Skip Navigation
Today I Learned @lemmy.world
TriflingToad @sh.itjust.works

TIL "NA" in videogames is short for 'North America' and not 'Non Applicable'

I feel SO dumb right now 😭

I was watching a counterstrike video (I don't play CS) and the youtuber said "...who is one of the best North America players..." while a statistics page showed kill/death, win/loss, etc. But it also showed "NA". This along with the verbal "North America" was enough for the very lazy neurons in my brain finally make a basic connection that those two things are connected. I always assumed it just meant "somewhere we don't have an abbreviation for" or "location private" or something.

20 comments

  • Lol that’s a totally understandable and relatable flub. It’s one of those things that’s only relevant when you already know it’s there and what it means. Otherwise there’s no reason for your brain to think twice about it, so you subconsciously file it away with the most common meaning for NA. And every time you see it in passing you inadvertently reinforce that meaning. I find myself doing that shit all that time. The eureka moment sure is fun though! Our brains are wild.

  • As someone who spent the largest chunk of their working life involved in localizing games, and doesn't come from North America, this post was an 'oh yeah, that's knowledge I take for granted' moment.

    You shouldn't feel dumb; it's just not been a useful thing for you to know.

  • When combined with other data on the same line and written without the slash, it usually won't mean not applicable.

    If it's in some sort of published professional context, I wouldn't read it as not applicable without the slash.

    North America is a reasonable guess when specifying region could be context appropriate. Like you said with video game team names, but also company/org names, species common names, or treaties.

20 comments