hmmmmm, yes but even that phrase has some submissive connotations ie. it is used to follow someone else's intentions instead of following ones own but i don't think I disagree with you
As an Italian we always see the uphill as the hard part of something, going downhill it's the easy part. "It's all downhill now" that means it's an easy job now.
It really kind of depends on context in English, because at least where I’m from in the U.S. we use both “Uphill bad, Downhill good.” and Downhill bad, Uphill good.”
@its_lemon_19 tbf we never talk about the downhill part. We say it's an uphill battle, but we never talk about getting over the uphill and being able to go downhill now. Like I don't think there's an English phrase that mentions the downhill consequence of an uphill battle. Correct me if I'm wrong
There are opposite examples as well: understanding a concept vs. overlooking a possibility; being “down” to do an activity (as in “I’m down to check out that new band) vs. being “over” an activity (as in, “I’m so over this concert”)
Being over an activity could be due to "over" being used to describe excess, like as in the words overwhelmed and overpowered. You're overexposed to it, and thus you're over it.
Being down to do things, is a mid century, black American slang term that results from a direct response and inversion of the previous typical expression to be up for it/ something, as to be up for something was seen as white and an expression of the establishment (it’s still “up” in the UK for example).
i honestly love how stupid this concept sounds upfront but every single time he dives into it so concisely and educates us. never did i think id be learning about how bottoms are discriminated against in language… but here we are!! 😅
He's not either of those tbh, he's a hobbyist/entertainer. Dude is cool but I doubt he's like, pushing research in these fields at all. This is what all linguistic students think like all the time.
And many people forget other cultures don’t share the same perspectives. For example on a totem pole the most important people go at the bottom, because they are the foundation.
Not in English, when we're saying that some class of people are at the bottom of the totem pole (the dominance hierarchy), it means they're the most discriminated against.
@@sheepketchup9059I’m pretty sure they mean as in on literal totem poles. And I assume that cultures that use totem poles would also say ‘the bottom of the totem pole’ meaning an important person, because they’re conscious of how they actually work. You would only say ‘the bottom of the totem pole’ meaning they’re lesser if you’re someone who doesn’t know how totem poles work. Which, I’ve never heard anyone say that before. Just the ‘bottom of the ladder’.
Downhill is a confusing metaphor. "It's all downhill from here" should mean "the hard part is over and now comes the easy part", shouldn't it? And sometimes it does. But if things are going downhill, that's bad? Because of Sisyphus?
I think it’s because of the worst being at the bottom. So “it’s all downhill from here” means we’re heading to the bottom (worst) place. Similarly, “the only way you can go is up” is a good thing. “Uphill battle” is an exception to the normal bottom bad up good because it doesn’t have anything to do with up or down as good and bad, rather it’s just using the metaphor of literally going up a hill as being a difficult task. I don’t think there’s really a downhill equivalent because downhill isn’t strictly easier: sure it’s easier on a bike, but running downhill isn’t that much easier than just running straight, and carrying heavy stuff downhill can actually be more difficult than on flat ground because you have to exert significant effort to not tumble down the hill. Where as going uphill is pretty much universally more difficult than on flat ground.
nah, he's always dropping lowkey vids. he's dominating my feeds so I think I'm gonna sub to him. i can tell he's a top ...tier youtuber... cuz he's gonna have all the guys subbing.
Funnily enough, up can also be used along with down for a negative, for example if someone says: "I'm never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down"
Its probably because in a survival context, its better for humans to have a high vantage point, and being low in a place with varied elevation means moving takes more effort.
Another interesting point is the way these sexual roles and terms are linked to ancient Roman sexuality and the underlying misogyny therein (the woman took the “sub” role and therefore that was the more looked down upon role) Romans didn’t bat an eye at men having sex with men, they batted an eye at a man being a bottom only because being a top was the dominant and masculinely-associated role!
Have you ever considered doing a long form video, I love your content and would love to see something a bit more substantial. I was thinking it would be cool to see a series where in each episode/video where you talk about how any given language is weird compared to others is some way or another. Have a great day.
I have a challenge for you. Make a language that is basically just English, but instead of pronouncing words normally, you pronounce them exactly how they are spelled, using every letter. (There are no silent letters) Also, the sentence structure is gonna be OSV (object, subject, verb) I hope you see this, thx!
Bottoms have tall women like me taking care of them though, so they may be considered "worse" than tops, but they get better treatment (granted they find the right people)
You know how therapists go to other therapists for help? Tall women also need other tall women every once in a while to take the edge off. But society does not understand this hierarchy of needs, and tops may end up neglected, or bottoms may need to fill roles they can't do well. This goes both ways. This is why polygamy is good. Thank you for coming to my ted talk
It is also interesting how people gender top and bottom as well. This is particularly prevalent in the words incubus and succubus. Where people see incubus (lie on) as male while people see succubus (lie under) as female.
