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up the ladder

Steve said he was sorry for the inconvenience, and that he would take it up the ladder.
by RuthlessEmpire November 16, 2015
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Take it up the Ladder

Sympathy butt-fucking to make up for your transgressions. Taking it up the arse. Fudge-packing. Butt Sex.
Steve said he was so sorry for the inconvenience, and he would take it up the ladder.
by RuthlessEmpire November 6, 2015
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Pulling Up the Ladder

A social phenomenon in which individuals or groups who have successfully advanced in status, wealth, or opportunity then act to block others from accessing the same path upward.

Key Features:

Motivated by fear of competition, scarcity mindset, or desire to protect hard-won status.

Can manifest in politics (e.g., immigrants opposing immigration), economics (e.g., professionals gatekeeping their fields), or class mobility (e.g., elites dismantling welfare or education programs they once benefited from).

Example (fictional): Raymond Leon in the movie "In Time" rises out of poverty to become a Timekeeper but enforces the very system that traps others where he once was.
Example (real): An immigrant who gained citizenship but campaigns to restrict immigration for others.
1. After becoming wealthy through public education, the politician now opposes funding for schools, effectively pulling up the ladder behind him.

2. Some immigrants, once they gain citizenship, support restrictive immigration policies — a classic case of pulling up the ladder.
by Social Climber September 16, 2025
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Pull the ladder up

Used in a sarcastic sense.
When someone gets something, but only for themselves, while leaving the rest of the group waiting for a kind gesture that never comes...as in, man gets on the boat and pulls the ladder up while the rest stand on the jetty in confusion at this selfish act with no way to board.
Sitting at dinner table Chloe realises there are no forks so goes to get one for her self
Everyone else sits and waits patiently thinking she will return with forks for all...
Chloe returns with just one fork...
Group exclaim sarcastically "oh jeeze Chloe, pull the ladder up why dont you!"
by Mauao November 28, 2007
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