The line comes from the Ghost, a Terran special-operations unit in Blizzard's original StarCraft, released in 1998 for PC. Ghosts were cloaked snipers and nuclear strike spotters, and their short, sardonic acknowledgements became part of the game's personality for players who clicked the unit repeatedly. The exterminator line later circulated on soundboards and in fan edits, where its deadpan delivery made it easy to reuse outside the game. It remains popular because it is instantly understood, even by viewers who never played StarCraft.