That is simply because incubus is a demon in male form while succubus is a demon in female form. Those are the definitions in mythology and have been since the 14th century. In that time women were definitively under men literally and metaphorically. It makes sense that the people at the time would use the vocabulary coupled with their view of the world to name these such.
Which also contributes/is a main feature of sexism. Masculinity is dominant, therefor good. Anything that strays past those bounds is automatically worse.
@@joshuapaul359 Not explicitly, but dominance has been considered better than submission for ages now (like, since ancient greece at least), even if simply subconsciously. And men are associated with dominance/taught to be dominant. This is how sexism is ingrained into the very fabric of gender roles.
Yeah and being down on the ground after a battle or otherwise up on your own legs is similar. Those metaphors came after the observed actions and states of being, not the other way around 乁( •_• )ㄏ
"Giving" and "Receiving" does a good job of taking other connotations out of it. "Active" and "Passive" work too but imo is more of an alternative to dom/sub because the receiver can be the active one, etc
this channel is perfect for me!!!! i love etymology and language especially how languages relate, im learning norwegian on duolingo and its soooo fun to see how dutch, frisian, english and german all show up and how words in the norse language correspond to the other languages i know!!
In german its the same we didn’t use top or bottom (oben or unten) we use aktiv (active) and passiv (passive) We also didn’t use up (oben,hoch) and down (unten, herab) to describe something in a negative or positive context, because grammatically it wouldn’t make sense using terms describing a physical position paraphrasing something is good or bad / positive or negative instead of simply using directly the nuanced words (appropriate for the situation) our language has created over the last 5000 years developed from proto germanic in to the current german language
the last part is wild too considering if you really think about it, subs have all the real power in the dom/sub dynamic. all their limits & whatnot determine the intensity of the scene & people who are good doms know how to read the scene based on the needs of the sub & go from there.
i agree. its a wierd fake position where the sub has actual power and the dom has to take the responsibility and pressure of pleasing the sub. you can say giving up responsibility but you can also say thrusting it on someone else. the split in masochism is here: to truly give up responsibility would violate any modern "progressive" notion of consensual sex as the ideal, so the only ethical "submission" is actually an imposition/demand. a paradox becomes obvious if you take sadism/masochism seriously: The masochist enjoys pain, but that would ruin the enjoyment of the sadist (unless their enjoyment was instead external to you, where you are "their unknowing victim" who doesnt understand the horrors they are convincing you to accept): the true sadist enjoys you *not enjoying*, so will try to ruin your fantasy. imo this position is incompatible with the standard notion of "ethical sexuality", but... duh... true masochism appears to get a pass, but has an even worse paradox: They enjoy themselves not enjoying, so place themselves in an infinite spiral of ruining everything for themselves. Does true masochism then really exist at all? Or perhaps it exists as "broken", non-functional or partial/competing with contradictory desires
Yep. Dude may be right from his standpoint with the words themselves but from the world where doms and subs come into play, it's all consent and a dom and sub discussing limits and 90% of the time it's the subs limits and lines that make it, they've got a lot of control with the trust placed in their dom. And a single word can stop it all, can't be more on top with that type of control (:
There's something to be said about the fact that subs having the 'ultimate power' is a simple extension of the concept of informed and sustained consent. If the sub didn't "have all the real power", the very concept of BDSM would be rife with abuse. Doms also have the ability to stop a scene and not follow through with a sub's kink, but that's kind of assumed, whereas an explicit disclaimer is needed with submissives. Not that I'm against that, I just find it pretty curious.
“Im a down to earth kinda person” granted these are more of an exception and a topic you’ve covered in another video but I still find it fun! Thanks for the content
I read a sci-fi book set in the future once where one of the characters went on a rant about another character still using the terms “top” and “bottom” because of this. Good stuff.
I always think about this same thing but for black and white, and how that pertains to racism in America. Like how the word fair mains both “good” and also means “light skinned”.
It's been that way since very far back and has nothing to do with race. It originated from the fact that the night was dark, and the night was dangerous. So we associated black with danger/bad.
Discrimination in this context doesn't refer to oppression just... Differentiation. It discriminates in a sense that it marks a difference. He isn't saying words are oppressed.
@@e.9874 If you can't tell, this is what people often call "a joke" (Also, that just isn't true, he is saying that the concept of down is often considered a negative thing and up is often considered a positive thing, he isn't saying that the "discrimination" comes from there being a difference between up and down)
Anyways, here a brownie recipe. Ingredients: - 1 cup unsalted butter - 2 cups granulated sugar - 4 large eggs - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract - 1/2 cup all-purpose flour - 1/2 cup cocoa powder - 1/4 teaspoon salt - 1 cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips (optional) Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease a baking pan. 2. Melt 1 cup butter, mix with 2 cups sugar. 3. Add 4 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla; mix well. 4. Sift in 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, and 1/4 tsp salt; stir. 5. Optional: add 1 cup nuts or chocolate chips. 6. Pour into the pan, bake for 25-30 mins. 7. Cool completely, cut into squares, and enjoy vour brownies!”
