Nintendo thumb

(nin.TEN.doh thum; th as in thin)

n.

A repetitive stress injury that causes swelling at the base of the thumb due to overuse of video games.

Example Citation:

Professional skateboarding looks utterly terrifying, but even the timid can do kick flips, air walks and nose grabs in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 from NeverSoft. . . . [If] you have no fear or common sense, skateboarding looks as though it could be fun, and Tony Hawk 3 provides an opportunity to ride a skateboard onto moving cars and glide across telephone lines with no risk of injury beyond what my orthopedist calls Nintendo thumb.

— Charles Herold, "Boarder's Dilemma: Bleed or Sink," The New York Times, December 27, 2001

Earliest Citation:

There is also the faint possibility of an attack of Nintendo thumb, or Nintenditis. Nicole LaBruzzy, a 17-year-old from Utica, Michigan, is unable to carry a shopping bag and is suing Nintendo for damage to the thumb caused by over-enthusiastic pounding of Game Boy.

— Eric Bailey, "Is there is no rescue at hand in this Super Mario Land?," The Daily Telegraph, December 23, 1991

Notes:

This form of injury has what may be an even better name: Nintendinitis (see the earliest citation).

Related Words:

BlackBerry thumb

first-person shooter

frag

LAN party

mouse wrist

Nintendo epilepsy

phone neck

text message injury

thumb candy

thumb culture

thumbable

thumbo

thumboard

Wii elbow

Categories:

Games

Diseases and Syndromes