I always knew port was left and starboard was right, but I basically used the trick "left is four letters, like port". I like learning etymology, though, because now I don't need some trick, I just understand the reason that the word is used.
Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”
621–630 of 636 posts
Re: Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”
#622Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eg if you're trying to shout over the wind.
Although from the same perspective the phonetic similarity "port" and "board" is probably not ideal, either.
In practice, and perhaps because of this, the pronunciation of "starboard" is heavy on the "star", with the latter part ending up more like "brd" or "b'd". Indeed, you can find the word written as "starb'd".
Re: Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”
#623Earlier quoted context omitted.
That reason is called tradition
Tradition is a form of collective intelligence. Tradition is the ritual the Yandruwandha carry out to cook nardoo. Without that ritual it is poisonous.
No, it's just a form of long-term repetition, intelligence is not required, just don't limit your example set to those that save you from poison, but also include those that poison
Re: Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”
#624Earlier quoted context omitted.
Holy crap my wife is the same, I have to tell her "turn my way" or "turn your way". It drives me insane as I always subconsciously interpret it as a form of lazyness, your framing of it as a form od dyslexia may finally allow me to be less bothered by it!
Whenever I hear the words 'left' and 'right' and have to act on them, i slightly twitch the corresponding arm or foot, and then can orient myself accordingly. I "know" where my right arm is and I can feel it instinctively (as a right handed person, it's my main, default arm). But apparently my brain cannot map those words to directions in the outside world until it establishes a positional relation to my own body. I…
I've done this for such a long time, one of the first times was at the eye doctor, when they test your vision with the symbols on the walls. Some of those "E" symbols were pointed in all directions and the hand twitch was so helpful. Thank you for sharing that tidbit!
Re: Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”
#625Earlier quoted context omitted.
> At the other extreme you have the medical profession where the first thing you learn in medical school is that left/right always refer to the patient's perspective. I was recently involved in a case where a patient decided that their left should be called the right side during a phone consultation as that would help their doctor. Good times.
I have heard stories of patients, entirely on their own, using black markers to indicate which leg/arm was to be operated upon. Surgeons are entirely OK with this. They appreciate it. I also heard a legend of a patient who themselves marked the wrong leg. This wasn't discovered until after sedation. The procedure was canceled until everything was clarified. When having my arm x-rayed years ago they places a small pad…
I can add to these stories because one time I needed to overrule my doctors opinion and use a digital interface to point where the problem is. The peoblem involved X-ray.
Re: Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”
#626Earlier quoted context omitted.
What are some examples? I am English but I know nothing about the maritime world, so I likely know the words as slang/vernacular terms but not what they mean on a ship.
bow, boom, tack, hitch, tiller, helm, etc :)
bow is a fun one, if you don't bow when tacking and the boom swings over then boom!
Re: Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”
#627Earlier quoted context omitted.
bow, boom, tack, hitch, tiller, helm, etc :)
bow is a fun one, if you don't bow when tacking and the boom swings over then boom!
Boats are noisy and dangerous places at times, I wonder if the lexicon arose organically or intentionally on the ability to hear them clearly to avoid misunderstanding. Any pirates care to comment?
Re: Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”
#628Earlier quoted context omitted.
Clarity stems from brevity i.e. concise, carefully chosen words that leave no room for ambiguity.
Clarity absolutely does not stem from brevity. Brevity is good, but it pushes toward ambiguity, not clarity. For example, consider spelling a word. The briefest approach is to say the names of letters. But these are similar, often differing only in one phoneme. E.g., P and B differentiating sounds are both bilabial plosives, differing only in whether they are voiced. But people for whom clarity is important will use…
We might have a different view on what "brevity" means, then. The ITU/NATO alphabet you mentioned is a prime example of brevity. Other examples include those used by air traffic control and fighter pilots.
Re: Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”
#629Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the noun "mjol" (flour) means "having been ground up" Ah - "mjol" as flour must be cognate with "meal". I hadn't previously associated meal with mills, but it makes sense.
Meal appears to be a cognate of Old Norse "mál" ("mål", "måltid" - meal, meal time - in modern Norwegian) rather than mjol. Compare also Mehl (flour) vs Mahl (meal) in German.
Both meanings exist in English - "stonemeal" or "oatmeal" for example.
Re: Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”
#630Earlier quoted context omitted.
This would probably throw my girlfriend off. She has some kind of right/left dyslexia. When she's driving and I'm giving directions I have to tell her "short turn" or "long turn". Long turn being left, longer because it's across a lane, right turns are shorter. But if someone told her that left is shorter than right for remembering purposes, it would probably mess her up more when following driving directions.
Holy crap my wife is the same, I have to tell her "turn my way" or "turn your way". It drives me insane as I always subconsciously interpret it as a form of lazyness, your framing of it as a form od dyslexia may finally allow me to be less bothered by it!
This sounds like a potentially dangerous condition to have if you drive, no? Is there a name for this?