For posterity here are a few things that go against the rule. - foundation is generally good, such as having a good foundation - the term based is more recent, but does generally refer to a positive quality - "I'm down" meaning agreement or going along with. - down to business refers to productive action. - high horse refers to arrogance - up on a soapbox is generally a negative phrase for an arrogant or demeaning lecture/position - head in the clouds a term often used for people who are aloof, daydreaming excessively, or can't focus. - also uppity, again arrogant (Common theme)
This is extra fascinating because cultural linguistic stereotypes actually subvert popular conceptions of these roles in BDSM. Within bdsm community, the sub is more likely to be the one who has control over a fantasy, since they are acting out their own interests while the dom is roleplaying an authority figure. In actuality, it is largely supposed to be the sub who sets hard rules & boundaries for what is appropriate & safe. This means that BDSM language touches mainstream culture and subverts typical approaches & expectations. People assume the dom "has power over" a sub and reenact this in ways that perpetuate risky or amateur practices AND media depictions like 50 shades.
"Double down" has similarly always sounded weird to me. It feels like "double up" would make more sense for a phrase that means insisting and committing to a specific cause/idea.
I don't know if the language is the same, but another comment pointed out that on totem poles, the Indigenous understanding is that the figure on the bottom is the most important, because they are the foundation, but white people misunderstood that and use "bottom of the totem pole" as meaning "least respected".
Well, we have to find a culture where being at the bottom of a pile or a hole is an advantageous position. Like, a place where people think getting trapped in a pit is better than being the trapper. Like, where people think being stupid is good.
@@thatsinteresting3415 the example given by erraticonteuse seemed interesting, maybe if the culture thought that the people that were the pillars or foundation of the group would be the most important? Foundation would be the bottom of the building that holds it up?... or something. It was just a thought experiment about a hypothetical culture that would see bottom as something else instead of bad, like maybe ants would see the most underground place as the most secure place or a place for royalty (queen ant)...
Somewhat similar, recently realized that a mountain can be tall or short, and a run can be long or short, but mountains aren’t long, and runs aren’t tall. Kinda interesting how short works for X and Y, but each axis has its own opposite.
Also interesting that other languages related to English don't even have the word tall, and use different words for heights of different things Asking "how tall is the ?" in German would be "wie groß bist du?" (how BIG) and in Sweden it's "hur lång är du?" (how LONG) But if you ask "how tall the tree?" in german it is "wie hoch ist der Baum" (how HIGH)
We talked about these metaphors in one of my university linguistics classes. One person asked "Why do we say both 'I'm up for it' and 'I'm down for it' when people ask if we want to do something?" Honestly ruined my day.
I would assume this comes from situations in for example hunting, where if you are literally on top of your prey, you are in a better position then the other way around
I love your barely restrained smirk. This is a good explanation for how the concepts of tops and bottoms gets conflated with D/s or just reductive relationship dynamics. Tbf whether or not there is a relationship it probably also works backwards - being a bottom is stigmatised to the point of historically being a top didn't always count as gay (and thus bad/illegal). Which realistically is deeply entrenched in misogyny and the idea of "receiving" making you weaker, more passive, and more submissive. It would be interesting to know if any cultures *don't* conflate on top/above as superior/more powerful. It certainly usually is the winning position if you're wrestling (not always!)
“Oh ok he doesn’t mean *that* kind of bottom”
“Oh, he *does* mean that kind of bottom”
I'm still not completely sure if he's talking about tops and bottoms, or just the words top and bottom
he is, he just wants us to question it as he's not saying it directly, pretty smug
me, the whole short lmao
Bottom =/= sub
You can have "power bottoms" it's literally just the biomechanics of who - at any given time - is the enterer and who is enteree.
Bro called us dirty minded, then innocent then, said “psych” at the end
"Are you up for it?" "I'm down for it!"
hmmmmm, yes but even that phrase has some submissive connotations
ie. it is used to follow someone else's intentions instead of following ones own
but i don't think I disagree with you
@@Citcrustacean36 oooooh, good point
Somebody else pointed out that the phrase in an intentional modern subversion of the typical term 'up for it'.
@@Citcrustacean36What about "you down to party?"
@@itsyaboi3930 they're asking if you're "down" to party; in this context the one who is "down" is the one who is following or bottoming lol
There is one example I can think of where we use down as a good thing. When people dance and party they refer to it as getting down sometimes.
If someone agrees to something they might say “I’m down to that”
Also "getting down to business"
"yo, you down to play Minecraft?"
@@eagleta4049yes
“She let me go down on her”
As an Italian we always see the uphill as the hard part of something, going downhill it's the easy part. "It's all downhill now" that means it's an easy job now.
