"All your ___ are belong to us"

Fred   Thu Dec 22, 2005 1:05 pm GMT
What does "all your base are belong to us" mean and who uses sentences of the form "All your ___ are belong to us" in speech?
http://www.basetree.com/thumbs/21allyourbase.jpg
http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/front/lg-all-your-base-front.jpg
Guest   Thu Dec 22, 2005 1:37 pm GMT
Isn't this just a legendary example of deliberately incorrect English grammar?

(Of course some folks say there is no such thing as incorrect English grammar, so this would then be an example of unusual or atypical usage.)
JJM   Thu Dec 22, 2005 3:33 pm GMT
Well, "all your base are belong to us" would be recognized as "wrong" by just about any native English speaker.

The term "incorrect" could be used with a considerable degree of assurance here.

Generally, I treat English "grammar errors" in three categories:

1. True errors - these are constructions which would be universally recognized as "not sounding right" by most native speakers. Examples include:

All your base are belong to us.

That children are angry.

2. Relative errors - these are constructions that might be considered errors in one dialect group but not another. Examples:

If I was you.

Jim and me went to the movies.

3. False errors - these are entirely arbitrary judgments on what is right or wrong based on no real foundation of fact. Examples:

To boldly go (split infinitives).

It's me!
Thomas   Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:13 pm GMT
anonymous2   Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:16 pm GMT
This idiom is based on a quote from a really old Japanese computer game. Whoever came up with that obviously had trouble with English grammar, but most people would just recognize it as some kind of cliche without even knowing where it came from.

It is not uncommon for idioms and cliches to violate the rules of grammar. For instance, technically "if worst comes to worst" should be "if the worst comes to the worst", but people just recognize it as a fixed expression, and it doesn't strike anyone as being ungrammatical. I read about it on the Internet, but I can't find that page.
Tom K.   Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:09 pm GMT
I remember that--it's from a BADLY done English translation of a Japanese video game:

"What happen?"
"Someone set us up the bomb!"
"We get signal!"
"Main screen turn on."
"It's you!"
"How are you gentlemen. All your base are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time."
Guest   Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:22 pm GMT
OK -- so it's a real example of incorrect/unusual grammar. I'd always thought this was just a joke meant to parody bad/atypical English.
Tiffany   Thu Dec 22, 2005 8:36 pm GMT
I believe Tom K. (the owner of antimoon) has a star by his name... so that means you are a different Tom K.

"All your base all belong to us," is bad English - but not constructed by a native speaker, rather the Japanese.
Uriel   Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:18 am GMT
<<It is not uncommon for idioms and cliches to violate the rules of grammar. For instance, technically "if worst comes to worst" should be "if the worst comes to the worst">>

Really? I've always known that expression as "If worse comes to worst" -- i.e., if it goes from bad to really, really bad.
Kirk   Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:39 am GMT
<<Of course some folks say there is no such thing as incorrect English grammar, so this would then be an example of unusual or atypical usage.>>

I don't think very many people say that. As JJM explained, there is no such thing as "incorrect grammar" as spoken by native speakers, but there definitely can be in terms of nonnatives. Also, this doesn't apply just to English but any language.
anonymous2   Fri Dec 23, 2005 8:50 am GMT
Speaking of "if worst comes to worst" and "if worse comes to worst", both are acceptable according to dictionary.com.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=if%20worst%20comes%20to%20worst
anonymous2   Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:13 am GMT
There are some other common phrases that originated from bad (i.e. non-native) grammar:

- Long time no see
- No go

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_English_Pidgin
anonymous2   Thu Dec 29, 2005 6:08 am GMT
The previous message does not imply that "if worst/worse comes to worst" originated from non-native grammar. It's not clear where it came from, but it sounds perfectly nativelike. It's "all your base are belong to us" that sounds foreign.
Guest   Thu Dec 29, 2005 6:09 am GMT
All your base are belong to us and you must to die!
Tom K.   Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:21 pm GMT
"I believe Tom K. (the owner of antimoon) has a star by his name... so that means you are a different Tom K. "

The owner is just "Tom" with no K.