Willis’ alt’s protestations to the contrary, “down to clown” is not strictly a sexual euphemism, but merely means “playing around” or shenanigans. At a guess, see also: “clown around”.
> “To have fun in an irresponsible manner”
Though I would add it can also be more carefree, rather than the somewhat more pejorative “irresponsible”.
If you do use “down to clown” as a strictly sexual euphemism, I’m gonna assume you’re into clown stuff you read about on Urbandictionary, “circus snatch” and “clussy” and whatnot.
Because a quirk of how people the english language, and possibly just languages in general, is that they find as many possible ways as they can to talk about sex.
Oddly, the internet doesn’t support the meaning “to have sex.” It says, “Willing to have a good time,” with no suggestion of sex, according to several different sources.
Well it’s not much of a leap to go from “willing to have a good time” to “willing to have sex”, and “to clown” as shorthand for “have fun” makes sense enough.
Some people keep succeeding in making the then-current terms unacceptable in polite society, so people who don’t want to censor themselves have to keep inventing new ones.
As an ace person, I get awfully frustrated about this sometimes. Particularly with “Netflix and chill” – why, oh WHY, did this have to become a euphemism?!? Binging on dumb shows and relaxing is an extremely normal, non-sexy thing for people to do! What kind of a-hole decided it need to become a euphemism for sex, of all things?! STOP COLONIZING NORMAL ACTIVITIES WITH WITH YOUR STUPID HORNINESS, ALLOSEXUALS.
Absolutely! If someone refers to sex as “Netflix and chill” they are doing one of those two things wrong.
Miri
My husband and I got together in 2005. We got Netflix DVDs in the post…
I always understood that Netflix and chill involved a movie AND sex, with only the “and chill” bit being a euphemism… So “wanna watch a movie with me? I have Netflix” and “wanna Netflix and chill with me?” would both involve an invitation to come over and watch a movie and relax together but only one of them would involve relaxing by means of sex…
i guess some ppl have to have ‘coded languages’ b/c if you barely know someone, or if you’re in polite company but close with someone, saying “hey wanna sleep together after this”, even if ppl know that it’s a term like how ‘trying for kids’ can be phrased as ‘oh yeah i creampie my wife nightly’ but i’d hope everyone knows their group of friends well enough to know which one
You’re not wrong on either count. But purity culture is obsessed with the idea that men and women are complementary colors, and that means everything is in opposites – men are *always* up for sex, and women are right in the middle of the madonna/whore complex.
Yeah, it’s an artifact of her background, along with probably, as a lesbian, not really feeling a strong need to learn that nuance, anyway, as it’s entirely irrelevant to her romantic/sexual life.
In any case, Becky’s like 18 and from a fundie background, I am willing to cut her some slack on having a lot she still needs to learn about gender essentialism.
Yeah definitely a bit problematic, especially since it’s quite obvious that Walky isn’t really into the sex idea with Lucy and appears to be using church as an excuse to put it off
I think that’s kind of the joke here. It reinforces the idea that Walky should be down to clown with Lucy because he’s a man, and if he’s not something is wrong with him.
He could take a piss between classes and somebody would say it was an excuse to put off fucking Lucy.
TerribleTransit
I mean sure, but… there’s clearly a pattern here. Despite her *very* clear desire to have sex, Walky consistently deflects the offer. He very clearly has some reservations. I reject the frequently-paired claims that he doesn’t find Lucy attractive at all, and that this fact means their relationship is inherently doomed, but it’s really hard to make a convincing argument that Walky isn’t making excuses.
It’s an old, tired trope that I honestly wish would go die in a fire already.
I get why it exists, don’t get me wrong, and its not 100% wrong, but it just feels like a lazy and reductive joke most of the time, and that’s even before you get into some of the really horrific related crap that some people genuinely believe (like the belief that a man having an erection is proof that they are consenting to sex).
Not accusing Willis of intending anything remotely like that, for the record. I’m viewing this as them pulling out a cheap, easy, reliable simple gag with minimal punching down 99% of the time, but its one that I’m 100% tired of.
Might not even be a joke. I think it’s just loyal character writing. Becky is a young, lesbian, fundamentalist. Of course she would have some slightly misandrist views. Joyce was trying to check Dorothy’s junk for a secret weenus a bit ago and overall being a bit off about knowing a trans person. Not to mention the countless other quirks or flaws ever character has.