That's the same in English too I think it's like the weird exception to this rule.
@@its_lemon_19I mean, it's not really that weird. It's just how traveling across sloped surfaces works.
@@its_lemon_19in english, going downhill is still negative
It really kind of depends on context in English, because at least where I’m from in the U.S. we use both “Uphill bad, Downhill good.” and Downhill bad, Uphill good.”
@its_lemon_19 tbf we never talk about the downhill part. We say it's an uphill battle, but we never talk about getting over the uphill and being able to go downhill now. Like I don't think there's an English phrase that mentions the downhill consequence of an uphill battle. Correct me if I'm wrong
Never thought I’d be slandered by a language but here we are
Relatable
Same😭
same, also nice fractal pfp
Same here bud!
same...
Man, every day I find a new way I’m discriminated against. Awesome short though, as always!
Man, ever day I find a new way to discriminate against others. Awesome short, I must concur.
@@ZenityReal bros min-maxing discrimination
Problems only exist where you choose to see them
@@OGSadPenguinthat's why i choose to close my eyes whenever i see trump
@@HAVENTYOUPPLEVERHEARDOF REAL😭🙏
I wanna see a world of tops without bottoms. I can only imagine pure pain, sorrow, discomfort, and hate lol
It turns into a real wrestling match
Either that, or far more people realize that they’re verse, actually.
Lmao
so you mean the 90% of the world that isnt gay? its gonna function pretty normal
@@namespaced4437 That’s not what top or bottom means
There are opposite examples as well: understanding a concept vs. overlooking a possibility; being “down” to do an activity (as in “I’m down to check out that new band) vs. being “over” an activity (as in, “I’m so over this concert”)
Well being "over" is describing you not the activity, so you're putting yourself above the activity. Still counts as top being better.
🤔
Being over an activity could be due to "over" being used to describe excess, like as in the words overwhelmed and overpowered. You're overexposed to it, and thus you're over it.
being upset is perhaps an opposite too
Being down to do things, is a mid century, black American slang term that results from a direct response and inversion of the previous typical expression to be up for it/ something, as to be up for something was seen as white and an expression of the establishment (it’s still “up” in the UK for example).
“Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down”
Sigh 😞
"Never gonna run around and, desert you."
“Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye”
"Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you" 🎵
... 🤷
"We've known each other, for so long..."
You know the rules and so do I@@amazingfireboy1848
"🥺👉👈" discrimination is wild bro 😭
Clearly not a bottom, where are the thigh highs
I cannot keep a straight face while watching this
I can't keep a straight anything.
I can't keep a straight relationship
I couldn't keep being straight.
Same bro @@dragongirl2032_
I can't take it anymore 😔
Brilliant linguist and etymologist, keep educating, it is inspirational and so needed in this world.
Yeah
i honestly love how stupid this concept sounds upfront but every single time he dives into it so concisely and educates us. never did i think id be learning about how bottoms are discriminated against in language… but here we are!! 😅
You could say this linguist is cunning.
@@EatAnOctorok A cunning linguist, perchance
He's not either of those tbh, he's a hobbyist/entertainer. Dude is cool but I doubt he's like, pushing research in these fields at all.
This is what all linguistic students think like all the time.
And many people forget other cultures don’t share the same perspectives. For example on a totem pole the most important people go at the bottom, because they are the foundation.
Not in English, when we're saying that some class of people are at the bottom of the totem pole (the dominance hierarchy), it means they're the most discriminated against.
@@sheepketchup9059 Right, the point is white people misunderstood totem poles because of this very linguistic bias.
@@sheepketchup9059I’m pretty sure they mean as in on literal totem poles. And I assume that cultures that use totem poles would also say ‘the bottom of the totem pole’ meaning an important person, because they’re conscious of how they actually work. You would only say ‘the bottom of the totem pole’ meaning they’re lesser if you’re someone who doesn’t know how totem poles work. Which, I’ve never heard anyone say that before. Just the ‘bottom of the ladder’.
That isn’t true. Totem poles aren’t hierarchies.
As long as the top feels good 🥺
Very good. You understand the assignment
Everybody has to feel good.
Dont get used by tops like that
Don't uplift bottoms too much, they like it on the floor
@@bzymek7054oh! that's true :3
Gotta make my top happy :3c
Those people clearly dont know how good it is to be a bottom
Yep putting in zero effort and reaping all the rewards
@Solvernia exactly unless u are an ultra hard worker u just getting less for more work xD
Or a sub
Being a bottom is amazin. It's something they have to experience to understand x3
@@An_Anubis_76 we get all the fun with none of the work :3
"youre a power bottom at rock bottom but youve got company"
Is this supposed to make me feel better?
