Phrase Origin: Do Not Want
The phrase “Do not want” is one of endless amusement, now spoken often in my department when referring to anything bad or…well…unwanted. The phrase is brilliantly humorous and more so now that I know its accidental origin.
But where did this epic phrase come from? I found out yesterday that I had inadvertently blogged about the origin without even realizing it in titled Star Wars, Backstroke of the West. As I mentioned in my previous post, this was Star Wars Episode III recorded in theater, dubbed in Chinese, then subtitled in English off the Chinese dubbing…thus resulting in truly hilarious phrases, such as “Like, reach the man, Good good good let us counter-attacking.”; “The Presbyterian Church like enjoys you not.”; and of course: “Do not want”.
This gem that I’m focusing on in this post occurs when Anakin Skywalker - clad in his Darth Vader garb - learns of Padme’s death. In Episode III he yells: “Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!”, however, the skillfully done translation of the Chinese dubbing to English resulted in the beloved phrase: “Do not want.”
Beautiful. The world has seen this phrase’s real-world usefulness and has embraced it with open arms producing high-end content like the lolcats at I Can Has Cheez Burger:
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6 Responses to “Phrase Origin: Do Not Want”
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Wandering Pig Effer
Posted: Nov 14th, 2007 at 6:50 am1 -
Will
Posted: Jan 27th, 2008 at 8:20 pmReply to this comment.Thanks for clearing up the origin of “Do Not Want.” I’ve been wondering about it for a while.
Now, if only I could find the origin of the phrase “_______ Get.” For example:
http://blog.wired.com/games/2006/11/virtual_console.html
http://kotaku.com/gaming/tag/wii-get–a-side-story-218892.php
http://kotaku.com/gaming/mii/storm-trooper-wii-get-218943.php
http://kotaku.com/tag/shine-get/I assume it also originates from a bad translation, likely from a Japanese source, given the videogame connection.
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Chris
Posted: Feb 28th, 2008 at 6:18 pmReply to this comment.“_______ Get” is almost certainly a direct rendition of a bit of Engrish found in some Japanese game, possibly Pokemon or something similar.
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Dallas
Posted: Jun 30th, 2008 at 7:44 amReply to this comment.Great info, the phrase ‘Do not want’ is used with some regularity on woot.com during a woot-off(in comments blog), when a less than desirable product makes it’s way to the stage. Glad to know the origin. Thanks.
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Kabal
Posted: Jul 30th, 2008 at 6:45 amReply to this comment.I believe “* GET!” came from Super Mario Sunshine on the Gamecube. When you got a shine, the game would say “SHINE GET!” in giant text on the screen.
But it seems reasonably common in other places. Ie, the Japanese copy of Wipeout Pure I got had a sticker on the front saying “WIRELESS GET!”..
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pingback:
Posted: Oct 6th, 2008 at 7:10 amFree Radical go back to their roots at That VideoGame Blog Reply to this comment.[...] 1999 (Remember those? See below) and features a monkey in a suit of armour re-enacting the classic “Do not want” scene from Episode [...]
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I recently came across the source of the phrase “All your base are belong to us”.
An old Sega Genesis game called ‘Zero Wing’ was poorly translated. Germans translated Japanese to English. One of the lines was “All Your Base Are Belong to Us” and was later turned into a vastly popular flash music video. I think you can still find it on newgrounds.com.
I love these mis-translations!