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Binette@lemmy.ml to Showerthoughts@lemmy.world · 11 months ago

Just realized that "upside down" means "the up side is down", making it upside down

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Just realized that "upside down" means "the up side is down", making it upside down

Binette@lemmy.ml to Showerthoughts@lemmy.world · 11 months ago
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  • Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com
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    11 months ago

    Shhh! Nobody tell them about “inside out.”

    • s38b35M5@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Don’t tell them about insid-- dang! Too late

    • SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Why isn’t it outside in?

      • Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        It could be to do with something called “ablaut reduplication”. Very basically English has a - kind of - untaught sound order that native speakers inherently apply to the language. Wikipedia will have an article to explain it better. Specifically the vowel order I-A-O. A great example is the phrase “Bish bash bosh” which is getting coverage recently. (One notable exception is “shit, shower, shave” but that is probably down to the chronology of the actions.)

        • Welt@lazysoci.al
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          11 months ago

          Spot on insight :)

      • Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com
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        11 months ago

        Kif! We have a conundrum!

  • Zeppo@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    How else would one interpret it?

    • Binette@lemmy.mlOP
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      11 months ago

      It’s not really that I interpret it in another way, but I never really thought about the structure of the word 😅

      • db2@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Go further. For example, people say ‘gypped’ without knowing it’s a pejorative reference to the word ‘Gypsy’ which is itself a pejorative of the Romani.

        • 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          My favorite recently is sophist from the pejorative Platonic definition. It really puts words like sophisticated in a different etymological light and subtle contextual meaning.

          • Caboose12000@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            What’s sophist mean?

            • 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophist_(dialogue)

              Fake but convincing by argument, gaslighting, etc., generally by someone in a position like a professor, a judge, or a politician.

        • ALQ@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I remember learning this about 20ish years ago and telling my then-sister in law about it when I explained why I wasn’t going to use it anymore. I got told I had a stick up my ass, and this was by a marginalized (gay, immigrant) woman. (Somewhat unrelated note - very grateful she’s a former relation.)

          So glad people have been learning and I’ve been hearing “gypped” less and less in recent years.

          • Richard@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Some words have simply entered common use and become decoupled from their former meaning. Maybe your acquaintance was right.

            • ALQ@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Watching my own language means my “acquaintance” was right? I don’t think I’m the one with a stick, if that’s the case.

            • Welt@lazysoci.al
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              11 months ago

              Seems like Orwell was right

        • Welt@lazysoci.al
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          11 months ago

          And the Egyptians, too!

      • Zeppo@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        I’ve had similar realizations about words like “across” and “again”.

        • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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          11 months ago

          I get “across”, but what about again?

          • Trex202@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            A gain. In addition to.

          • Zeppo@sh.itjust.works
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            11 months ago

            “A gain” as in one more. Gain meaning “an increase in amount”

      • Albbi@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        Yeah, actually I had never thought about the structure of the word either. Thanks for the great shower thought!

      • flerp@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        I’ve definitely had a similar feeling with band names and brand names, etc. You’re just so used to hearing them that they are their own thing without being the component words that the name contains.

      • _sideffect@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Ha same

    • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      I think the pronunciation, specifically the blending of the end of “upside” and beginning of “down”, turns it into one of those compound words that your brain interprets as an independent word, rather than a combination of its composite parts.

      • s38b35M5@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Unused to wonder if the radio announcers that are always reciting the station call letters found that the letters stopped sounding like individual sounds, and the whole recitation became a sort of “word” for them. Like “You’re listening to 102.9FM WBLM!” Did it stop being “double-you bee ell emm,” and turn into more of a mashup of “dubbleyabeeyelmm”?

        True, the difference is pretty subtle, especially to a listener, but I wonder strange things sometimes…

        • Kiosade@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          As a fellow wonderer of strange things, all I have to say is keep wondering, my friend :)

      • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I think this is the case for a lot of words. It ceases to be a combination of words and it’s just one word. Then in the shower you break it down and ohhh.

    • Blaster M@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Downside up?

      • Zeppo@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        Down on the upside

        • Artemis@lemmy.ml
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          11 months ago

          Yes! So glad someone else though of this 😎

  • abominable_panda@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Now explain why some people are “down for things” while others are “up for it”

    • PotatoKat@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      https://youtu.be/bTqU4bKycFo

      • PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocksB
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        11 months ago

        Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

        https://piped.video/bTqU4bKycFo

        Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

        I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.