Shut up
There was a time I thought no one could relate
To the gruesome ways in which I'm damaged
But letting walls down, it can sometimes set you straight
“I am a mature adult”
“I am a mature adult”
“I am a mature adult”
im not
what are you implying?
Why are you trying to convince yourself? What are you trying to convince yourself? There’s not much to misunderstand here…
Something something YAOI Something and mostly definitely about bottom :V
Something something YURI Something most definitely about bottom :3
As a proud member of bottoms against bottom rights, I support this!
E
Of course you are...
The most bottom statement ever
most bottom bottom to ever bottom
Real shit
another funny thing is how slang changes based on class of people such as "I'm up for it!" "Yeah I'm down!"
im sending this to SO MANY people >:3
JUSTICE FOR BOTTOMS 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
I didn't know that this was a gay thing
@@whoisanarnbYou sweet summer child
Justice .. must me served 💅 FOR GOTHAM
@@ironman_546Wait is it not a term that can be used for anyone regardless of sexuality?
It can but its most often said or heard in gay/Lesbian relationships @@aeli-as
Downhill is a confusing metaphor. "It's all downhill from here" should mean "the hard part is over and now comes the easy part", shouldn't it? And sometimes it does. But if things are going downhill, that's bad? Because of Sisyphus?
And uphill battle is bad!
@@windjammin99Yeah, your enemy is in the superior position, and you're struggling to reach the same one.
It's hard to control something when it's rolling downhill
@@voidfloof It's hard to roll something uphill too.
I think it’s because of the worst being at the bottom. So “it’s all downhill from here” means we’re heading to the bottom (worst) place. Similarly, “the only way you can go is up” is a good thing. “Uphill battle” is an exception to the normal bottom bad up good because it doesn’t have anything to do with up or down as good and bad, rather it’s just using the metaphor of literally going up a hill as being a difficult task. I don’t think there’s really a downhill equivalent because downhill isn’t strictly easier: sure it’s easier on a bike, but running downhill isn’t that much easier than just running straight, and carrying heavy stuff downhill can actually be more difficult than on flat ground because you have to exert significant effort to not tumble down the hill. Where as going uphill is pretty much universally more difficult than on flat ground.
An uphill battle is an exception to this rule because going uphill is more difficult than going downhill
Yeah but we don’t say it’s a downhill non-battle. So uphill battle, while hard, is worthy.
Hills, the great adversary of the English Language. As well as any punctuation mark that isn't a period, comma, a question mark, or exclamation mark.
Yeah but if going uphill is difficult it means that it’s bad to be downhill
You fool! It is literally referring to the fact that the enemy army ON TOP of the hill has the advantage over you. 😛
In Asia, we used to bow as low as the ground in front of higher-ups.
High-Low wordings here is even more intense.
Not the bottoms I initially thought we'd be discussing, but this is interesting too.
Vsauce but language
And more brave.
This one was crazy 😔💀🏳️🌈
Should’ve come out in 2 months🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
💀
nah, he's always dropping lowkey vids.
he's dominating my feeds so I think I'm gonna sub to him.
i can tell he's a top ...tier youtuber... cuz he's gonna have all the guys subbing.
What’s wrong about it
@@ericolens3I wish he was dominating me /j
Funnily enough, up can also be used along with down for a negative, for example if someone says:
"I'm never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down"
you.. did you just rickroll me.
Turn around and desert you
I can't tell you that you're never gonna make me cry, because I'm never gonna tell a lie
Its probably because in a survival context, its better for humans to have a high vantage point, and being low in a place with varied elevation means moving takes more effort.
The thing is, if you’re a bottom you probably like this.
took me half the video to realize he genuinely meant the sexual position & it wasn't unfortunate wording
Seriously?
Let me guess, it was around when he said dom and sub, wasnt it?
The metaphor can really be use for everything, really.
Another interesting point is the way these sexual roles and terms are linked to ancient Roman sexuality and the underlying misogyny therein (the woman took the “sub” role and therefore that was the more looked down upon role) Romans didn’t bat an eye at men having sex with men, they batted an eye at a man being a bottom only because being a top was the dominant and masculinely-associated role!
The underlying misogyny definitely isn’t limited to the Romans tho lmao
This isn't a Roman invention, as far as I'm aware it's almost inherent to civilisation
It's such a weird bundle of assumptions that bottom, sub and femininity are almost getting treated as though any of them would necessitate all others
@@kaedesakura9274 always have 😞
@@kaedesakura9274 They are spiritually linked
Have you ever considered doing a long form video, I love your content and would love to see something a bit more substantial. I was thinking it would be cool to see a series where in each episode/video where you talk about how any given language is weird compared to others is some way or another. Have a great day.
Oohh, I would totally watch that!
