Tuesday, October 23, 2007
"owned" | 7:04 PM
"Sir, wait I own you in SF then you know!"
Have you ever wondered how this word "own" and its derivative form "owned" come from?
Inspiration struck me while I was walking my brother's dog, Prince, whom I'm helping to babysit while he is away on holiday with his family (sense the simmering frustration?).
My theory goes like this :
Teenagers go around using the word "own" mainly in games, especially those you play online. With the limited budget they have, they have few things they can truly call "their own". So, apart from the handphones which they cannot afford, the EZ-link card which are topped up using cash from their parents, the very clothes they have on their bodies, most teens have a insiatiable desire to stake their claim in this big, big world out there - all thanks to the alluring advertisements and many temptations they encounter daily. Unless they are born with a titanium spoon (note the upgrade!) or they belong to a minute group who work for extra spending cash, they turn their attention to "own" each other in competitions and games instead. They train day and night, skipping even their favourite television programmes sometimes to "own" their peers on WOW, Mapel Story (too cutsy pie for me. Yucks!), CS, SF, etc.. Sometimes, the rare dish comes by in the form of a naive adult (ahem) who decides to pit his/her skills against these relentless youngsters. The well-trained teenager jumps onto this offer of course! How else do you get to bash up an adult to pulp using the most gory and violent means except in the virtual world of the WWW? I mean, I have been "owned" most of the time (perhaps all of the time) on these online games! Seriously, some of them are good! Don't underestimate the sleepy or nerdy looks they put on in classes. Once they are infront of their LCD screens (something they do not own), they set out to "own" and conquer the world! So don't pray pray!
Let me use an analogy of my brother's dog. Just now, while out on a walk around my neighbourhood, I decided to take a few pictures of him "owning" the territories along our journey. Here's a sample of the blury shots (beware, you may lose your appetite!) :
Prince, the mighty one, leaves no spot un-"owned"!
Firstly, he takes out the base of this big tree (it's big compared to his small body). 
The fallen branches and dry leaves (indicating death had already taken place hours before) are not spared! 
Prince is so skilful that my handphone camera failed to capture him in action when he tried to "own" I-don't-remember-what.
Oh, those poles! He loves prancing around them while he takes his time to pee, "owning" them.
Young shoots- newbies or otherwise "noobs" make easy killings. OWNED!999999 hours later, a contented Prince reaches the lift landing, looking absolutely victorious and perhaps exhibiting some withdrawal symptoms for not being able to "own" more territories. He is dragged back home of course by me who has truly "owned" him. :)
Comments?
