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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.
Keine “links?”
Mein deutsch ist sehr schlect, ich hatte zwei jahren fünfzehn jahren zuvor LAL (lachen aus louter).
Tis geen Duits, mijn vriend.
It’s not German.
Scheiße lmao
OP is using Dutch, not German
Scheiße
Nice one, a bit like right vs stage right
We say something like “legs up”
“Head’s down” team here
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Walking backwards is also called “penis-side butt” in some languages.
Always funny to see native speakers discover trivial facts about their language
Took me until high school to realize bonjour=bon jour=good day. My brain just about exploded. Worldview destroyed.
Does “right-side up” mean the right side is up or the “right” side is up? English does not make sense
also hi binette
Right as in correct.
hi nww :D
Right as incorrect.
Stupid english
Totally. The right hand I use to write with is not my right hand, it’s my left (averechts, if you will)
So right side up means its on it’s side?
English where feat smell and noses run
Feet, not feat
Artist: English feat. Smell & No$3$
Track: Run
Right = correct
“The correct side is up”
I agree, English is a mess.
The letter W is both called “double-U” and looks like two letter Us combined (in some curvy fonts at least)
In my language it’s called double-v, which makes so much more sense to me.
Apparently “W” was originally written as “uu” as early as ~600AD, hence the name, however it still used Latin/Roman letters which hadn’t yet distinguished between u and v as letters. For at least 700 years, u and v appear to have been considered the same and interchangeable (so "Double U " could look like “uu” or “vv”) but it depends on your language whether it was verbally called a “U” or a “V” until the first recorded distinction between the two in a Gothic era alphabet written in 1386. The two apparently did still see some overlap in use until about the 1700s with the turning point appearing to be when the distinction between their capital forms was accepted by the French Academy in 1726.
tl;dr: “Double U” predates the distinction between “U” and “V” so it’s up to chance which letter a language called it before it stuck.
IIRC from high school, they taught us “V” was “Vega” and “W” was “doble Vega”. Looking at Wikipedia, I may be remembering that wrong. They have “ve” and “doble ve”
Even moreso if you consider the old Latin alphabet that used V and didn’t have U.
Breakfast = break fast (as in fasting) :)
Shhh! Nobody tell them about “inside out.”
Why isn’t it outside in?
Kif! We have a conundrum!
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.)
Spot on insight :)
Don’t tell them about insid-- dang! Too late
No, it’s the opposite!
Oppo-site? Now I’m wondering about everything.
Wait, what is the opposite?
contrary
Downside up?
And round and round
How else would one interpret it?
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.
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.
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…
As a fellow wonderer of strange things, all I have to say is keep wondering, my friend :)
Downside up?
Down on the upside
Yes! So glad someone else though of this 😎
It’s not really that I interpret it in another way, but I never really thought about the structure of the word 😅
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.
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.
Some words have simply entered common use and become decoupled from their former meaning. Maybe your acquaintance was right.
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.
Seems like Orwell was right
And the Egyptians, too!
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.
What’s sophist mean?
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.
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.
Yeah, actually I had never thought about the structure of the word either. Thanks for the great shower thought!
Ha same
I’ve had similar realizations about words like “across” and “again”.
I get “across”, but what about again?
A gain. In addition to.
“A gain” as in one more. Gain meaning “an increase in amount”
Heh good insight.
(Ps I also have these thoughts about breaking words down (unicorn is uni-corn) and some people get really snarky about it. Don’t let bad comments get to you.)
https://kbin.social/m/Etymology could use some more love!
Where’s the bot that links this as a community when you need’em.
In-sight
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Go away with that attitude.
Oh nooooo someone called someone else stupid on the internet. Quick! We must don our white knight armour at the soonest to defend that poor defenseless specimen.
If you haven’t noticed there’s a lot of negativity on this platform, your comment included. It really needs to change.
.> tells someone to go away
.> “there’s a lot of negativity on this platform”
😬
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.
🚪🚶♂️
Good grief…
Wait until you find out “bottoms up” isn’t about a group of people taking an elevator to get mimosas
Get your bottom in that elevator and take it up to the bar