I support this
Agreed
yess I would love this 😊
True
This short inspired me to invert this in my worldbuilding with merfolk, whose orientational metaphor isn't high/low but deep/shallow
You can also "Look up to someone" or "Look down on somebody"
idk man usually bottoms be looking up
not always >:3
@@just_a_silly_boykissercrying and laughing at the same time
depends on the situation, for example i be looking up at your mo-
stop discriminating against me i just can’t do it
Don't pretend you don't like it :3
@@bzymek7054Mista white what happened
I have a challenge for you. Make a language that is basically just English, but instead of pronouncing words normally, you pronounce them exactly how they are spelled, using every letter. (There are no silent letters) Also, the sentence structure is gonna be OSV (object, subject, verb) I hope you see this, thx!
Bro. Thats my accent
He he! lol
so "manual i drive" instead of "i drive manual"?
And there already is an english phonetic alphabet.
Ep-ee-tohm
Bottoms have tall women like me taking care of them though, so they may be considered "worse" than tops, but they get better treatment (granted they find the right people)
You know how therapists go to other therapists for help? Tall women also need other tall women every once in a while to take the edge off. But society does not understand this hierarchy of needs, and tops may end up neglected, or bottoms may need to fill roles they can't do well. This goes both ways. This is why polygamy is good. Thank you for coming to my ted talk
This channel is very underrated!
"I'm down" can also be a positive affirmation of enthusiasm. Like, "i'm down to party" or "i'm down to talk"
It's funny because "I'm up for that" and "I'm down for that" mean the exact same thing.
@@myowncomputerstuff sexual litmus test
I’m down to (removed word)
It is also interesting how people gender top and bottom as well. This is particularly prevalent in the words incubus and succubus. Where people see incubus (lie on) as male while people see succubus (lie under) as female.
These days i dont think most people see the succubus as laying under. Or submissive.
Maybe thats just me
That is simply because incubus is a demon in male form while succubus is a demon in female form. Those are the definitions in mythology and have been since the 14th century. In that time women were definitively under men literally and metaphorically. It makes sense that the people at the time would use the vocabulary coupled with their view of the world to name these such.
these days the meaning is male/female sex demon, and both tend to be shown as submissive or just always willing to have sex
Have tou seen cohost?
(At this point they are basically just a hosting site for queer porn and erotica)
Which also contributes/is a main feature of sexism. Masculinity is dominant, therefor good. Anything that strays past those bounds is automatically worse.
Really??
@@owenevans4532 Are you saying really to the "main feature of sexism" bit, or the "masculinity is dominant, therefor good" bit?
Yeah, shame for bottoms is just misogyny in Groucho Marx glasses.
this isn't true. there is no connotations of good/ bad with man/woman.
@@joshuapaul359 Not explicitly, but dominance has been considered better than submission for ages now (like, since ancient greece at least), even if simply subconsciously. And men are associated with dominance/taught to be dominant. This is how sexism is ingrained into the very fabric of gender roles.
Makes sense why power bottom is specified
"you're a power bottom, at rock bottom"
After reading these comments, I have discovered that I am the elusive “straight bottom”
Nice. Good for you, lol.
welcome to the bottom club, we don't discriminate
Oil up lil bro.
Oh so you get pegged nice :3
same
And of course, one should never forget all of the positive connotations of updog
What’s updog?
@@robertloerwald3nothing much whats up with you
Makes sense. Being above another animal gives you an advantage in a fight and is frequently used in behavior to display dominance and submission
Yeah and being down on the ground after a battle or otherwise up on your own legs is similar. Those metaphors came after the observed actions and states of being, not the other way around 乁( •_• )ㄏ
Rulers would also live in more elevated positions than the peasants in ancient and medieval times
This guy would look great with more rectangular glasses than circular ones just trying to be symmetrical.
I love this man so much 😂❤️
"Giving" and "Receiving" does a good job of taking other connotations out of it. "Active" and "Passive" work too but imo is more of an alternative to dom/sub because the receiver can be the active one, etc
YT gave me the "time for a break?" *right* when you finished saying "if you're dominant"
Remember: if there weren’t any bottoms in the world then there’s nobody for the tops to top
No, we'd fight to be the top of tops in a shmexy all-out brawl.
Verses
And vice versa
this channel is perfect for me!!!! i love etymology and language
especially how languages relate, im learning norwegian on duolingo and its soooo fun to see how dutch, frisian, english and german all show up and how words in the norse language correspond to the other languages i know!!
I'm fu**ed up.
