In-jokes and references/emotes

Blizzard has included many in-jokes and pop-culture references in various forms throughout WoW.

Blood Elf Female

 * An option in the " " slash command produces "Is that a Mana Wyrm in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?". Originally spoken by Mae West to a police officer (saying "gun" instead of "Mana Wyrm"), it has been widely used and become something of a snowclone.
 * "Mirrors can't talk. Luckily for you, they can't laugh either.", is a reference to the fairy tale "Snow White", where the evil witch talks to her mirror.

Blood Elf Male

 * A possible " " slash command response is "I know every rose has its thorn, but if you would just pour some sugar on me, we could rock and roll and party every day." These reference the heavy rock songs "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison, "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard, and "Rock and Roll All Night" by Kiss
 * A possible " " slash command response is "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" It could be said that this was taken from the 2005 song "Don't Cha" by the Pussycat Dolls. It could also be said that it was taken from the 1988 song "Swass" by Sir Mix-A-Lot, who co-wrote the "Don't Cha" song mentioned above.

Gnome Female

 * One of the gnome female's " " slash commands results in the her saying: "Some day, I hope to find the nuggets on a chicken." This is most likely a reference to the well-known McDonald's Chicken McNugget food item. This also may be a reference to the Carl's Jr. franchises popular commercials asking where one would find the nuggets on a chicken. Most likely, however, it is simply a joke about the well known meal, Chicken Nuggets.
 * When a female gnome dies she shouts, "Sega!" like the old Sega TV ads in the 90's.

Gnome Male

 * A " " slash command if you are playing as a male gnome sometimes makes your character say "I like large posteriors and I cannot prevaricate." This verbosely paraphrases the opening line of one hit wonder Sir Mix-a-lot's single hit, Baby Got Back: "I like big butts and I cannot lie." This was also said by Brent Sienna from PVP Online to his girlfriend Jade Fontane when asked to stop telling people "he liked her junk in the trunk".

Human Female

 * One of the human female's " " slash commands results in the following statement: "I can't wait until this quest is done and I can look for another Garibaldi artifact." is a reference to Alias, with Sydney Bristow always looking for Rambaldi artifacts.
 * Another " " slash command is "Why does everyone automatically assume I know tailoring and cooking?" This could be a reference to the old belief that all women should be the ones to stay home, sew, and cook dinner for the family.

Human Male

 * One of the human male's " " slash commands results in the following statement: "So, I have this idea for a great movie. It's about two gnomes who find a bracelet of power, and they have to take it to the Burning Steppes and cast it into the Cauldron. They form the Brotherhood of the Bracelet. Along the way they're trailed by a murloc named Gottum, who's obsessed with the bracelet, and nine bracelet bogeymen. It could be a three parter, called 'Ruler of the Bracelet'. The first part would be called 'The Brotherhood of the Bracelet', followed by 'A Couple of Towers', with a climactic ending called 'Hey, Look, the King's Back!'" This is a reference to the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.
 * The /flirt command "How ya doing?", a reference to Joey from the Friends tv show.

Orc Female

 * One of the " slash command options is "You had me at "Zugzug"".  This is a reference to two films: Jerry Maguire, in which the title character's estranged girlfriend responds to his appearance and pleas for forgiveness with "You had me at "Hello"", and "Zugzug", which is Orcish for 'Hello' or 'Okay'.  Another possible explanation is the delightfully loopy Caveman, starring Ringo Starr, Dennis Quaid, and Shelley Long, which features a "language" including the phrase "zug-zug" to refer to sexual intercourse. Zugzug is also a phrase often spoken by orcs.

Orc Male

 * Male orc " " slash command: "It's not easy being green." This is the title of a song performed by Kermit the Frog.
 * Male orc " " slash command: "Orc smash!" This is in reference to the catch phrase/battle cry of the Incredible Hulk ("Hulk smash!"), a Marvel Comics character commonly depicted with massive musculature and green skin.

Tauren Female

 * " " slash command: "In my native tongue, my name is Dances with Tassels." A reference to the Kevin Costner movie Dances with Wolves.
 * "Happy Tauren come from Mulgore." The Milk Advisory Board's commercials included the slogan "happy cows come from California."

Tauren Male

 * " " slash command: "Are you comfortable with complicated machinery?" May be a reference to the machinery Daedalus constructed to help Pasiphaë, as described in Minotaur. This could also be a reference to Cow milkers.
 * " " slash command: "Here's the Beef" is a reference to a popular commercial campaign in the 80's in which old ladies asked each other "Where's the Beef"
 * " " slash command: "Moo. There, ya happy now?" could be a reference to the popular misconception that Bulls are "male cows", when in fact cows are female cattle. Or, more likely, it simply parodies the popularity of bovine humor as a whole.

Troll Male

 * As is pointed out on the Joke page, male troll's " " slash command about killing two dwarves in the morning, and then killing two dwarves at night. This a reference to the Toyes' song "Smoke two Joints" and follows the same scheme only replaces smoking joints with killing dwarves.   This was removed by a recent patch, owing to "legal reasons" presumably related to copyright, although it is also possible that Blizzard was pressured to cut the joke because of the drug content.

Draenei Female

 * "Are you thinking what I am thinking? Good.  Bring an ample supply of butter, and Goblin Jumper Cables" Seems to be a reference to the show Kenan and Kel.  At the end of every episode, Kenan would tell Kell to bring a number of objects somewhere for one of Kenan's schemes, using the line "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" This may also be in reference to a recurring line from "Pinky and the Brain." "Pinky, are your pondering what I'm pondering?" "I think so brain but how are going to get the rubber lederhosen on the mice?"  This could also be in reference to a bit of humor from Jeff Foxworthy comparing "married" and "single" sex lives, with the line "There I was, tied to the bed, motor oil spread all over me.  She walked in with a saddle, and a pair of jumper cables."
 * "Yes, they are real, and they can cut glass." This is a possible reference to a line spoken by Terri Hatcher's character, Sidra, in the Seinfeld television series, Season 4, Episode 19, The Implant.  After Jerry's plot to find out if Sidra had breast implants becomes known to her, she says, "By the way, they're real, and they're spectacular!" It may also be a counter to the Female Dwarf joke, "No they're not real, but thanks for noticing."

Draenei Male

 * ""We have it all figured out. Step One: We land the Exodar. Step Three: We defeat Legion and go home. But there is only one detail missing." is a reference to South Park, the episode where Tweak's underpants are stolen by the Underpants Gnomes. Their reasoning behind stealing them is illustrated on a diagram which reads "Step 1:  Steal Underpants,  Step 2: ???,  Step 3:  Profit."