origin of "you tube" [YouTube]

[piotr1980]

Hello,
I try to understand the meaning of the fampuse website ''youtube''
What ''tube'' means in this case?

Can we say that ''the Tube'' is an equivalent of the TV? and ''you tube'' means that you watch TV?

I will watch the Tube tonight. (is it correct?)

Many thanks
Piotr

 

[Musical Chairs]

It's one of those things they make up so they sound appealing that aren't meant to be understood. Like "WAL*MART." It's not a store for walls.

"I will watch youtube tonight."

I think "WAL*MART" and "youtube" are cool names for what they are.

 

[AWordLover]

Hi,

I think the tube in youtube, does stand for television.
You can say things like, "I'm going to stay home and watch the tube.

The reason that "the tube" represents a television set, is that the main component of older televisions was a CRT - cathode ray tube, also known as a picture tube.

Now I'll just guess that the you in youtube comes from the fact that people upload their own videos, you make youtube what it is.

 

[Doppelrahmstufe]

...''you tube'' means that you watch TV?
...

I think the idea is more like, that you make the show.

 

[Musical Chairs]

Yea, and also "you" in "youtube" makes you feel good, doesn't it? I think so.

"Youtube" is one thing. You don't split it up into "my tube" and "his tube" or anything like that.

 

[Josh_]

'Tube' is a nickname for television originating from the fact that older televisions have tubes in them. AWordLover explained it well in his post.

'Wal-Mart' is a combination of the founder's name, Sam Walton, and 'mart', another word for market. it has nothing to do with walls.

 

[Brave1]

I agree with Doppelrahmstufe, it is the idea that "you" choose what will be shown and the "tube" part can probably be traced to those early TV sets as explained before but with the WALMART example, the name comes from its founder Sam Walton. Also, I don't think many peple say they will watch the "tube" when referring to watching television.

 

[Musical Chairs]

Maybe that was a bad example then. There's a popular makeup brand called "Urban Decay" but makeup itself doesn't have to do with cities or decay. It just sounds cool, and so do the names for their colors (which are supposed to sound glamorous like cities).

 

[tomandjerryfan]

Hello,
I try to understand the meaning of the fampuse website ''youtube''
What ''tube'' means in this case?

Can we say that ''the Tube'' is an equivalent of the TV? and ''you tube'' means that you watch TV?

I will watch the Tube tonight. (is it correct?)

Many thanks
Piotr

I think the name YouTube is meant to make its users feel empowered to "tube," as in to use their creativity to make their own TV shows that reach the public. Tube never caught on as a verb for watching TV; however, "tube" is sometimes used as a substitute for TV, so your sentence is correct.

 

[roxcyn]

Tube: a synonym for "television"

I'm gonna watch the tube. = I'm gonna (going to) watch TV (television).

You: Second person singular.

You tube: You (second person singular) tube (watch/make shows on this website).

 

[I_like_my_TV]

Does anyone here think that the name "U2" might have had some influence in the choice of name for "Youtube" ? It's funny that whenever I want to say "Youtube", the sound of "U2" first comes to my head.

 

[cwncool]

Hello,
I try to understand the meaning of the fampuse website ''youtube''
What ''tube'' means in this case?

Can we say that ''the Tube'' is an equivalent of the TV? and ''you tube'' means that you watch TV?

I will watch the Tube tonight. (is it correct?)

Many thanks
Piotr

You are correct. It's because CRT televisions or Cathode Ray Tube televisions were powered by "tubes". The nickname "boob-tube" came about for the TV sort of 'making-fun' of those who watch TV a lot. That's why tube is in you tube. It's a tube (TV) powered by you (the users).

 

[cycloneviv]

Does anyone here think that the name "U2" might have had some influence in the choice of name for "Youtube" ? It's funny that whenever I want to say "Youtube", the sound of "U2" first comes to my head.

Hmm, not for me. Maybe if I pronounced it "ewe-toob" then U2 would come to mind, but I say "ewe-tyoob".

 

[aalvares]

<< Moderator's note: threads merged. >>

Hello,

I'm wondering what "youtube" can mean. "Tube" as a verb - to float on a river on a large inner tube for fun - doesn't fit; as a noun it makes more sense but it seems a bit awkward. Is it something like "youTV"?

Thank you,

Ana

 

[pickarooney]

A Cathode Ray Tube was an integral component of televisions before LCD/plasma technology. I think it derives from there somehow.

 

[xqby]

In North American slang, "boob tube" is a television. Or at least it used to be; you don't hear the term all that often.
I think that's the more direct derivation, though Pickarooney is certainly correct.

 

[aalvares]

Hi,

It was very interesting to know about boob tube!