In Brazil we use "ativo" (top) and "passivo" (bottoms) sooo an alternative term for tops and bottoms could be active and passive? idk 🤷♀️
mhm!! those are used more formally
In german its the same we didn’t use top or bottom (oben or unten) we use aktiv (active) and passiv (passive)
We also didn’t use up (oben,hoch) and down (unten, herab) to describe something in a negative or positive context, because grammatically it wouldn’t make sense using terms describing a physical position paraphrasing something is good or bad / positive or negative instead of simply using directly the nuanced words (appropriate for the situation) our language has created over the last 5000 years developed from proto germanic in to the current german language
Passive has a negative connotation as well to a degree
the last part is wild too considering if you really think about it, subs have all the real power in the dom/sub dynamic. all their limits & whatnot determine the intensity of the scene & people who are good doms know how to read the scene based on the needs of the sub & go from there.
i agree. its a wierd fake position where the sub has actual power and the dom has to take the responsibility and pressure of pleasing the sub. you can say giving up responsibility but you can also say thrusting it on someone else. the split in masochism is here: to truly give up responsibility would violate any modern "progressive" notion of consensual sex as the ideal, so the only ethical "submission" is actually an imposition/demand.
a paradox becomes obvious if you take sadism/masochism seriously: The masochist enjoys pain, but that would ruin the enjoyment of the sadist (unless their enjoyment was instead external to you, where you are "their unknowing victim" who doesnt understand the horrors they are convincing you to accept): the true sadist enjoys you *not enjoying*, so will try to ruin your fantasy. imo this position is incompatible with the standard notion of "ethical sexuality", but... duh...
true masochism appears to get a pass, but has an even worse paradox: They enjoy themselves not enjoying, so place themselves in an infinite spiral of ruining everything for themselves.
Does true masochism then really exist at all? Or perhaps it exists as "broken", non-functional or partial/competing with contradictory desires
Yep. Dude may be right from his standpoint with the words themselves but from the world where doms and subs come into play, it's all consent and a dom and sub discussing limits and 90% of the time it's the subs limits and lines that make it, they've got a lot of control with the trust placed in their dom. And a single word can stop it all, can't be more on top with that type of control (:
Almost as if there were a great divine balance between the forces at play in this world. Or maybe all of our being is just word salad.
There's something to be said about the fact that subs having the 'ultimate power' is a simple extension of the concept of informed and sustained consent. If the sub didn't "have all the real power", the very concept of BDSM would be rife with abuse. Doms also have the ability to stop a scene and not follow through with a sub's kink, but that's kind of assumed, whereas an explicit disclaimer is needed with submissives. Not that I'm against that, I just find it pretty curious.
Dude is single handedly keeping my X (twitter) debates alive 💪
Little convenient we also associates north with up
“Im a down to earth kinda person” granted these are more of an exception and a topic you’ve covered in another video but I still find it fun! Thanks for the content
It's not really an exception. Being down to earth means you're not trying to fake (or imagine) a higher status.
I read a sci-fi book set in the future once where one of the characters went on a rant about another character still using the terms “top” and “bottom” because of this. Good stuff.
What book?
Yeh what book that sounds funny as hell
book?
It’s called The Darkness Outside Us! (This notifies everyone who commented or liked, right? If not, I’ll respond to everyone who asked.)
Bro was just mad because hes a bottom
I always think about this same thing but for black and white, and how that pertains to racism in America. Like how the word fair mains both “good” and also means “light skinned”.
Yup. Black magic, white knight, it's an entire trope.
It's been that way since very far back and has nothing to do with race. It originated from the fact that the night was dark, and the night was dangerous. So we associated black with danger/bad.
Black people are also afraid of darkness
That’s sub-par.
DANG IT
These overnight have literally my favourite videos to watch
“It’s all downhill from here” has the opposite meaning of “it all went downhill from there”
Me: *_a switch_* 👁️👄👁️
This man is the *Top* G.
Started from the bottom now we here
We started at the bottom and now we are below.
Wow. That real brought me down.
Down for anything. 😉
"What are you up yo?" "Oh, it's going down now!"
Justice for bottoms !!
“What’s up?” “Not much, what’s down, bro?
my good sir, you make the craziest sounding, most unhinged statements, and by the end of the video i’m nodding along in agreement
Ik, r? I start the videos sometimes like "that's nonsense." Then by the end i'm like, 🤯 "Woah! It was society that was nonsense all along!" 😂
I could see that being a plus for the dynamic rather than a negative
On fire: Doing fantastically
Under fire: Getting criticized/In trouble
Russian has this too: "Высокое общество"(high society) for example; "на дне"("in the bottom")
How can someone be so funny, educational, inspiring, and passionate all at the same time
This isn't discrimination, having more potential energy is almost always a good thing
Discrimination in this context doesn't refer to oppression just... Differentiation. It discriminates in a sense that it marks a difference. He isn't saying words are oppressed.
@@e.9874 If you can't tell, this is what people often call "a joke"
(Also, that just isn't true, he is saying that the concept of down is often considered a negative thing and up is often considered a positive thing, he isn't saying that the "discrimination" comes from there being a difference between up and down)
@@ARandomHumanBein
>"this is a joke"
>goes on to explain it completely seriously 🤓
Anyways, here a brownie recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease a baking pan.