Wraithy2773
Mmm, yeah, that’s fair. Probably overreacting a bit here, I’m just REALLY tired of that trope popping up >_<.
bemisawa
Yeah, I definitely read this as dramatic irony, with it being recognizably a flawed, mistaken viewpoint which Becky holds due to her upbringing, and it being actively and dramatically wrong about Walky. If anything, I feel like Willis is making the point that it *is* a legitimately unfair and hurtful stereotype. As the audience, we know that Walky does not seem to feel this way. (Or at least, a substantial portion of the audience seems to be reading it that way.)
Then again, recalling how Becky used reverse psychology on Ruth and Billie, it’s also possible she’s fully aware it’s an unfortunate trope and is trying to call it out so Walky recognizes that he might not want that. I feel like either reading would be faithful to Becky’s character, whether she’s intentionally throwing a lifeline to Walky or not.
It’s certainly a belief I wish would die out too. Would have made life with my ex-wife a lot easier for the several years it took to make her understand that.
It’s a really toxic attitude and it’s deeply rooted in our society. It’s true that young males tend to have stronger libidos, on average, than young females (due to testosterone being correlated with sexual desire) but the viewpoint that men always want sex is very damaging. I know people who have been publicly humiliated for turning down sex, and the entire incel subculture is deeply rooted in mens’ self-worth being determined by their sexual performance.
Agreed. I remember talking to a fellow student in college about how she was pretty down bad for our Professor and I told her to wait til she wasn’t in his class anymore to make a move, both because of… you know, the obvious student/teacher thing and because I told her that she didn’t want to make it seem like she was trying to be pushy or anything (as in for grades or something) and she immediately responded with something along the lines of “oh well guys always want it”. It led to us having a conversation about it and she really just could NOT fathom the idea that men are not in fact, ‘always down to fuck’. …I did not talk to her again after that semester.
Taffy
If men aren’t always DTF, then why do they have genitals? Checkmate, atheists.
Do you have a car? Do you use it every time you want to get from A to B or do you sometimes walk or ride a bike? I know that was supposed to be a joke, but DANG do I get tired of the “Checkmate, atheists” trope.
yak
Oh yeah, I’m a grad student and literally one of the first words of advice you get as a TA is “don’t fuck the students”. Even my roommate, one of the most down bad guys I know, doesn’t even consider it an option.
Daibhid C
And from the bar of Galasso’s Pizza (and Subs) comes a cry of “Now you bloody well tell me!”
VicMortimer
When I was a TA, the rule was “If you fuck the students you’re teaching, you have to let somebody else grade them.”
Yep, official university policy was that it was ok back then. Not sure if that’s changed at that school, but I thought it was a pretty good policy.
I actually think it is a very intentional lampshade of how Walky is, in this very scene, demonstrably not “down” for sex. Whatever you may think his motivations are, he’s saying “no, not right now”, in direct defiance of the Generally Recognized Societal Expectation Becky is apathetically regurgitating.
I will note as a matter of historical interest, by the way, that the view that men are always interested in sex and women are more looking for relationships isn’t a historical constant by any means – during the early modern period in Europe (1500-1650 or so) it was believed that women had voracious and nigh-uncontrollable sexual appetites and that it was up to men, being morally superior (because of course they are, women are simply a deformed sort of man really), to keep women on the straight and narrow path of godly virtue and chastity.
A useful reminder that sexism does not express itself in universal forms and can take wildly different approaches based on the culture that’s expressing them! Which funnily enough is in its own way a refutation of that same sexism – after all, if gender stereotypes really are based in biological fact, why do so many cultures throughout history have DIFFERENT stereotypes about what the genders are like? Surely you’d expect them all to have the exact same stereotypes acting the exact same way?
Interesting, i didn’t know that yet!
And yeah, the only trope all patriarchal cultures have in common is the assumption that men and women are fundamentally different, and women are inferior. That’s what all customs and stereotypes boil down to, so the cause is patriarchy, not biology.
I remember the study that everybody was quoting years ago. It said men think about sex every 7? 8? seconds. Society would not be able too function if that were the case.
I mean … depends on how deeply they thought about sex and how they reacted to it. It comes to mind pretty frequently for me, but then I just move on to something else, and nobody would ever be the wiser unless I went out of my way to inform them.
thejeff
It’s got to be some kind of weird math averaging – like if you think about sex once for an hour, that covers 1/16th of your waking time, which gets translated into every 16 seconds.
I know I don’t think about sex every 7 seconds, but when I do it usually lasts a bit longer than 7 seconds, so how could this even make sense.
