Why is The Alphabet In Alphabetical Order? Eight Completely Arbitrary Things
2015-01-02 · list · Hank · 3:53 · watch on YouTube
Topic: History & curiosities (also: Economics, Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: self promotion
Hank argues that many seemingly fundamental things (the new year, gendered names, alphabetical order, base 10, food and pet norms, men's clothing, money) are arbitrary cultural conventions, and that we should examine culture to remove the harmful ones.
What is said
The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).
00:00:00 — 2015 means nothing: the year's start is arbitrary; intro to a list of made-up things
- ★★ Hank says 2015 means nothing: Earth's orbit is an ellipse with no beginning point, and the day has nothing to do with the year, as New Year's in Australia shows. (playful) — 00:00:01 · Australia
- ★★★ Hank says living in a global culture means we can't ignore that many seemingly fundamental things are actually totally arbitrary and made up. — 00:00:16 · social construction
00:00:32 — Gendered names, alphabetical order, base 10
- ★★ Hank says names like Allison, Hazel, Ashley and Carol seem like girl names, but 100 years ago they were more commonly used for boys. — 00:00:32
- ★★ Hank says the alphabet's order is seemingly random (U, V and W sit together because they were once one letter), yet it has been used roughly unchanged for over 3,000 years, and no one knows why. — 00:00:41
- ★★ Hank says nothing requires counting to roll over at 10; it could happen at 12, 18, 3 or 5, and base 10 isn't special. — 00:01:08
- ★ Hank thinks base 10 is probably more annoying than other systems and base 12, already used for dozens, might be better. (hedged) — 00:01:27
- ★ Hank says we probably use base 10 just because we have 10 fingers. (hedged) — 00:01:33
00:01:38 — Bugs are gross, pets are cute, dirty dancing, guys can't wear skirts
- ★★ Hank says that although eating grubs seems nauseating to us, 80% of studied cultures eat insects, so we are the weird ones. — 00:01:38
- ★ Hank says lots of cultures think we are crazy for letting animals live inside our houses. — 00:01:53
- ★★ Hank says there is absolutely no reason men's legs must be confined to separate cloth cylinders, though seeing the norm broken still feels weird to him. (playful) — 00:02:10
00:02:25 — Money: paper and numbers on hard drives worth something only because we agree; $2 bills
- ★★★ Hank says a $20 bill is just fancy paper worth $20 only because we agree, and now a number on a hard drive decides whether he can buy food or a house. — 00:02:25
00:02:59 — Culture shapes thought; we need conventions but should pick out the harmful ones by examining other cultures
- ★★★ Hank says that by forming our language, culture literally controls our thoughts: we can't think with words we don't have. — 00:02:59
- ★★ Hank says it is hard to separate yourself from culture enough to examine it, and separating too much is really uncomfortable; he has been there. — 00:03:09
- ★★★ Hank says we need culture and norms, but some convenient conventions are not innocuous; our job is to pick them out and remove them, best done by examining other people's cultures. — 00:03:17 · social construction
00:03:37 — Plug for Crash Course and SciShow; thanks John for his racism video; sign-off
- ★★ Hank urges viewers to study broadly and deeply and to watch Crash Course World History, all of Crash Course, and SciShow. — 00:03:37 · Crash Course, SciShow
- ★★ Hank thanks John for his video on racism this week (week of 29 December 2014) and points viewers who haven't seen it to youtube.com/vlogbrothers. — 00:03:46 · John Green, Vlogbrothers
Humor (significant)
-
Hank opens the new year with a solemn pause about what 2015 means. — 00:00:01
“It is 2015, meaning nothing.”
-
Hank notes many cultures think keeping animals indoors is crazy. — 00:01:53
“when my dog comes in from the yard after stepping in her own poop, I kind of agree with them.”
-
Under 'Dirty Dancing', Hank contrasts a horizontal pole: that's gymnastics. — 00:02:07
“If the pole is vertical, that's stripping.”
-
Hank argues men's skirts are fine, describing trousers clinically. — 00:02:10
“to separate cloth cylinders.”
Threads in this video
- restate · Can things that humans made up (sports, money, borders, rules) really matter? — Hank says we need culture and conventions (an alphabet order, a first day of the year), but convenient conventions that are not innocuous should be picked out and removed. (00:03:17)
Mentioned
Central: social construction
Also: Projects: Crash Course · SciShow
Concepts: alphabetical order · decimal · entomophagy · fiat money · linguistic relativity · pet · social norm · unisex name
Places: Australia
Events: New Year's Day
Replies to
- continues · Racism in the United States: By the Numbers — “John, thank you for your amazing video on racism this week.”
Later videos replying to this one
- 2015-01-09 · 14 Fart Facts for my Flatulent Friends (Hank) — corrects — “In my last video, I said that the order of the alphabet is older that any word in our” (00:00:01)