Thank you,

Ana

 

[Rover_KE]

I always thought a boobtube was a tight-fitting top for women - like these:

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaticPageDisplay?storeId=12556&catalogId=19551&identifier=ts1 teeshop boob tube top

Rover

 

[liliput]

I'm with Rover KE on this - in the UK a boob tube is definitely a sleeveless, strapless, neckless top for women. I suppose the difference comes about because in the UK a boob is a breast (it can also be a mistake but this is less common) whereas in the US it's a stupid person. "Idiot box" would be the UK equivalent.

I agree that both the AE expression and youtube must come from the use of cathode ray tubes in old TVs. The meaning of youtube is, as you say aalvares, something like youTV - your own personal TV station.

 

[xqby]

I suppose the difference comes about because in the UK a boob is a breast (it can also be a mistake but this is less common) whereas in the US it's a stupid person.

It means "breast" in America almost exclusively, as well; the meaning of "fool" still survives in some phrases, but as I mentioned earlier, those are decreasingly common.

British boob tubes are called tube tops around here, for the record.

 

[pickarooney]

Not that it's a particularly relevant here, but 'tube' is also a derogatory term, similar in meaning and register to the less common definition of 'boob' above.
'You tube!' can mean 'You idiot!"

 

[panjandrum]

I have a suspicion that pickarooney's variant of "tube" is common in Ireland but not beyond.
It adds a delightful sense of madness to the choice of youtube as the term
Youtube is then equivalent to Youfool or Youidiot.

 

[pickarooney]

I've definitely heard it in Scotland too.

 

[Wayland]

I remember a pop music television programme in the 80s/90s was called "The Tube". I did not myself watch the show but it was explained to me that the tube was a slang term for a TV. I had never heard the word used thus and still have not heard it since. Was/is this a regional/generational divide?

 

[pogomole]

Hello,

I'm wondering what "youtube" can mean. "Tube" as a verb - to float on a river on a large inner tube for fun - doesn't fit; as a noun it makes more sense but it seems a bit awkward. Is it something like "youTV"?

Thank you,

Ana

Hello there!

Disregard all other answers. Those people are apparently not up on their popular culture. Youtube is a website where people post videos. I am actually amazed that nobody has mentioned it in the previous posts. It is almost as well-known as Google or Yahoo.

<< --- >>

 

[brian]

I'm pretty sure everyone here is on the same page, pogomole. In fact, no one has mentioned it because: 1) providing an actual link to YouTube is not allowed (forum rules), and 2) I think everyone took it for granted that we're all talking about the video hosting website.

Anyway, as pickarooney mentioned, TVs originally had tubes as a main component and so were (and often still are) nicknamed tubes, for example Let's see what's on the tube today.

So YouTube could simply be rephrased as YouTV, meaning TV made by/for you or TV of/about you.

 

[pogomole]

I'm pretty sure everyone here is on the same page, pogomole. In fact, no one has mentioned it because: 1) providing an actual link to YouTube is not allowed (forum rules), and 2) I think everyone took it for granted that we're all talking about the video hosting website.

Anyway, as pickarooney mentioned, TVs originally had tubes as a main component and so were (and often still are) nicknamed tubes, for example Let's see what's on the tube today.

So YouTube could simply be rephrased as YouTV, meaning TV made by/for you or TV of/about you.

Hello there!

I guess if they weren't on the same page before, they are by now. Sorry about posting the link. Of course your explanation is correct and probably the best answer to aalvares's original question.

Cheers!

 

[ladybugEnglishFan]

<< What's the origin of "you tube"?>>

I was wondering what does it mean? Tube, as far as i know is a pipe, but i guess there's another meaning of it used in "you tube".

<<Moderators note: Threads merged. >>

 

[grubble]

As far as I know, it started with video dating. A nickname for a television is "the tube" (as in cathode ray tube).

"You" presumably referred to the seekers of romance themselves.

I haven't checked all this but I imagine a Google search for "YouTube origin" would help.

 

[Tacherie]

Tube is a way of referring to television, although I don't have much "official" information about how or when the term started to be used with this meaning. Check here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tube&defid=211676

I suppose You Tube would be a way of saying: "You make television," since you are able to upload your own videos, in contrast with real TV.

 

[koniecswiata]

Yes, tube refers to television--it is/was often called the tube. I remember it being called "the boob tube"--as a kind of insult. "You" rhymes" with "boob" so I always saw that as a kind of connection; at least it rhymes.

 

[mplsray]

Tube is a way of referring to television, although I don't have much "official" information about how or when the term started to be used with this meaning. Check here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tube&defid=211676

I suppose You Tube would be a way of saying: "You make television," since you are able to upload your own videos, in contrast with real TV.

The Oxford English Dictionary first cites tube in this sense from a November 1959 issue of Esquire.

 

[><FISH'>]

It's just a catchy website name, chosen to be memorable and topical. Why is this place called "word reference" when it's more than just a dictionary?

 

[Einstein]

I always think of a U-tube, the U-shaped pipe under the sink. No logical connection of course, but I've always assumed that they chose You-tube because it sounds like an existing expression.