Nintendo seeks to trademark "It's on like Donkey Kong"

Only some 18 years after Ice Cube popularized the phrase “It’s on like Donkey Kong,” Nintendo has decided that it would now like to own it, please. The video-game makers have just filed a request seeking to trademark the saying that’s been used in everything from movie trailers (including the recent Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World) to Jonah Goldberg columns, and which they claim “has a number of possible interpretations depending on how it's used.” Of course, perhaps the most important interpretation in this case is the one that “[points] to Donkey Kong's status as an enduring pop-culture icon and video game superstar”—a superstar who, not so coincidentally, also has a new game coming out that could use some extra publicity. While this is sorted out, you are, of course, free to continue saying, “It’s mine like BurgerTime.”