bloody didn't.

 

Yeah, I'm hoping it's just the American pronunciation, like how they say m-"ah"-rio, otherwise I've been saying it wrong all my life.

 

Because I used to play lots of "ocean" games on the speccy when I was little, I remember being on holiday once and pointing at the word in my dads book and proudly announcing "I know what that means!" and he said "Oh aye? Go on then"
I pictured the logo in my mind looking all chromy and metallic, considered that they made computer games, put that all together in my feeble little brain and said "It says oh-seen, and it means like all technological things and stuff"
To his credit, he did not put me up for adoption.

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rafaqat

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1 minute ago, ImmaculateClump said:

 

Yeah, I'm hoping it's just the American pronunciation, like how they say m-"ah"-rio, otherwise I've been saying it wrong all my life.

 

Because I used to play lots of "ocean" games on the speccy when I was little, I remember being on holiday once and pointing at the word in my dads book and proudly announcing "I know what that means!" and he said "Oh aye? Go on then"
I pictured the logo in my mind looking all chromy and metallic, considered that they made computer games, put that all together in my feeble little brain and said "It says oh-seen, and it means like all technological things and stuff"
To his credit, he did not put me up for adoption.

 

I love this story.

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Nick R

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If someone asks me my hobbies, and I reply that I play video games, the next question is usually "What have you been playing recently?"

 

At this point I tend to freeze up, and start overthinking how my potential answers might be perceived:

 

The true answer is that the most recent game I booted up was the original Crackdown. But that was an Xbox 360 game from over 10 years ago, and if I say that, they'll wonder why I'm playing something from so long ago, and that'll involve awkward conversations about why I still don't have any of the current gen consoles! The same if I start talking about any of the Mega Drive games I've been replaying on emulators! I could say Dark Souls... but that has a reputation for difficulty, so it'll sound like I'm bragging about how hardcore I am! Oh why oh why can't I just be a normal gamer and say something unremarkable like the latest FIFA or Call of Duty... ahhh, it's been a few seconds and I still haven't responded, better say something!

 

"Ummm... recently I restarted the original Crackdown. I first played through it years ago on the Xbox 360, but I restarted it from scratch the other day."

 

It's as bad as being asked what music I like! :omg:

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Thor

Thor

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45 minutes ago, chris on the moon said:

But I was still too embarrassed to go up to her and say the names of my games. So I never got the other ones back. One of them was "The Legend of Zelda: Link's awakening"

 

I mean this in the nicest possible way...

 

 

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schmojo

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43 minutes ago, Olly88 said:

"She pronounced Yoshi correctly"


She bloody didn't.

 

Exactly. He fucking says it when you jump on his back. And has done for nearly 30 years.

 

It's like Aussies and 'Seega' all over again. Although, to be fair, I think Sega Aus marketing holds the blame for that one.

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Thor

Thor

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Just now, spork said:

The original Deus Ex on PC. Like I knew how to pronounce that in a non embarrassing way!

A guy at work (way back at launch) pronounced it "Due err". He was from across the Loughor bridge though, they put something in the water over there, right @Herbalizer? ;)

 

I've never been embarrassed buying a game in a shop. Talking about games when I was in my twenties and thirties, a bit, yeah. Now? I'll talk about any game, but then I don't play that stupid pervy shit from Japan. -_-

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Not Thread Owner

Not Thread Owner

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My sister in law bought me Lollipop Chainsaw for my birthday one year (it was on a wish list I’d made or something). So I didn’t ask for it but boy did she make me squirm asking about it when I unwrapped it, knowing full well what it was having looked it up herself.

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Gabzy

Gabzy

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I grew up in Portugal and so used to say "Tom Rider" instead of Tomb Raider until I moved go the UK and met my English boyfriend who mercilessly took the piss. I'm now too ashamed to ever pronounce it out loud even though I've actually learned how to say it!

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Qazimod

Qazimod

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“What’s that, you’ve got a new DS game?” “Yes, it’s called ‘Project Rub‘ and the cover is a silhouette of a girl in a bikini“
 

I’m not sure if the title is better or worse than ‘Feel the Magic’...

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Camel

Camel

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Last year I spotted a bunch of Game Gear games in a Cash Converter. Only the front one could be seen though so I had to ask the attractive young lady serving if I could have a look at the others. So she went through them all showing me each.

 

"Yeah, so I'll buy the ... er Mickey Mouse one and the er ... Donald Duck one, thanks." 

 

Nowadays I just just walk around with a big 'L' on my forehead.

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Sie

Sie

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34 minutes ago, spork said:

The original Deus Ex on PC. Like I knew how to pronounce that in a non embarrassing way!

 

Just like @Thor, years ago I used to work with a guy who had an odd way of pronouncing it. He would occasionally mention it as being one of his favourite games ever and was always surprised each time I said I'd never heard of it. After about the 3rd or 4th time he brought it up, I asked him to describe it. It was at that moment I finally realised what "Juicex" was.

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BossSaru

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When I was younger I wanted to get the second Sonic games on the Mega Drive with my Christmas money, so I took my dad to Dixons. My dad held the cash - he was the bag man, in case anything went down. Anyway, we get to the counter and he looks at the box I had pointed out and asked for 'Sonic 2 the Hedgehog'.

 

s-l1000.jpg

 

I don't know why I felt so embarrassed. But I still remember it.

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Dig Dug

Dig Dug

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Somehow I’ve managed to remain mostly shameless when it comes to this and I reckon I can try and spin any game into something that doesn’t sound completely lame if I think hard enough.

”Mushihimesama? You ever hear of this really famous film called Nausicaä? It’s basically that.”

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chris on the moon

chris on the moon

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9 hours ago, dug said:

I don't have any of my own stories on this topic because I can't remember ever being too embarrassed to name a game. But I'm intrigued about your story.

 

Was it general teenage social anxiety that prevented you from being able to say "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening"? Or was there something specific about that particular name? Was it that gaming was a pretty nerdy hobby at the time, and saying that name in full would have exposed your nerdiness to your fellow pupils? If you'd lost a game with an overtly macho name like "Gunguts: Gorekill" or something, would you have been able to say that? Or "Sportsball: Blokesport"?

My anxiety and self esteem was getting pretty bad... but I wouldn't have had any problem saying the name to most of my classmates at that point, so it's not as bad as it got.

I think video games were just not part of an adult reality to me. My video game time was heavily restricted at home, it was something you couldn't take into school (obviously), and just generally considered as something I shouldn't be doing or care about. A waste of time that was bad for me. Child shit from the child realm. When it came to saying the names aloud I became very aware that they were just complete nonsense. It would just be evidence of the worthless crap I was wasting my unrefined emotions and intellect on.

 

9 hours ago, Olly88 said:

"She pronounced Yoshi correctly"


She bloody didn't.

oh FFS. I thought it was one like "Ryu" where we just didn't know any better. Did the announcer on smash say YO shi maybe? Now I can change back and maybe my internal monologue can change actors.

 

7 hours ago, BossSaru said:

Sonic 2 the Hedgehog'.

Back to life

Sonic 2 the hedegehog

 

6 hours ago, Dig Dug said:

Somehow I’ve managed to remain mostly shameless when it comes to this and I reckon I can try and spin any game into something that doesn’t sound completely lame if I think hard enough.

”Mushihimesama? You ever hear of this really famous film called Nausicaä? It’s basically that.”

Famous for NERDS!

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