Ways of distinguishing left from right

[notapoet47]

Hi

Comments

[lied_ohne_worte]

While we could do the same thing in German (as our word for "left" is "links"), I've never encountered it, nor anything similar. Perhaps we assume that people learn to distinguish left from right before they learn their letters, or something of that sort. When I deal with small children who have to remember to use one of the sides, I generally go by where they hold their pencil/crayon when doing pictures.

There is one phrase, which goes something like "Rechts ist da, wo der Daumen links ist" - "The right side is the one where the thumb is to the left" - that is of no use whatsoever, which is intended.

[mamculuna]

At 70, I still have problems! I do better with north and south, etc. I think some people are just challenged with being sensitive to left and right without thinking. I used to have a scar on my left hand, which helped, but it's faded now.

[lied_ohne_worte]

Oh, I do confuse mine, too (might be hereditary, as my father does it as well, which leads to hilarious situations - both of us in a car, the passenger telling the driver to turn left, at which the driver turns right, which was the intended direction in any case). I don't think that any helpful memory trick helps with that one, really.

[mamculuna]

My husband gets really irritated when I point instead of naming directions, but I tell him that's the only possible way for me to get us where we're supposed to be going.

[frenchroast]

You can do the L for German left (links) and the d for Spanish right (derecho), Italian right (destra), Portugese right (direito), and Romanian right (drept). I'm sure there are other languages, too, but those are the only ones I know offhand (pun intended, lol). It should be as simple as looking right/left up. And if one has the word for left that starts with the letter B that would work, too.

[kirstenlouise]

Unsurprisingly, it also works for Latin (dexter).

[notapoet47]

Interesting, thanks! I just remembered I can do it for Persian, because right (راست) starts with a ر

[sollersuk]

That only works if you can remember which way round L is. The people I know who have problems remembering which is which also have problems remembering the orientation of L.

[hector_von_kyiv]

In Soviet kindergartens, when I was growing up, they used a really uninventive and (as it proved eventually) poorly efficient way of "remember in which hand you hold a spoon when you eat".

[sollersuk]

Wouldn't have worked for my daughter! She used either hand indiscriminately.

[archaicos]

Unless I'm mistaken, in the USSR teachers mandated right-handedness.

[akibare]

Ha. Japan does the same thing - your right hand is the one you hold your chopsticks with!

[maju01]

Wouldn't work in Indonesian - both start with the letter k (kiri, kanan).