There are many things in life that you will feel accustomed to if you don't think about them deliberately, but if someone asks you, you will find it strange.
For example, the words "up and down" were originally used to refer to the direction of high and low, but sometimes they are also used as verbs, and we often say to go to the toilet, or "to go to the kitchen". Have you ever wondered why the toilet is "up" and the kitchen is "down", what is the emphasis and saying about this up and down?
There are many explanations for this problem, let's start with the first one: some people believe that the saying of going to the toilet and going to the kitchen comes from the living habits of human beings in ancient times, because the earliest humans lived in caves, and when they made a fire to cook, they would choose the location outside the cave, so that the environment was empty, which was conducive to combustion, and would not consume the air in the cave;
When resting, they will choose the middle of the cave, higher than the entrance of the cave, so that the cave can stay dry even if it rains; Then when it is convenient, they go to the highest part of the cave, because the air is going up, and the slightest smell will not affect their living area.
This habit of going to the toilet and going to the kitchen has not changed with the development of human beings and has been preserved until now.
There is a second explanation, which is related to the direction of the five elements that the ancients paid attention to. We know that traditional Chinese architecture generally sits in the north and faces south, in the eyes of the ancients, the north is up, and the south is down - because the emperors in the past were all in the north, high above, so the north is "up" and the south is "down".
Then when building a house, the kitchen is usually designed on the south side of the house, and the toilet is usually on the north side. Why is it designed this way? Because the kitchen should have a fire, according to the relationship between the five elements and the direction, the south belongs to fire, so the kitchen should be in the position of fire;
The toilet, because the north is the direction of water, is designed in the north. As we said just now, the north is up and the south is down, so there is a saying that you go to the toilet and go to the kitchen.
Then there is also a point of view that in ancient times, there was a concept of superiority and inferiority, such as the superiority of men and the inferiority of women, the general ordinary family, to the kitchen management, is generally a woman, and the aristocratic family, to the kitchen are all inferior, so it is called the kitchen;
But going to the toilet is different, no matter whether you are noble or low, everyone has to go to the toilet, in order not to embarrass the noble person, simply go to the toilet is called "going to the toilet".
The last explanation is that most of the toilets in ancient times were built on top of the pigsty, with toilets on top and manure pits shared by humans and animals below.
The kitchen is used very frequently, and the location will of course be lower than the toilet, which is the same as the height of other rooms, so it should naturally be represented by "under the kitchen".
After listening to so many explanations, which one do you think is the most plausible? Or, if you have a different explanation of "going to the toilet and going to the kitchen", you are also welcome to leave a message to discuss and share with you.