Quake:
Terminology
The (sometimes amusing) message at the top of the screen that tells you the recent kills and spills of the game. What obituary you get depends on the situation and a random flag. I would explain them, but seriously now, I'm sure you can figure it out.
Bloody Murder
Axe: <Player1> was ax-murdered by <Player2>
Shotgun: <Player1> chewed on <Player2>'s boomstick
Super Shotgun: <Player1> ate 2 loads of <Player2>'s buckshot
Nailgun: <Player2> was nailed by <Player1>
Super Nailgun: <Player1> was punctured by <Player2>
Grenade Launcher: <Player1> eats <Player2>'s pineapple
or <Player1> was gibbed by <Player2>'s grenade
Rocket Launcher: <Player1> rides <Player2>'s rocket
or <Player1> was gibbed by <Player2>'s rocket
Lightning Gun:<Player1> accepts <Player2>'s shaft
or <Player1> accepts <Player2>'s discharge
<Player1> was telefragged by <Player2> - telefrag
Satan's power deflects <Player1>'s telefrag - attempt to telefrag someone with Pentagram of Protection
Death by misadventure:
<Player> blew up
<Player> was squished
<Player> was spiked
<Player> ate a lavaball
<Player> tried to leave
<Player> sleeps with the fishes
<Player> sucks it down
<Player> gulped a load of slime
<Player> can't exist on slime alone
<Player> burst into flames
<Player> turned into hot slag
<Player> visits the Volcano God
<Player> fell to his death
<Player> died
The Quake universe be a harsh mistress.
In any form of gameplay the obituaries tell you a lot about remote events - heightening your situational awareness. With a few small leaps of intuition one can derive a lot from not only the obituaries themselves but their time, frequency, repetitions and so forth. Information about players such as their weapon, powerups, health, location, direction can be derived either directly or indirectly. This isn't to say that you will always be 100% correct, but there are no absolutes.
Part of the Quake metanode