A declaration of victory or superiority. The phrase stems from a 1991
adaptation of Toaplan's "Zero Wing" shoot-'em-up arcade game for the
Sega Genesis game console. A brief introduction was added to the
opening screen, and it has what many consider to be the worst
Japanese-to-English translation in video game history. The
introduction shows the bridge of a starship in chaos as a Borg-like
figure named CATS materializes and says, "How are you gentlemen!! All
your base are belong to us." [sic] In 2001, this amusing
mistranslation spread virally through the Internet, bringing with it
a slew of JPEGs and a movie of hacked photographs, each showing a
street sign, store front, package label, etc. hacked to read "All
your base are belong to us" or one of the other many supremely dopey
lines from the game (such as "Somebody set up usthe bomb!!!" or "What
happen?"). When these phrases are used properly, the overall effect
is both screamingly funny and somewhat chilling, reminiscent of the B
movie "They Live".
The original has been generalized to "All your X are belong to us",
where X is filled in to connote a sinister takeover of some sort.
Thus, "When Joe signed up for his new job at Yoyodyne, he had to sign
a draconian NDA. It basically said: All your code are belong to us."
Has many of the connotations of "Resistance is futile; you will be
assimilated" (see {Borg}). Considered silly, and most likely to be
used by the type of person that finds {Jeff K.} hilarious.
[glossary]