Where did the Pac-Man term "Cruise Elroy" come from?

July 15, 2005 4:13 PM

Where did the Pac-Man term "Cruise Elroy" come from?

From the Wikipedia entry on Pac-Man: "Blinky ('Shadow') is the red monster. He tends to pursue Pac-Man closely. When a certain number of dots are eaten on the board (depending on the level), Blinky will receive a considerable boost in speed. Pac-Man fans refer to this change as 'Cruise Elroy,' though the origin of this term is unknown."

Googling for "Cruise Elroy" doesn't yield any more information. Where did it come from? How does a phrase like this crop up and spread undetected?

posted by danb to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

I'm no Pac-Man buff, but I will go all languagehat on you and suggest you create a thread over on Word Origins.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:56 PM on July 15, 2005

Elroy was the son on the Jetsons, no? Not that it helps.
posted by mai at 5:17 PM on July 15, 2005

Cruise Elroy backslang for Royal Cruise? Just guessing.
posted by SPrintF at 5:52 PM on July 15, 2005

The Jetsons was my first thought as well. In the show intro, Elroy gets sent to school in a little pod-like "cruiser." If you squint hard enough, you notice it has sorta the same shape as a Pac Man ghost.
posted by Galvatron at 5:59 PM on July 15, 2005

Blinky/Shadow: Red.

Perhaps "Cruise Elroy" was a reference to Hawaiian race car driver Elroy Goto.
posted by Smart Dalek at 3:20 PM on July 16, 2005