{"id":136302,"date":"2026-03-03T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-197285"},"modified":"2026-03-03T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:00:00","slug":"feature-astonish-is-super-effective-how-pokemon-taught-me-to-love-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2026\/03\/03\/feature-astonish-is-super-effective-how-pokemon-taught-me-to-love-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature: “Astonish Is Super Effective!” – How Pok\u00e9mon Taught Me To Love Words"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n
\"Axew<\/a>
<\/span> Image: Alana Hagues \/ Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

“Enemy DUGTRIO used Fissure. It\u2019s super effective!”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m six years old, and I\u2019m staring at Pok\u00e9mon Yellow<\/a> on my Game Boy Color screen, dumbfounded. This was my first time fighting Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, and he managed to one-shot my Blastoise with a move \u2014 a word \u2014 I\u2019d never seen before. Fissure?<\/em> What\u2019s that, a fish of some sort?<\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t the first, nor the last, time Pok\u00e9mon introduced me to language. The series has a bit of a reputation for using lots<\/em> of words, but besides the over-tutorialisation of modern-day \u2018mon, it\u2019s never really bothered me. Pok\u00e9mon is a series I\u2019ve grown up with and, alongside reading books, taught me to love words.<\/p>\n

Imagine asking your parents at six what \u2018Guillotine\u2019 means (pronounced extremely<\/em> incorrectly, of course) after a Krabby just hammered you with its big claws; besides reading French Revolution textbooks or slicing paper, when else will that come up? I kept pestering every time I saw an attack I had no understanding of. What on earth is an \u2018Aurora Beam\u2019? And what does it mean to \u2018Constrict\u2019 something?<\/p>\n

\"Pok\u00e9mon<\/a>
<\/span> Image: The Pok\u00e9mon Company<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After consulting my parents and eventually diving into pocket dictionaries, I discovered that these names are absolutely deliberate \u2013 most of the time. Constrict is a move that can reduce your speed, and that makes sense, because you\u2019re wrapping up a creature in something. Aurora Beam is just a beam of colourful lights, but absolutely a reference to the Northern or Southern Lights, hence the Ice-typing. And we all know what a Guillotine is, right?<\/p>\n

From taking \u2018Recoil\u2019 damage to learning about cell movement with \u2018Kinesis\u2019, Pok\u00e9mon Yellow kept throwing new words and meanings my way. At six, I was curious but introverted, with Pok\u00e9mon acting as my gateway to adventure and my love of RPGs. And I wasn\u2019t just falling head-over-heels for the cute critters and aimlessly wishing Pok\u00e9mon were real creatures \u2013 I wanted to use those words and meanings I was learning about in-game in real life.<\/p>\n

Pok\u00e9mon battles were both a chance to demonstrate my understanding of type match-ups and a place where I could learn not just the art of battle, but the art of language.<\/p>\n

In Pok\u00e9mon Silver<\/a>, I found out what it meant to \u2018perish\u2019 thanks to Misty\u2019s Lapras. In Pok\u00e9mon Sapphire<\/a>, I was astonished when my Combusken \u2018flinched\u2019 after a Whismur\u2019s attack. I learned about Aromatherapy, too \u2013 and no, it doesn\u2019t cure all ailments in real life, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

The older I got, the less I relied on questioning family and flicking through hundred-page books to find out the meaning, because animations got better in the jump from Game Boy to GBA. I understood that Teeter Dance \u2014 the signature move of Spinda, a clumsy, wobbly Pok\u00e9mon \u2014 meant that the opponent was swaying in an attempt to confuse my Gardevoir, because that\u2019s what the game was showing me, as best as it could in 2003.<\/p>\n