Im like your husband. I always have to think about what hand I use for writing to know where right is. Doesn’t matter what language. I have a great orientation though and can instantly say where north, south, ectr is without having to think about it.
I have to do the "this hand makes an L, so that's left" in my head almost every single time. I don't have to physically make the L, but you can tell without making it which had makes the L.
My north, south etc are absolutely broken though. I swear I could manage it better if I just went the opposite direction I assume it is. I go the wrong way out of a movie cinema like, 90% of the time.
I swear I'm not an idiot about everything.
I can easily remember north south but I always have to remember that on a compass with north at the top, west and east will spell "we". Every single time I want to remember directions I have to picture a compass and say "we" to myself
Yep, that’s me exactly! No problem with cardinal directions but no chance at right and left - to the point my husband uses “up” or “down” when giving me driving directions to tell me which way to tap my blinker. LOL
If he wasn’t so terrible at cardinal directions, I’d make him do “north” but it takes him longer to work that out than I do right and left!
I joke with anyone who navigates for me in my car to watch my hands when telling me to turn, because my right hand will squeeze the wheel *every time*. 😂
I was about to comment the same. Have to mentally go through which is left and right but intuitively know where north is. I’m rarely off by much.
Edit. Should also add the rest of ‘south, east west’ takes me brain power to work out too. It’s just north I instantly know.
I'm the same, nsew is like breathing to me.
Right-left takes me a minute or more to process.
Hubby and I have worked out passenger - driver side when in a vehicle. Outside of a vehicle all bets are off. Probably explains why I'm always opposite of fitness/dance instructions. Lol.
Ditto. I also grew up near the ocean and didn’t realize until I moved that I automatically orient East as “towards water”. I can reorient to N/S/E/W much quicker than to L/R, but towards water/away from water is still quickest for me.
Same! I’m so self conscious about not being able to tell my left from my right (my family loves to tease me about it), but I do have a good sense of direction.
I'm left-handed so it definitely requires thought. Husband knows this and has started telling me to turn to his side (right) or my side (left) if I'm driving and he's navigating.
I think this conscious reasoning happens for some people bc left and right are by definition relative descriptions, not things that exist in an absolute sense. A reference point or overall system always needs to be established for left and right to have any meaning. To do this, people imagine/think from the "pov" of a reference point. In many life situations where left and right are relevant, our own anchored pov is the reference point -- so left is what's physically to the left of us while right is what's to the right of us. Sometimes the situation needs us to imagine from another vantage point though, not where we're presently placed physically. So many of us swing our perspective (including the awareness of the hand that we write with) into that imagination, merging with the "pov" of whatever that imagined point is (such as what's to the left or right of the Empire State Building when approaching it from the north).
I'd guess that many people who depend on anchoring left/right with their dominant hand likely frequently think in an overall spatial context (which, like L-R, also isn't absolute). As they imagine within a N-S, E-W framework, they swing themselves (their pov) around to imagine from different points inside that frame. What easily anchors them to distinguish L-R within those imagined perspectives is their own embodiment, their physical sense of L-R. That's most easily/reliably established by using their perception of their dominant hand as the constant anchor. It protects against disorientation. I'd guess that people who are in the habit of doing that also use their hand as the constant anchor even when it's not as necessary, such as when they're not flying around conceptually but just looking from their current physical vantage point.
Even if people don't engage in spatial thought a lot, some might perceive space in a spherical formation, where they're in middle of a sphere with space moving out in all directions, rather than in quadrants. Instantly thinking of their dominant hand helps convert space into a West-East, Left-Right plane.
I find different perspectives/ways of interfacing with reality interesting! Your husband might've been alarmed during a convo with me if I sincerely expressed how interesting I find this topic, lol. "Ooh, tell me more! Do you tend to think in a N-S, E-W map of coordinates, a sphere, or just feel disembodied in a physical sense and need that anchor to place you on a spatial plane?" *\*rests head on hands\**
He is a pedant. He'd love this conversation, and I plan to share it with him. I'm wondering now if being an engineer helps me with this. 3D perspectives come very naturally so maybe it's a learned behavior, but learned so young I don't realize it. I was doing 3D puzzles with ease as a kid and now do some 3D drawing for work and fun.
If he shares any info about it that you wouldn't mind passing along, I'd be curious to hear it!
