We learn a lot of words growing up. We learn a lot of words at school. We might even learn some at college. But as expansive as our vocabularies can become through traditional means of education, let’s not forget that video games can teach us new words as well. Usually weird ones.
I started playing games on a Commodore 64, at the age of 4. I am now 34. In that time I’ve been introduced to all kinds of words from playing video games, many of them from playing games that I maybe shouldn’t have been playing at a young age. Except that Alex Kidd one. I like to think that’s just a piece of inspired/crazy localisation work.
I’m sure you have too. And that’s what’s so great about this! We could each draw up a list of ten words and each list would probably be ten different words, depending on how old you were, what games you were playing and how terrible your school system is.
It’s not to say video games are somehow an essential part of our education. We absorb new words from everything we do and consume, from the books we read to the movies we watch. But video games just seem more…random.
The words are so often obscure, niche, enthusiast, things you wouldn’t normally come across unless you were super into something.
Anyway, here’s a list of the words I can remember learning from video games. And yes, I had to Google “reticulating” to make sure it was actually a real word.
ZIGGURAT (Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars, Sega, 1986)
A rectangular stepped tower, sometimes surmounted by a temple. Ziggurats are first attested in the late 3rd millennium BC and probably inspired the biblical story of the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1 — 9).
EPEE (Sid Meier’s Pirates!, Microprose, 1987)
A sharp-pointed duelling sword, used, with the end blunted, in fencing.
FORENSICS (Police Quest II: The Vengeance, Sierra, 1988)
Scientific tests or techniques used in connection with the detection of crime.
AILERON (Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat, EA, 1991)
A hinged surface in the trailing edge of an aeroplane wing, used to control the roll of an aircraft about its longitudinal axis.
RETICULATING (SimCity 2000, Maxis, 1994)
(Gerund or present participle of reticulate)
Divide or mark (something) in such a way as to resemble a net or network.
POLYTHEISM (Civilisation II, Microprose, 1996)
The belief in or worship of more than one god.
ENCUMBER (The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, 2002)
Restrict or impede (someone or something) in such a way that free action or movement is difficult.
DEMESNE (Crusader Kings II, Paradox, 2012)
A piece of land attached to a manor and retained by the owner for their own use. “because labour was cheap, there were ample advantages in cultivating the demesne”
There are probably a lot more, but these are the ones that stick out in my mind has having definitely been found in video games. If you’re like me (or Chris), and have a list of your own, give us some examples below! I’ll get some of the better ones and add it to the post.
READER EXAMPLES
OBLIGE (Streets of Rage, Sega, 1991)
Make (someone) legally or morally bound to do something. (Reverend Hunt)
FUNICULAR (Deus Ex Human Revolution, Eidos, 2011)
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other. (Evan Soloway)
CRENELLATION (Age of Empires, Ensemble, 1997)
Adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet. (DarkPrince010)
TACITURN (Final Fantasy VI, Square Enix, 1994)
(of a person) reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little. (Kevroeques)
Comments
7 responses to “The Weird Words You Learn From Video Games”
Picked up quite a few from Civilisation as a kid… it even almost earned us getting our mouths washed out with soap, the time our mother walked in while my brother and I planned naval strategy.
“What next? Frigate?”
“Yeah, frigate.”
“Both of you, get up. Now!”
Spoony!
Of the bard persuasion?
I learned Ziggurat from playing the undead in Warcraft myself.
‘Zephyr’ from Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon.
‘Phlanx’ from Sid Meier as well.
Think you mean phalanx
He put ‘reticulating’ up there from SimCity 2000, but I also didn’t know what a ‘spline’ was back then either (I’m all over that shit now though).
Slightly off-topic but actually learnt English as a whole from video-games (I’m French). Started small but by the time I was in high school I was playing Xenogears and Final Fantasy Tactics, which meant my vocabulary got good enough to have deep discussions about psychology and religion – among other things! Possibly freaked out a few of my English teachers with this.