2. Melt 1 cup butter, mix with 2 cups sugar.
3. Add 4 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla; mix well.
4. Sift in 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, and 1/4 tsp salt; stir.
5. Optional: add 1 cup nuts or chocolate chips.
6. Pour into the pan, bake for 25-30 mins.
7. Cool completely, cut into squares, and enjoy vour brownies!”
submarines are cool unless they get too close to the titanic
Bottom is good.
I know something about that heh.
Being on the bottom is better
@@Michal-je1hx real
bottoms, rise up!
Bottom power for power bottoms!
You mean lie down :3
Can I just stay here? I think I prefer being down here.
All this Because gravity is such a hassle
For posterity here are a few things that go against the rule.
- foundation is generally good, such as having a good foundation
- the term based is more recent, but does generally refer to a positive quality
- "I'm down" meaning agreement or going along with.
- down to business refers to productive action.
- high horse refers to arrogance
- up on a soapbox is generally a negative phrase for an arrogant or demeaning lecture/position
- head in the clouds a term often used for people who are aloof, daydreaming excessively, or can't focus.
- also uppity, again arrogant (Common theme)
This is extra fascinating because cultural linguistic stereotypes actually subvert popular conceptions of these roles in BDSM. Within bdsm community, the sub is more likely to be the one who has control over a fantasy, since they are acting out their own interests while the dom is roleplaying an authority figure. In actuality, it is largely supposed to be the sub who sets hard rules & boundaries for what is appropriate & safe. This means that BDSM language touches mainstream culture and subverts typical approaches & expectations. People assume the dom "has power over" a sub and reenact this in ways that perpetuate risky or amateur practices AND media depictions like 50 shades.
"Double down" has similarly always sounded weird to me. It feels like "double up" would make more sense for a phrase that means insisting and committing to a specific cause/idea.
Yeah, but it's a betting reference, where
"down" = "on the table". I'm not sure it counts as really directional.
Double down? How does that even work, anatomically? (joking obviously)
As a Bottom im taller then my Partner
- Playing both sides to Win Everytime :3
The fact that you mentioned English makes me wonder. Any languages where there is no negative conitation with bottom? Or where the bottom is better?
🤔
I don't know if the language is the same, but another comment pointed out that on totem poles, the Indigenous understanding is that the figure on the bottom is the most important, because they are the foundation, but white people misunderstood that and use "bottom of the totem pole" as meaning "least respected".
@@erraticonteuse Cool! Thx!
Well, we have to find a culture where being at the bottom of a pile or a hole is an advantageous position. Like, a place where people think getting trapped in a pit is better than being the trapper. Like, where people think being stupid is good.
@@thatsinteresting3415 the example given by erraticonteuse seemed interesting, maybe if the culture thought that the people that were the pillars or foundation of the group would be the most important? Foundation would be the bottom of the building that holds it up?... or something. It was just a thought experiment about a hypothetical culture that would see bottom as something else instead of bad, like maybe ants would see the most underground place as the most secure place or a place for royalty (queen ant)...
He is so grounded 🥰
Somewhat similar, recently realized that a mountain can be tall or short, and a run can be long or short, but mountains aren’t long, and runs aren’t tall. Kinda interesting how short works for X and Y, but each axis has its own opposite.
Also interesting that other languages related to English don't even have the word tall, and use different words for heights of different things
Asking "how tall is the ?" in German would be "wie groß bist du?" (how BIG) and in Sweden it's "hur lång är du?" (how LONG)
But if you ask "how tall the tree?" in german it is "wie hoch ist der Baum" (how HIGH)
We talked about these metaphors in one of my university linguistics classes. One person asked "Why do we say both 'I'm up for it' and 'I'm down for it' when people ask if we want to do something?" Honestly ruined my day.
I would assume this comes from situations in for example hunting, where if you are literally on top of your prey, you are in a better position then the other way around
My new form of linguistic protest is being a power bottom
I love your barely restrained smirk. This is a good explanation for how the concepts of tops and bottoms gets conflated with D/s or just reductive relationship dynamics.
Tbf whether or not there is a relationship it probably also works backwards - being a bottom is stigmatised to the point of historically being a top didn't always count as gay (and thus bad/illegal). Which realistically is deeply entrenched in misogyny and the idea of "receiving" making you weaker, more passive, and more submissive.
It would be interesting to know if any cultures *don't* conflate on top/above as superior/more powerful. It certainly usually is the winning position if you're wrestling (not always!)
This is underrated
sounds like someone is tired of being made fun of every time he says hes a bottom
Its because low is emobied and low is where we defecate. Literally good and logical based embodied metaphor.
Dom and sub arent exclusive to top and bottom respectively, there can be dominant bottoms and submissive tops
The sub is also the person who actually holds the cards
Me not knowing whether im top or bottom being a virgin, and pansexual, not knowing what gender I'll eventually get with: 🤔
*high* status is also special metafor by itself. Nice vid