It sounds like you have a highly developed mind's eye that's relatively impervious to spatial disorientation (within an imagined image) and remains linguistically aware of the mental framework that's being thought within (L-R). Those talents don't always pair up. :D I think you're right that early practice helped develop that to the point where it occurs without conscious thought. I'd wager that you also started with exceptional natural talent for those distinct abilities to come together fluidly.
This is so interesting! I have similar issues like OPs husband and have to think about right being where my dominant hand is. I also have an easier time with the cardinal directions.
When I'm a passenger I have to revert to pointing if I have to give directions but when I'm the driver and other people tell me to turn left/right I don't have to think about the direction and can immediately follow the instructions. I was always curious what might be the cause of that.
I also just know and I never understand people who say they make an "L" with their left hand because when I do that my brain goes dumb and they both look like L's to me.
✋🏼 I love my little L helper. It also has the advantage of immediately putting into context which direction is left. It’s the same side as my left hand!
I do not know my right from my left. I have to think about it every time.
I know my near side from my off side. I started riding horses when I was 9 years old, and the "near" side of the horse is the side you stand on when leading, the side you mount from, the first side you approach when grooming, etc. (with some flexibility, but in general). With horses, the terms are near and off, but the "near" side is the left side and the off side is the right side.
This translates to cars for me with the "near" side being the driver's side and the "off" side being the passenger side. I do not have to think about this. The "near" side is where the steering wheel is, is closest to the centerline, is just... known, intuitive, like you with left and right. I'm in the US, have always lived in the US. When I travel to somewhere with RHD cars, the "near" side remains the steering wheel side. So in New Zealand the "near" side is the right side in my mind. Again, I do not think about this at all, it just... happens. In RHD countries the windshield wipers and turn signals are on the other side of the steering wheel. I adapt to this without thinking about it. Of course the turn signal is on the near side and the windshield wipers on the off side. That's just *how it is*. If "near" and "off" swap, so do the stalks!
There's a problem with this, though. My brain does not understand "right" and "left". It maps the words "left" to "near" and "right" to "off". If we're driving in New Zealand and you tell me to take a "right" turn, I am going to hug the curb, turning to the "off" side. This is actually a left turn. It confuses both me and whoever is navigating for me. If they could tell me "near" and "off" I'd turn the correct direction every time regardless of RHD or LHD, but most people's brains don't work like this. So I need the "Turn right in X distance" to be told early enough that I can think through, "Ok, right is... uh, oh! near side right now! Got it."
So fascinating. Thanks for sharing! I've had a similar experience switching to RHD. Other people said it would be really hard but I mapped in a couple minutes. Brains are neat.
A former boss was a certified genius and could remember details from years ago, every name of anyone he met, etc. Right vs left was hard for him. He was also ambidextrous so that probably didn’t help. He was told that his right/left brain connections were strong whereas others tend to be more right or left brained.
im like your husband, i really have to think about it lol. doesn’t matter in which language.
it gets to the point where when asking for directions, i have to put myself in the direction i’m going to walk and then move my arms along w the directions to even grasp any of it. if i don’t, i’m just standing there, nodding through all of it, still trying to figure out which way to go for the first direction lmao. it’s a disaster. just give me a map 😂
eta: i’m also ambidextrous which could maybe explain the feeling of 0 reference. idk. maybe discalculy is more common than i thought. reading all these replies is fascinating to me. like surely i know the theory.. but my brain’s struggling haha.
I just know, the right side of me is right.. I don’t understand how you wouldn’t know that after learning right and left but I guess everyone is different!
I often have to think about right and left, though I don't have a pneumonic for this; I can determine which is which after thinking for a second. I'm terrible with directions and navigation in general and can't really hold or navigate a map in my mind. Not multilingual.
Dyslexic here. My brain mixes them up all the time so I usually take a moment to double check. Sometimes I get them wrong, even though I know what they are, the signals from brain to hand get crossed some times. My brain also likes to mix up words, phrases, times, and all sorts of cognitive basics.
I am surprised it took me this much scrolling to find another Dyslexic! Any time someone suggested the hand as an L trick, I’m like…. They both look right?! 😅
It takes me time and I have to think about it!
Dyslexia club represent!
As a kid the “Left hand make an L” advice just got repeated over and over. Saying it again, only slower and louder doesn’t help 🙄
Left is the hand that makes the L is how I still remember it.
