the.com/fatality
Mortal Kombat's way of asking if you've had enough, then not waiting for an answer.
means A death resulting from an accident, disaster, or violent event — the grim tally-mark of a crash report.
from From Latin 'fatalitas,' rooted in 'fatum' meaning 'that which has been spoken' — the decree of the fates. Originally the word carried the broader sense of being 'ordained by fate' or inevitable doom, before narrowing in English to mean a death itself. The video-game finishing move borrows that old sense of fate sealing the verdict, no appeal possible.
- origin
- term predates games, meant death from accident or disease
- pop culture
- Mortal Kombat 1992 made it a finishing move
- etymology
- from Latin fatalis, decreed by fate
- game design
- requires a button combo after winning, not during