@leighalexander In Japan, クリアした, "I cleared it" from the English loan word "clear." — Denton Clark (@beforethesneeze) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander Canada = beating, but now that I think about it that seems unnecessarily violent — Jesse Sonier (@j_sonier) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander in AUS and NZ we say "clocked" it — Joshua Boggs (@jboggsie) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander Canadians say we 'Beat' a game too, and when I was really young (NES era) we would say we 'wrapped' it. — Matthew Thompson (@mashuu83) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander Some young kids I've talked to use 'passed' it. Like passing a class, I guess. — Michael John (@MichaelMJJohn) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander Finns say "pelasin lapi" which translates to "I played through". I like it because it doesn't care if you "won" or not. — Joonas Laakso (@jlaakso) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander When I was a kid we would say we "rundet" (Norwegian; "went all the way around") the game. Fallen out of fashion now. — Are Pedersen (@Zealuu) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander The more popular version in German is "durchzocken". Direct translation is "gamble through" — Golwar (@Golwar) February 2, 2014



@tha_rami @leighalexander 'Uitgespeeld' is a wonderful word; it has like five different game-related meanings, depending on context. — S. Keerssemeeckers (@Stiif) February 2, 2014



FUCKYEAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!! skyrim uitgespeeld — Chantie (@Chantiekills) January 30, 2014



@leighalexander in Ecuador we "win" a game. Yup, like a sport ;) — Jose Andrade (@jandrade) February 2, 2014



@ArabianFrost @leighalexander In Brazil we say "eu zerei o jogo", something like "I zeroed the game". — Alexandre Lemke (@lemke_) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander In some regions on Brazil, we "zero" the game, like a verb — Esteban Maroto (@shingos) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander En Argentina 'Lo voltee' Which translates to 'I turned the game upside down' or 'I had intercorse with the game'. — El negro (@negro_73) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander In Chinese, variations of "through", e.g 打穿 "beat through" (beat=play), 通关 "passing through all passes" (passes=stages). — Madthing in ze Attic (@cucNotes) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander In Hindi, "jeet gaye", which means "we won" is used. For competitive games, it can be "hara diya", meaning "beat them". — Arvind Raja Yadav (@arvindrajayadav) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander In hindi it's खतंम । which is basically "finished" or "completed". — Y. V. Reetesh (@Reetesh) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander The most frequent one I see Koreans write is 엔딩을 본다 (ending-eul bonda,"see the ending") past tense: 엔딩을 봤다 ending-eul boatta — Sam Derboo (@samderboo) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander In Egypt we say "قفلت اللعبة" ('afelt el le'ba), which literally translates to "I closed the game". — Svero ibn Amr (@ArabianFrost) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander In Croatian, it is "pre�ao sam igru", which is literally "I passed the game", and would translate to "I finished the game". — Nikolai Kavalerov (@kavalerov) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander In Mexico:Terminar (Ended it, Finished it), Acabar (Ran out it, no more game to play) and Pasar (Passed it, like a test) — Omar (@modoversus) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander In Venezuela the common thing is to say "Pasamos el juego", which is, literally, "We passed the game". — Daniel Aquino (@AquinoDaneel) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander in Indonesia, in case you haven't heard, we say "saya sudah tamatkan game ini", means "I've finished this game". :) — Fabi Andritto (@bumblebie_) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander In Malay: Habis (Finish). Menang (Win). And we say 'finish' in English in Malaysia, not 'beat'. — PupuCandyNoobSaga (@pUpUnoob) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander in Russia it's usually Прошел — Seductive Barry (@BarrySeductive) February 2, 2014



@leighalexander in Spain we say "petarse el juego" which can be translated as "bursting it out", roughly. — Inakei (@InakeiStation) February 2, 2014



One of my favorite things about living and visiting abroad is to notice the ways idioms change from place to place, even within the same language. Once I'd been in London for a while, I noticed something interesting: Here, my friends don't say they "beat" games.It figures, I thought; "beat" is probably an American conceit, rooted in our capitalistic, competitive culture. My English friends say they "finished" a game, or "completed" it. Much more demure and pragmatic, I reckon.I took to Twitter to test my theory, and ended up delighted by what I learned -- all around the world, people use different ways of saying they've beaten a game. If you're from any of these places, I'll leave it up to you to think about what it says about you.In Japan, they "clear" games. Ah, that sounds about right -- I remember the STAGE CLEAR screens from the inscrutable Japanese games of my youth.Canadians "beat" games too, but they are very sorry about it:Many Australians and New Zealanders reported this one -- interestingly, according to the responses I heard, they share it in common with South Africans and Irish folks:Sometimes there are idiomatic variations unique to one's own social groups:I wonder if Swedes have a special interest in vehicles:Finns seem disinterested in being competitive:Norwegians are tired of all that running around:Apparently there are a couple ways to say it in German -- the practical way, and the hoping for luck:This Dutch term is interesting:Ecuadorians are good sports:A few Brazilians told me that "zero" is common phrasing:Is it true that Argentina's phrasing of "turning" can be read as sexual?China and Israel also like to beat and win:There are few different ways to say it in Hindi, it seems:Possibly Korea would just like to see the ending:In Egypt, they apparently "close" a game:"Pass" is a popular way to think of it in Mexico, Venezuela and Croatia:Malaysia and Indonesia are mostly "finish"-ers:I'm afraid I don't know how to read this, Russian friends:And you, Spain. What do you make of this?