things that you need power for

[Ostap]

"I will say, you know, like, one of the things that shocked me about this story is that I've always pictured performance enhancing drugs and steroids for things that you need, like, power for. Do you know what I mean? Like extreme power. Sprinting, lifting, brr. I never thought I'd see the day where a figure skater would be injecting themselves."
source with timecode

Hello, this is a Trevor Noah episode. I think that the placing of "for" in the quote changes the intended meaning.

things that you need power for = e.g, things that can only work when feeding (electric/solar/etc) power

things that you need for power = things that give you power (physical strength) - is what he meant and should've said.

Would you agree?

 

[emsr2d2]

No. He said it correctly. I've paraphrased it in two ways below. I hope they help.

I've always thought that performance-enhancing drugs and steroids are used for sports that you need power for.
I've always thought that performance-enhancing drugs and steroids are used for sports for which you need power.

You need power for things like sprinting and [weight]lifting.

 

[Ostap]

No. He said it correctly. I've paraphrased it in two ways below. I hope they help.

I've always thought that performance-enhancing drugs and steroids are used for sports that you need power for.
I've always thought that performance-enhancing drugs and steroids are used for sports for which you need power.

You need power for things like sprinting and [weight]lifting.

Yes, I got it, thank you. I missesd out the first "for" in the original: "for things that you need, like, power for". I think my rephrasing would work if the first "for" was replaced by "as":

"I've always pictured performance enhancing drugs and steroids as things that you need for power." Now the "things" refers to "drugs" rather than "sports", but the sentence I think still makes sense.

 

[Skrej]

I think Mr. Noah is woefully ignorant as to the physical demands of figure skating.

 

[Ostap]

I think Mr. Noah is woefully ignorant as to the physical demands of figure skating.

I would think he actually is not, it's just the joke is probably based on popular stereotypes, that are often used in stand-up comedy.

 

[probus]

I would think he actually is not, it's just the joke is probably based on popular stereotypes, that are often used in stend-up comedy.

As the father of a daughter who skated Varsity four years I strongly disagree. When skating she had very muscular legs. Those big muscles rapidly disappeared once she graduated and quit competitive skating. I agree, however, that Noah's opinion is purely sexist.

 

[Ostap]

As the father of a daughter who skated Varsity four years I strongly disagree. When skating she had very muscular legs. Those big muscles rapidly disappeared once she graduated and quit competitive skating. I agree, however, that Noah's opinion is purely sexist.

What is figure skating associated with? Gracefulness, beauty, elegancy. LIke ballet. Googling figure skating in the images one will mostly see women. That's why the stereotype. Everyone knows an ice-skater and a ballerina work hard physically, and yet we get that joke.

 

[emsr2d2]

stand-up comedy.