I was one, for a long while.
Then I took diabetes drugs to the knee.
–Dave, my libido hs been entirely drained for 15 years or so. I still appreciate the view, and I can convince myself to get the urge, but the DRIVE, the flame in the belly? is not there
Well, thinking back to when I was that age, I wouldn’t completely disagree with that opinion. It may have not been always, but it was pretty close. I was surprised to learn that some women were not all that different from me about that either.
243 thoughts on “Down to clown”
Ana Chronistic
I feel like church is the worst foreplay tho
except maybe for Ross
(eew)
Ana Chronistic
how didthat not work
Decidedly Orthogonal
Wow. So the Toe is awful in every timeline huh.
HueSatLight
not always the worst. There’s this painting by Heinrich Lossow. NSFW
DarkoNeko
down to…clown.
Angel
i mean, i wouldn’t put it past walky to put on a clown nose lol
Decidedly Orthogonal
Willis’ alt’s protestations to the contrary, “down to clown” is not strictly a sexual euphemism, but merely means “playing around” or shenanigans. At a guess, see also: “clown around”.
> “To have fun in an irresponsible manner”
Though I would add it can also be more carefree, rather than the somewhat more pejorative “irresponsible”.
Rose by Any Other Name
Thank you.
If you hadn’t looked it up and posted it, I would have.
Amelie Wikström
If you do use “down to clown” as a strictly sexual euphemism, I’m gonna assume you’re into clown stuff you read about on Urbandictionary, “circus snatch” and “clussy” and whatnot.
Dave Van Domelen
Becky is wise, yes.
David DeLaney
Becky has encountered the internet, though not always along with Joyce
–Dave, Becky has made a … very grown-up … decision. Rule 34 curses, unseen
Thag Simmons
Because a quirk of how people the english language, and possibly just languages in general, is that they find as many possible ways as they can to talk about sex.
BarerMender
Oddly, the internet doesn’t support the meaning “to have sex.” It says, “Willing to have a good time,” with no suggestion of sex, according to several different sources.
Thag Simmons
Well it’s not much of a leap to go from “willing to have a good time” to “willing to have sex”, and “to clown” as shorthand for “have fun” makes sense enough.
Inahc
anything can mean sex if you use the right tone of voice. 🙂
HueSatLight
I’m going to … respond to your post.
Sharaku
Saxophone plays.
HueSatLight
after a few beats, the drummer joins in.
Needfuldoer
♫ I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm ♫
David DeLaney
a husky tone of voice
–Dave, no no, it doesn’t work with actual huskies. i mean, most of the time…
Robin Lionheart
A woman walks into the bar and asks the bartender for a double entendre.
So he gave it to her.
Angel
the visual/food metaphors make sense tho. can’t talk about craving sausages or hot dogs without ppl also occasionally having a dirty joke
Mark
Some people keep succeeding in making the then-current terms unacceptable in polite society, so people who don’t want to censor themselves have to keep inventing new ones.
Decidedly Orthogonal
And we also use sexual terms to describe just generally messing about as well: screwing off, fucking around, having a wank, …
Mturtle7
As an ace person, I get awfully frustrated about this sometimes. Particularly with “Netflix and chill” – why, oh WHY, did this have to become a euphemism?!? Binging on dumb shows and relaxing is an extremely normal, non-sexy thing for people to do! What kind of a-hole decided it need to become a euphemism for sex, of all things?! STOP COLONIZING NORMAL ACTIVITIES WITH WITH YOUR STUPID HORNINESS, ALLOSEXUALS.
Skeptible
Absolutely! If someone refers to sex as “Netflix and chill” they are doing one of those two things wrong.
Miri
My husband and I got together in 2005. We got Netflix DVDs in the post…
I always understood that Netflix and chill involved a movie AND sex, with only the “and chill” bit being a euphemism… So “wanna watch a movie with me? I have Netflix” and “wanna Netflix and chill with me?” would both involve an invitation to come over and watch a movie and relax together but only one of them would involve relaxing by means of sex…
Angel
i guess some ppl have to have ‘coded languages’ b/c if you barely know someone, or if you’re in polite company but close with someone, saying “hey wanna sleep together after this”, even if ppl know that it’s a term like how ‘trying for kids’ can be phrased as ‘oh yeah i creampie my wife nightly’ but i’d hope everyone knows their group of friends well enough to know which one
NGPZ
*plays “Circus Source” by Richard Bellis on hacked muzak*
Bicycle Bill
“Entry of the Gladiators” (the traditional clown music for Ringling Brothers) – the actual Ringling Brothers circus band conducted by bandleader Merle Evans
Sirksome
I feel like thinking a guy’s always down for sex is a bit negative, but also I wouldn’t expect Becky to realize that.
