10 Things You Didn't Know About The Matrix Trilogy

In The Matrix, the short-lived, but much-loved Switch (Belinda McClory) calls Neo a coppertop before he has successfully disengaged from the matrix. Though this piece of slang flies under the radar for most viewers, 'coppertop' is actually the free humans' term for a person who is still plugged in to the matrix programme.

The origin of this term, however, takes a bit of sleuthing to understand. It all boils down to the fact that those who are plugged into the gooey pink tanks in the real world are being used as organic batteries to power the ruling machines' infrastructure.

Morpheus tells Neo that the human body "generates more bioelectricity than a 120 volt battery and over 25,000 BTUs of body heat", using a Duracell battery to illustrate his point and Neo's metaphysical predicament. Thus, the term 'coppertop' is a very in-matrix reference to these batteries -- because they literally have copper coloured tops.

Now, if we can just figure out what the Merovingian means when he says, "Dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperies de connards d'enculé de ta mère", we'll be golden.