      • uranibaba@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I never watch linked videos but this one was worth it.

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      Why do you park in a driveway and drive in a parkway? What is the deal?

  • xkbx@startrek.website
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    11 months ago

    Wait until you find out “bottoms up” isn’t about a group of people taking an elevator to get mimosas

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Get your bottom in that elevator and take it up to the bar

  • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Brave of you to post this

  • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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    11 months ago

    Good grief…

  • Ticklemytip@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    TIL that people didn’t get this. I had a similar situation where I would pronounce unleaded as unleeded

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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      Oh, I used to do this all the time. You see a word in print, but you never hear anybody say it, so you wind up pronouncing it wrong.

      I think the best was when I pronounced “misled” as my-seld because I thought it was the past tense of “misle”.

      • Wilzax@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        The spelling of some words can be very Ms. Leeding

  • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com
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    11 months ago

    Wait until you learn the news is new.

    • Binette@lemmy.mlOP
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      11 months ago

      In French, it’s also the same origin (nouvelles = news; nouvelle/nouveau = new)

    • Anarchistcowboy@lemmy.world
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      Damnit someone just last week told me it was an acronym for notable events weather and sports but this makes more sense

      • CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
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        A good rule of thumb is that any word etymology that is an acronym is probably false if the word is more than 100 years old.

  • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
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    11 months ago

    Well, yeah. That’s… how words work?

    • NorthWestWind@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      “Right-side up”

  • terminally_offline@infosec.pub
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    Removed by mod

    • terminally_offline@infosec.pub
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      Removed by mod

  • NorthWestWind@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Does “right-side up” mean the right side is up or the “right” side is up? English does not make sense

    also hi binette

    • helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Right = correct

      “The correct side is up”

      I agree, English is a mess.

    • Binette@lemmy.mlOP
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      11 months ago

      Right as in correct.

      hi nww :D

      • mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        Right as incorrect.

        Stupid english

        • Welt@lazysoci.al
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          11 months ago

          Totally. The right hand I use to write with is not my right hand, it’s my left (averechts, if you will)

    • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      So right side up means its on it’s side?

    • fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      English where feat smell and noses run

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Feet, not feat

      • Welt@lazysoci.al
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        11 months ago

        Artist: English feat. Smell & No$3$

        Track: Run

  • nialv7@lemmy.world
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    Always funny to see native speakers discover trivial facts about their language

    • akakunai@lemmy.ca
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      Took me until high school to realize bonjour=bon jour=good day. My brain just about exploded. Worldview destroyed.

  • BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world
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    Removed by mod

    • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Go away with that attitude.

      • terminally_offline@infosec.pub
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        deleted by creator

        • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          If you haven’t noticed there’s a lot of negativity on this platform, your comment included. It really needs to change.

          • terminally_offline@infosec.pub
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            deleted by creator

            • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Overlooks that was to someone that called someone dense and that I specified “with that attitude”. 😬 Just like I called out your comment. This is not a paradox of intolerance.

              And a quick look at your profile shows that you are rife with those kind of comments.

      • BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        🚪🚶‍♂️

  • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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    This reminds me of the time I had a co-worker tell me “That’s why they call it ‘work’. 'Cause you’re working!”

    • Binette@lemmy.mlOP
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      I mean it’s more that it’s “working” because it’s “work”

  • InFerNo@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    I’m my language it’s “bottom up” (ondersteboven).

    Also came to a similar realization in my language with “averechts”, which means the other way around.

    Rechts = right (side, from my pov)

    Averechts = ave ( dialect for “your”) right side.

    You’re basically communicating “my right or your right”. Asking for right or left can be done by saying rechts or averechts.

    Also besides ondersteboven and averechts, we have achterstevoren, which means back side in front.

    • MP3Martin@programming.dev
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      We say something like “legs up”

      • Hule@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        “Head’s down” team here

    • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 months ago

      Keine “links?”

      Mein deutsch ist sehr schlect, ich hatte zwei jahren fünfzehn jahren zuvor LAL (lachen aus louter).

      • CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        OP is using Dutch, not German

        • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          11 months ago

          Scheiße

      • InFerNo@lemmy.ml
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        Tis geen Duits, mijn vriend.

        It’s not German.

        • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          11 months ago

          Scheiße lmao

    • Welt@lazysoci.al
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      11 months ago

      Nice one, a bit like right vs stage right

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