“I gonna bang the bricks!” — I will draw money from an ATM

Mario is getting some money

Everybody knows how Mario from the Super Mario Brothers is getting money: He bangs against a brick with his head. In real life you can say that you “bang the bricks” if you go to an ATM to draw money from your bank account.

Through this you can not only express your taste in video gaming, but also hint to the fact that ATMs are in fact computers and operate by arbitrary rules. There could theoretically run any software inside. Maybe once you can play Super Mario on them, and if you win your mortgage rates will be lowered.


In the stupid video Mario in Vice City, at 00:37, Mario tries to bang bricks for coins in another game and fails. This video is bad because if favors a “realistic game” — Grand Theft Auto — over a more simple one — Super Mario Brothers. Mario is pictured as helpless because his known rules do not work anymore, and Grand Theft Auto is not pictured as a game at all.

14 Responses to ““I gonna bang the bricks!” — I will draw money from an ATM”

  1. Dean Strelau Says:

    Brilliant! I’m totally going to be using this from now on.

  2. tim Says:

    except everyone knows mario hits the bricks with his fist, not his head.

  3. Brian Says:

    Uh, no. Even your graphic shows he’s banging it with his fist, not his head. Nevertheless, despite your worngness, I will use your neoslangism.

  4. Ken Says:

    Hate to be nitpicky, but in Super Mario Bros. and in your own accompanying image, Mario is CLEARLY hitting the bricks with his fist, not his head.

  5. drx Says:

    Hi everybody,
    i think there is enough room for interpretation in these pixels to claim that he might be using his head. To me it always looked like he his swinging up his arm to gain some momentum in order to hit harder with his cranium. The animation may be ambiguous about it, what the player has to perform — pressing the jump button — is probably what makes some people think it is just about jumping and not about hitting with the fist.

  6. Sarah Says:

    I would like to point out that “bang the bricks” specifies no body part, and call “no foul”!

    In spite of having no substantial enthusiasm for video gaming, I will definitely be sharing this with my friends. It is very clever. Thanks.

  7. Todd Says:

    No. It’s his fist. And I fail to see anything more than a slight correllation between my typing in a PIN to get my money, and Mario receiving coins for hitting a block.

    Thanks anyway.

  8. GramBorder Says:

    Hi all!

    I want to all of you know, World is mine, and yoursite good

    Bye

  9. roglok Says:

    i also thought it was his head - but that’s probably because i first met mario on the gameboy. and there, it’s really hard to tell unless you zoom in, since the fist is only one line above the head and nearly merges with the background:
    http://www.mariobros.it/img/sml.gif
    :)

  10. Tracky B Says:

    Same here. I now realize I’ve been wrong the whole time.

  11. Dan Joy Says:

    Why cant he be using both? If I were to crack a penny out of a stack of bricks I sure would.

  12. foxxye Says:

    I don’t think it’s very important with what it’s Mario “banging the bricks”, am I right? Indeed, a really nice topic…

  13. Cath Jones Says:

    I agree with Sarah and foxxye, it doesn’t really matter what he’s banging the bricks with. Still a cool idion that I’m going to adopt! :)

  14. macks2008 Says:

    I believe I will probably be using this idiom a few times in the near future if not more. I feel sorry for Mario in that video though. That is just cruel lol.

Leave a Reply

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>