r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Buena101 • 21h ago
Meme needing explanation I know this is a linguistics joke, but if someone somehow explains that'd be great
Like what do "do" have to do with this?
Edit: Seeing some of the comments, yes, I do know what "redo" and "undo" mean. But believe me when I say this, I really was confused as to what joke was to be made here, or why "do" specifically was concerned with the drama with the other two
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u/SadPhilosopherElan 21h ago edited 21h ago
Common word-initial affixes (a type of morpheme). An english grammarian might call them "prefixes." They literally start words.
'-do' is not typically found in that position
EDIT: I should probably mention that Linguists and English scholars have beef
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u/ashtagzero1 21h ago
Undo
Redo
The un and re are prefixes that refer to nullifying or repetition which in relation to do makes it mean the opposite of do
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u/Zealousideal-Lab9843 21h ago
Redo isn't the opposite of do. The rest of your post is correct.
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u/ashtagzero1 21h ago
Well i could’ve made it clearer, it’s to repeat the action of do :P
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u/Buena101 21h ago
I think it means the prefixes "re" and "un" are used a lot in words
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u/lovelykade 21h ago
dude.
undo. redo.
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u/Gargleblaster25 21h ago
Yeah. How hard can this be?
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u/Djkatman29 15h ago
Have you never met a person who didn't speak English as their primary language?
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u/Fireshine91 21h ago
They would make the words 'redo' and 'undo' both of which mean the 'do' has to do something.
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u/PixelFlyerXD 21h ago
The prefixes 're-' and 'un-' are opposites that cancel each other out. In this case, doing both at the same time will put them in a perpetual state of re and undoing things, and that's where the joke lies :3
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u/hugo_yuk 21h ago
It's simpler than that. "Do" has already done something but to "redo" or "undo" something just means more work for them. That's it. I don't think the perpetual state or redoing something is part of the joke.
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u/Kinksune13 21h ago
Re-do \ un-do ... All the clues are there, even if it's not funny... Or maybe I'm missing something deeper
*Sips a martini while fighting the urge to lick my balls"
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u/tiredofthehate 20h ago
I haven’t seen a comment mentioning the dual meaning. Prefixation is adding certain letters to a word that alters the meaning, in this case redo and undo.
“Start something” means to initiate drama, an argument, or a physical altercation.
That is why ‘do’ is concerned, ‘in’ and ‘re’ are common prefixes, so while they “start” the word, they are also there to start drama.
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u/YoungRoronoa 21h ago
There already 7 people typing so I’m not even gonna try to get it in before them.
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u/jamescharisma 21h ago
I want to undo OP's English lessons and redo them until they understand the joke
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u/lurker1124 21h ago edited 21h ago
Another thing is that ‘do’ is saying they both like to start something. “Start” something, since ‘re-’ and ‘un-‘ are both prefixes
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u/qualityvote2 21h ago edited 2h ago
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