Uly
You’re not wrong on either count. But purity culture is obsessed with the idea that men and women are complementary colors, and that means everything is in opposites – men are *always* up for sex, and women are right in the middle of the madonna/whore complex.
DailyBrad
Yeah, it’s an artifact of her background, along with probably, as a lesbian, not really feeling a strong need to learn that nuance, anyway, as it’s entirely irrelevant to her romantic/sexual life.
In any case, Becky’s like 18 and from a fundie background, I am willing to cut her some slack on having a lot she still needs to learn about gender essentialism.
Jo_Cubstar
Yeah definitely a bit problematic, especially since it’s quite obvious that Walky isn’t really into the sex idea with Lucy and appears to be using church as an excuse to put it off
BarerMender
Yeah, I’m afraid Lucy is in for disappointment.
Bash
I think that’s kind of the joke here. It reinforces the idea that Walky should be down to clown with Lucy because he’s a man, and if he’s not something is wrong with him.
Taffy
He could take a piss between classes and somebody would say it was an excuse to put off fucking Lucy.
TerribleTransit
I mean sure, but… there’s clearly a pattern here. Despite her *very* clear desire to have sex, Walky consistently deflects the offer. He very clearly has some reservations. I reject the frequently-paired claims that he doesn’t find Lucy attractive at all, and that this fact means their relationship is inherently doomed, but it’s really hard to make a convincing argument that Walky isn’t making excuses.
Wraithy2773
It’s an old, tired trope that I honestly wish would go die in a fire already.
I get why it exists, don’t get me wrong, and its not 100% wrong, but it just feels like a lazy and reductive joke most of the time, and that’s even before you get into some of the really horrific related crap that some people genuinely believe (like the belief that a man having an erection is proof that they are consenting to sex).
Not accusing Willis of intending anything remotely like that, for the record. I’m viewing this as them pulling out a cheap, easy, reliable simple gag with minimal punching down 99% of the time, but its one that I’m 100% tired of.
Sirksome
Might not even be a joke. I think it’s just loyal character writing. Becky is a young, lesbian, fundamentalist. Of course she would have some slightly misandrist views. Joyce was trying to check Dorothy’s junk for a secret weenus a bit ago and overall being a bit off about knowing a trans person. Not to mention the countless other quirks or flaws ever character has.
Wraithy2773
Mmm, yeah, that’s fair. Probably overreacting a bit here, I’m just REALLY tired of that trope popping up >_<.
bemisawa
Yeah, I definitely read this as dramatic irony, with it being recognizably a flawed, mistaken viewpoint which Becky holds due to her upbringing, and it being actively and dramatically wrong about Walky. If anything, I feel like Willis is making the point that it *is* a legitimately unfair and hurtful stereotype. As the audience, we know that Walky does not seem to feel this way. (Or at least, a substantial portion of the audience seems to be reading it that way.)
Then again, recalling how Becky used reverse psychology on Ruth and Billie, it’s also possible she’s fully aware it’s an unfortunate trope and is trying to call it out so Walky recognizes that he might not want that. I feel like either reading would be faithful to Becky’s character, whether she’s intentionally throwing a lifeline to Walky or not.
Azhrei Vep
It’s certainly a belief I wish would die out too. Would have made life with my ex-wife a lot easier for the several years it took to make her understand that.
yak
It’s a really toxic attitude and it’s deeply rooted in our society. It’s true that young males tend to have stronger libidos, on average, than young females (due to testosterone being correlated with sexual desire) but the viewpoint that men always want sex is very damaging. I know people who have been publicly humiliated for turning down sex, and the entire incel subculture is deeply rooted in mens’ self-worth being determined by their sexual performance.
yak
dang I used the term “deeply rooted” twice in one paragraph. I’ve been doing too much academic stuff today -_-
Miri
No, the problem is you used “deeply rooted” twice while talking about sex and neither case had a pun ??♀️
Doopyboop
Agreed. I remember talking to a fellow student in college about how she was pretty down bad for our Professor and I told her to wait til she wasn’t in his class anymore to make a move, both because of… you know, the obvious student/teacher thing and because I told her that she didn’t want to make it seem like she was trying to be pushy or anything (as in for grades or something) and she immediately responded with something along the lines of “oh well guys always want it”. It led to us having a conversation about it and she really just could NOT fathom the idea that men are not in fact, ‘always down to fuck’. …I did not talk to her again after that semester.
