The world has a lot of different standards for a lot of things, but I have never heard of a place with the default screw thread direction being opposite.
So does each language have a fun mnemonic?
Photo credit: https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Giy8OrYJTjw/Tfm9Ne5o5hI/AAAAAAAAAB4/c7uBLwjkl9c/s1600/scan0002.jpg
This phrase has never made any sense to me. It’s a circle. If one side is moving right, then the opposite side is moving left. So the phrase only makes sense if you specify which side we are talking about, which nobody ever does. Therefore it’s completely illogical to me while everyone else just gets it. Side note: Autism can be a real bitch sometimes.
But the entire rotation is either clockwise (right) or counterclockwise (left). Ultimately, its just a helpful reminder which way to turn lol
Clockwise and counter-clockwise makes sense.
But when you say “right” it’s not clear which side of the circle is being referenced. If the top of the circle is moving to the right, the bottom is moving left at the same time. So the saying only makes sense when you specify that you’re talking about the top of the circle.
Yes, it’s always the top side of the circle in this context, or you can think about how clock hands do go in a specific direction, because they’re a radius, not a circumference. There, now it’s cleared up for you.
The clock hands move right when at the top but left when at the bottom.
What the fuck are you talking about.
You’re either rotating the fastener to the right or the left.
It doesn’t matter what side you’re talking about, because you’re not moving one side of the fastener, you’re rotating the whole thing one direction or the other.
Clockwise just means something is rotating to the right.
If I ask you to turn around to the right, are you going to ask me what side of you I’m referencing?
Here is clockwise. One arrow is going to the right and one to the left.
The whole thing is rotating to the right, that’s what clockwise means. Clocks rotate to the right. One arrow is not pointing left, it’s pointing in the direction of rotation, which is to the right.
I agree but there is a intuitive way once you are holding it. I remember looking at a car wheel and the signal lever not understanding how do people decided that up on the lever means right. Yeah it’s connected to the wheel rotation but why turning the wheel clockwise means turning right? When I actually sat on the driver seat there was an instinct.For most people It’s more logical to look at the “top” of the circle and corelate it’s movement with turning left/right.
A thing that annoyed me is when table top games use a non determinist way to define player order. It always depends on the observer.alIf you just say “then the you pass your turn to the left”, what left? From my perspective; from the top down perspective translating it to counterclockwise? From the tables perspective which is the opposite?
I used to feel the same way. If you’re talking about the direction you’re moving your hand, it assumes your hand is above, not below.
Had a similar hangup with less than/greater than symbols.
The Right Hand Rule (RHR). Point the thumb of your right hand in the direction you want something to go. Curl your fingers. That is the direction of rotation. Translate to any language which has hands.
I guess I’m an idiot because I don’t understand lmao
Your thumb is an arrow pointing at where you want the screw to go. After you curl your fingers, your fingers are arrows showing the direction to turn the screw
I know how to turn a wrench. Knowing the direction is the difficult part. Especially on toilets.
The odd left-threaded screws are called Linksgewinde in German. Knowing this, you can sort of figure the rest out.
The right oppresses, the left liberates
Probably a result of turning wrenches since I was first able, but that rule, to me, feels akin to “up the stairs take you up, down the stairs take you down”.
In austrian german dialect, “Mit da Ua, draht ma zua.” which in standard german would be “Mit der Uhr, dreht man zu.” and in english “With the clock, turn it closed.” or something like that.
Neat. Would be engineering related lol
In English, there’s also “clockwise-lockwise”. It makes more sense than talking about left and right.
The Spanish version is my favourite: la derecha oprime y la izquierda libera (the right oppresses and the left liberates)
That’s awesome.
¡Gracias por la lección de español de hoy!
I think I saw that on reddit 2years ago, thank you for reminding me how’s the actual saying (I ~have adopted ever since I saw it, lol)
BASED
Oh wow that one is really good :D
I’m using this in every language I speak from now on!
I had never heard that before. Is that a region or country-specific thing?
Definitely not a common phrase. I’ve never heard of it (from Spain) and I just asked about 10 others from other countries and only one has. We usually would just say clockwise or counterclockwise
Isn’t everything in Spanish?
I don’t speak Spanish, but is there a reason this works well as a mnemonic? Like is there a reason you can’t misremember it as la izquierda oprime y la derecha libera? Because the English phrase works by alliteration.
Edit: i guess if you think of it in terms of politics that helps
The only one I know of is “open counter clockwise”, but after consuming too much media in English I use “righty tighty…”.
I use “Clock-in, counter-out”
We have that in Gujarati “navde nokhu satde sajjad”
I remember it as right hand screw rule
In Dutch we have DROL, Dicht recht, open links. So close right, open left as a very strict translation. But DROL is also Dutch for turd.
A droll factoid.
Never heard of that, I just remembered from my dad that clockwise is tight and counterclockwise is loose.
Same here, except for my dad, he is clumsy as hell.
Huh, I always say links los, rechts rotsvast
“Lefty Loosey righty tighty”
One arrow points up to the left, one points down to the left.
It’s about direction of rotation, does the wrench turn left or turn right, there isn’t the same notion of up and down / in and out because that portion happens when the bolt or nut turns. Also, anything rotation is moving the opposite direction on the other side of the rotation, so if you have to tighten a screw that turns towards you it’s the opposite
Not for screwing/unscrewing but in France we have a satire mnemonic for remembering right and left:
The right hand is the one with the thumb pointing left.
Works only if you look at the back of your hands, and obviously not useful. We use it mainly to mock someone who mix right and left
In English we’ll say, “Your other <right/left>”, depending on which direction the person is messing up.
I think that one is universal
We got that one in Germany as well
Dad? Is that you ?
What’s the phrase in French?
La main droite, c’est celle qui a le pouce à gauche
Not sure about the thumb one but for screws with only have:
- Visser : sens des aiguilles d’une montre (clockwise)
- Dévisser : sens contraire des aiguilles d’une montre (anti clockwise)
I’ve never heard something like this
I never really got that one, because “left” vs “right” only works when you are looking at the top of the screw. At the bottom, left tightens, and right loosens. So the one I remember is “clockwise to close”.
Edit: the image on the post is actually a good example. If I’m off the screen to the right holding the spanner, then from my perspective, “left” would tighten.
I explained here, but that’s why I prefer using the right-hand-rule. Sometimes thinking about clockwise in strange frame of references hurts my little brain.
I’ve always thought this too. I understand clockwise/anticlockwise and the direction being defined from the top - but it’s a circle - no matter which way you turn, it spends 50% of the time going either direction. The phrase works with screwdrivers (especially ratcheting ones), but not so much spanners or Hex Keys IMO.
Agreed. If the screw moves left or right, it fell out of its hole, lol. I guess “clockwise” is hard to rhyme.
If you mime tightening a bolt, your thumb moves to the right. And vise versa.
Left or right-handed?
Both. Odd that you would ask without trying it yourself.
With my left hand, my thumb starts facing right, and then sort of goes down and towards the left.
Am i weird if i tighten bolts by moving my fingers up/down intsead of side to side?
Solang das Deutsche Reich besteht, wird die Schraube rechts gedreht.
That’s a lot of extra words for lefty loosey, righty tighty.
And how are we supposed to turn screws nowadays?
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Don’t you dare give them ideas
Wenn das der Kaiser wüsste!
I guess we’re screwed
