Tonight I was talking to my wife about some flowers I got for my daughter after her Christmas concert. I don't remember how it came up, but I accused her of having a secret reason for wanting to cut the stems of Emma's flowers, to which she replied "Well that's one aspect of it." Immediately my mind sarcastically replied with "Aspect of the Hawk?"
For the less damaged out there, Aspect of the Hawk is an ability in World of Warcraft, one of many different Aspect of the _____ abilities the Hunter class can use to enhance themselves. After spending nearly a year playing a Hunter and juggling aspects, that word is now forever associated with Aspect of the Hawk.
Sadly, that's not the only word that has been corrupted in my mind.
Whenever I hear someone reference the island of of Granada, I instantly hear the screaming soldier from Call of Duty 4 whenever someone would throw a grenade. So famous/annoying is that sound that it's the first one in this clip.
Whenever the word "war" is left hanging in the air, I must finish it with the intro to Fallout 3.
If something is effective, it must do 1.5x to 2x damage, because that's how Pokemon works. If something must be caught in large quantities, "Gotta Catch 'em All" starts playing in my head.
If a high pitched voice says "Hey" or "Listen!" I'm feeling the urge to swat at a stupid fairy. In a cruel twist of fate, my son likes to say "Hey" and "Listen!" when my daughter is ignoring him...
If an outdoor location is dangerous, I see an old man cautioning me about going out alone and then giving me a sword... only to send me out alone anyway.
When there's talk of cake, I want to inform people that it's likely a lie. If someone asks if I'm still alive, I'm soon serenaded by the sweet voice of GLaDOS.
Any reference to bubblegum takes me back to the days of Duke Nukem.
The ding dong you hear when entering a gas station triggers "Seeeegaaaaaa" in the back of my head.
Any utterance of Latin has me listening for Requiescat en Pace, the phrase uttered by the protagonists of Assassin's Creed whenever they'd kill an important target.
Don't utter "Would you kindly..." around me or I'm liable to bludgeon you to death with a golf club. Of course my legal defense would have to be "A man chooses; a slave obeys." [man I want to play Bioshock again!]
When I tell my kids to finish something (usually cleaning up), "Finish Him!" booms in my ears. I've yet to see them uppercut their dirty rooms in to a spike pit, but I'm sure it'll happen one day.
Whenever I'm the first to do something I want to scream "First blood!" Instead of killing two birds with one stone, I want to throw something and shout "Double kill!"
And of course, anytime someone says "Here we go!" it's immediately filtered through my brain to sound like Mario.
That's my clip-heavy way of saying that gaming culture has very much infected my daily conversations with people, but it's so entertaining that I can't imagine wanting to fix it.
So what are your trigger words? What can someone say or do to bring a game reference to mind? And I want to hear some feedback so I don't feel like a total maniac!
See you tomorrow!
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