Taffy
If men aren’t always DTF, then why do they have genitals? Checkmate, atheists.
Opus the Poet
Do you have a car? Do you use it every time you want to get from A to B or do you sometimes walk or ride a bike? I know that was supposed to be a joke, but DANG do I get tired of the “Checkmate, atheists” trope.
yak
Oh yeah, I’m a grad student and literally one of the first words of advice you get as a TA is “don’t fuck the students”. Even my roommate, one of the most down bad guys I know, doesn’t even consider it an option.
Daibhid C
And from the bar of Galasso’s Pizza (and Subs) comes a cry of “Now you bloody well tell me!”
VicMortimer
When I was a TA, the rule was “If you fuck the students you’re teaching, you have to let somebody else grade them.”
Yep, official university policy was that it was ok back then. Not sure if that’s changed at that school, but I thought it was a pretty good policy.
Hrodvitnir
Y I K E S
Li
I actually think it is a very intentional lampshade of how Walky is, in this very scene, demonstrably not “down” for sex. Whatever you may think his motivations are, he’s saying “no, not right now”, in direct defiance of the Generally Recognized Societal Expectation Becky is apathetically regurgitating.
Tomn
I will note as a matter of historical interest, by the way, that the view that men are always interested in sex and women are more looking for relationships isn’t a historical constant by any means – during the early modern period in Europe (1500-1650 or so) it was believed that women had voracious and nigh-uncontrollable sexual appetites and that it was up to men, being morally superior (because of course they are, women are simply a deformed sort of man really), to keep women on the straight and narrow path of godly virtue and chastity.
A useful reminder that sexism does not express itself in universal forms and can take wildly different approaches based on the culture that’s expressing them! Which funnily enough is in its own way a refutation of that same sexism – after all, if gender stereotypes really are based in biological fact, why do so many cultures throughout history have DIFFERENT stereotypes about what the genders are like? Surely you’d expect them all to have the exact same stereotypes acting the exact same way?
Felian
Interesting, i didn’t know that yet!
And yeah, the only trope all patriarchal cultures have in common is the assumption that men and women are fundamentally different, and women are inferior. That’s what all customs and stereotypes boil down to, so the cause is patriarchy, not biology.
Nicoleandmaggie
I feel like maybe she needs that gender studies course. Don’t listen to her Walky! It’s ok to not be down to clown!
Felian
This is the empowerment i didn’t know i needed! +.+
Max
I remember the study that everybody was quoting years ago. It said men think about sex every 7? 8? seconds. Society would not be able too function if that were the case.
Azhrei Vep
I mean … depends on how deeply they thought about sex and how they reacted to it. It comes to mind pretty frequently for me, but then I just move on to something else, and nobody would ever be the wiser unless I went out of my way to inform them.
thejeff
It’s got to be some kind of weird math averaging – like if you think about sex once for an hour, that covers 1/16th of your waking time, which gets translated into every 16 seconds.
I know I don’t think about sex every 7 seconds, but when I do it usually lasts a bit longer than 7 seconds, so how could this even make sense.
Felian
i also don’t remember the study so well, but it comes to mind that i’d think way more about sex if i was in a study that’s knowingly linked to sex?
Nedlum
Sexual Georg, who lives in a cave & thinks about sex over 10,000 times each second, is an outlier and should not have been counted
David DeLaney
I was one, for a long while.
Then I took diabetes drugs
to the knee.–Dave, my libido hs been entirely drained for 15 years or so. I still appreciate the view, and I can convince myself to get the urge, but the DRIVE, the flame in the belly? is not there
Felian
Yeah, it’s so toxic to paint men as always willing. This kind of assumption has trivialized sexualized violence done to men in so many cases. 🙁
Roborat
Well, thinking back to when I was that age, I wouldn’t completely disagree with that opinion. It may have not been always, but it was pretty close. I was surprised to learn that some women were not all that different from me about that either.
CODDE117
If she could tell, she might realize he isn’t in this case
Yotomoe
Is Becky working on her opening number for the comedy club or what?
Sirksome
Her tight 5 needs a bit of workshopping.
Disastroid
Sounds like something Dina can help her with.
Stephen Bierce
*imagines Becky in Juggalo makeup and duds*