Breakfast Topic: Foot in mouth disease

The World of Warcraft is a common topic of discussion in my family. As such, I tend to forget that while my parents might enjoy hearing about my exploits on my shiny new shaman, my friends may not. In fact, they may very likely have no idea what I'm going on about. A simple change in subject can fix that well enough. Laugh it off and move on.
Sometimes, though, I say these things in public. Maybe I'm on the phone with Dad or shopping with Mom, and suddenly a lack of context leads to embarrassing misunderstandings. To wit:
- I spent all last weekend grinding on turtles. So many turtles! They just kept coming!
- That guy in Tarren Mill is awful! He always convinces me to poison the dog.
- I kept beating that priest over and over and he just wouldn't die!
All innocent statements, if you know the jargon and context. All reprehensibly immoral acts punishable by a court of law, if you don't.
So, what was the last thing you said in front of a friend (see statement 1), complete stranger (statement 2) or professor who holds your grade in his/her hands (statement 3) that you wish you hadn't? What reaction did you get? How did you explain your seemingly ludicrous statement -- or did you even bother?
And rest assured that we all know what you mean here.
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Humor, Guest Posts






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
toadstool Aug 11th 2010 8:03AM
crappy morning topic is crappy, Real life slips of WoW comments has been done to death here.
Noyou Aug 11th 2010 8:08AM
Wow. Someone crapped in your cereal. First of all if you don't like it move on. I'm guessing this was a conversation starter to share a laugh not be all bitter. I could be wrong but I'm pretty good at detecting things. :)
Jamie Aug 11th 2010 8:10AM
I know this because someone else is psychic.
Aedilhild Aug 11th 2010 9:28AM
Speaking of done to death, nice internet cliche you started off with, there.
As to the topic, I've been surprisingly capable in compartmentalizing my WoW play. I participate in forum conversations about game mechanics so esoteric they might throw guildies for a loop; then I turn around and write general-audience articles about the game, placing words like tank and threat in quotation marks.
The key, I suppose, is how much I enjoy explaining the game on a basic level to the unacquainted — no jargon, lots of analogies, vital summary. It's certainly a challenge.
Zaros Aug 11th 2010 10:35AM
The things he said were still hilarious.
Imagine telling your BF/GF that you were grinding on turtles :P
(cutaia) Aug 11th 2010 12:34PM
Except, this isn't about "real life slips of wow comments" (i.e. accidentally talking about wow). This is about purposeful wow comments being completely misunderstood by nearby folks who don't know the game/lingo/etc.
Nuance. Learn about it.
Sean Aug 11th 2010 8:06AM
Ok when i finally got into wow my professor used to be into it and talked more about then i did so that never happened
"beware that Ice of Sauron in Icecrown" i said to a stranger who was balding eww...that was a bad one!
This one was funny though on monday one of my coworkers walked up to me at the coffee shop at lunch and one of her internet friends or stalkers i can't recall which were trying to convince her to play and she thought wow was some cybering game by the impression he gave her.
Noyou Aug 11th 2010 8:11AM
Must have been from Moonguard .
Dboy Aug 11th 2010 7:37PM
Good grammar makes ramblings understandable!
Gamer am I Aug 11th 2010 8:07AM
I once assumed that telling about a dozen or so people that I spent the weekend saving up gold for my epic mount wouldn't lead to any hilarious misunderstandings. Somehow, it did; I'm not sure what they thought I meant, but it was probably more exciting than doing Ogri'la dailies, so I was quite happy to let them think what they wanted to think.
Jamie Aug 11th 2010 8:08AM
I've been getting this for years and years, my mum would always tell me & my brother to keep down the gaming talk because just wouldn't understand any of the following:
1. So I jumped on 5 of the goombas' heads and got an extra life, I was pretty pleased they didn't hurt me when I touched em.
2. I've searching the basement in the old well in the village and you'll never guess what!!? Undead... tonnes of em, I have the Lens of Truth though so I didn't fall down the holes and into the zombie lair, which is good because they H-U-M-P you!!
(C'mon... you've seen zombies in the Nintendo 64 versions of Legend of Zelda, they grip on for dear life and don't stop till you have no fight or life left... game over man, game effing over)
3. So I beat up the dude's rattatta with my pidgey, I was pretty stoked as it was my last monster left in my ball.
Oh the fun we had...
Pat Aug 11th 2010 8:37AM
Mum often finds old figurines and such I use to play with as a kid and will tell me she has found more "Warcrafts"
The only time things have ever slipped out is if I get a call while im tanking and I answer it mid fight and someone will ask what i'm doing and I'll just be like "Playing a game" and they either hear me humming a tune while they talk (I like to stay in a rhythm while tanking) or I say somthing in vent and whoever is on the phone gets confused.
When I lived with my mother she would often hear me on vent and think I was losing my mind.
"Pause the game, Dinner is ready" ..."It doesn't pause.." "Don't lie to me!"
Sorry had to add that xD
thegatherer Aug 11th 2010 9:50AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5CjltqhX2o
Here you go, a perfect example of the redeads from OOT.
Chetti Aug 11th 2010 9:55AM
@Pat, I would get the same thing. "Can you help me a min?" "yeah, I just need a couple minutes to finish this instance" "... you cant walk away for like a minute" .. "not at the moment no, it doesn't pause" "OK! (with a huff lol)"
Kaf Aug 12th 2010 12:57AM
@Pat: Oh, it took my non-gaming-family-members sooo long to figure out online games don't pause. XD
Darthbragg Aug 11th 2010 11:18AM
@ Pat
Thank you! I’m not the only one who likes to keep the beat when tanking. Once I was really getting into a tank groove during H HoR and my wife walks in and asks, “Are you dancing”. I spent 10 min talking about how it was a very hard random and how I was kicking butt while she just stared at the screen wondering what she’s doing with her life.
dinnercoat Aug 11th 2010 12:19PM
@Pat
"Pause the game, Dinner is ready" ..."It doesn't pause.." "Don't lie to me!"
Lol win.
Scougelord Aug 11th 2010 8:08AM
I just don't talk about WoW in public at all. I'd feel pretty self concious about it, and I can talk about WoW as much as I want in-game/at a friends house etc.
Scougelord Aug 11th 2010 8:13AM
However, I USED to discretely talk about WoW in public with a gaming friend until someone heard it, and it got out that I play WoW. Most people have a stereotypical negative view of gamers so it was quite embarassing.
Nawaf Aug 11th 2010 9:42AM
I'm the same as you. Even if I talk about WoW with other WoW players I rarely do it with other people who don't play WoW around. It's sometimes weird.