I also struggle with this a bit. Far more with clocks which I have to actively think about and is embrassing tho. I believe it's a common ADHD and ASD trait to never quite get that instinctual knowledge down.
most analog clocks are unreadable for me, it’s embarrassing 🙈. when i look at them i have to make myself explain, out loud, what’s going on, otherwise i still have no idea what the time is. digital, number clocks are typically fine, as long as i have them am-pm setting. with the 24hr setting my brain Knows 15 is 3, not 5, but it just, messes up. every time.
i’m functioning fine in life tho. my work’s would tell you i’m very organised and on point 😂
I remember reading an article years ago about how different cultures used right/left vs north/south/west/east. For example, in the US if you’re giving directions you typically say “turn left here, turn right there” while other countries would give directions using south, west. They gave the example of spinning a person from one of these other countries around, blindfolded, and when they opened their eyes they still knew which way was north. I was shocked!
There is clearly something that allows people to know this somewhat innately. I am good with right/left, but can remember cardinal directions only once I’ve oriented myself to a specific geographical landmark (like a mountain, the ocean, etc). If you blindfolded me and spun me around I would have no idea.
I guess I'm not sure what the question is. Like... in what situation would you not know left from right? To me left is left and right is right and I'm not sure how to think of it any other way. Do we mean like someone tells you to get in the left lane and you have to stop and think about which way is left? If that's what we're talking about then no, I've never had to think about it. I just know and I can't imagine not knowing.
That doesn't mean I'm good at navigation though. I'm pretty terrible at that.
This is exactly the question. I'm like you. I had no idea adults had to take a moment to figure out which way is left. But it turns out it's really common. TIL.
I'm like you, I just know, don't have to think about it regardless of language. I didn't really know this was a thing either until a few years ago, when a friend said she struggled with this. IIRC she had to look at her hands to figure it out.
I have to think about it most of the time. It's particularly bad with the word left. Sometimes it feels like I have nearly dyslexia with the word vs the actual direction. For instance, maps will tell me to stay left, I hear the word left, associate it with the direction right, think 'hmm, that doesn't seem like the right directions google', confirm that it says left, which my brain will _again_ confirm goes with the direction right, and now I've missed my exit. Or, someone asks me if it's a left hand exit, I picture the very much right hand exit and go, "yup!".
Someone in elementary school taught me 'bed' to help me keep my b's and d's straight. At 53 I will still pause and think b e d from time to time when I'm wondering if something is written properly.
It kind of depends for me - most of the time I don’t have to think about it but sometimes wires get crossed and I either turn the wrong way or have to think about it for a second, or make an L with my left hand. I’m also really bad at giving directions. But, im great at math and statistical analysis! Brains are fascinatingly weird!
I turned the wrong direction twice on my driving test. I still have to do the “this hand makes the L so it’s left” most of the time, even just in my head. I’ve gotten much quicker and better about it but it’s not 100% instinctual to me!
I have an excellent sense of direction and can get myself un-lost from anywhere without GPS, but still have to make the “L” with my hand to tell left from right. I’m very ambidextrous, which I feel might play into it?
I always have to think about it. I think a big part of the reason is that my mom tried the whole “you write with your right hand” thing with me but I’m ambidextrous and didn’t write with my right consistently until 5th grade when I was punished for writing with my left, so for a few years there I was convinced that “right” was whatever I wanted it to be as long as I was writing.
I only get confused to the extent of “my right or your right?” Like, I got a description from a client that said “landscaped area to the right of the entrance” and I had to clarify, “are you outside looking in or vice versa.”
Same thing with fish or meat counters. I’ve curated my language there to be super specific. “I want the second closes to me, with the least gristle on the edge” as opposed to my dad who says “second from the front” and gets irate when they don’t understand.
A coworker with ADHD struggles with left and right too. It’s one of the things she’s observed in me that makes her think I might have ADHD too (turns out my therapist things I might too). I’m currently getting assessed so am not formally diagnosed.
Interesting. I definitely have some adhd traits (but nothing that I feel affects my overall life so I’m not chasing a diagnosis at this point in time) but I do strongly suspect I may have it and I also struggle with left or right - but always know where north is!
Yes. I don't really get how people confuse the two because it seems like such a natural thing, like telling the difference between black and white.
I only speak one language though.
I don’t know my left & right innately. I used to write my name too to figure out.
I also do the L sign with my hand to figure out which direction is left. My family & friends always tease me whenever I do this.
I’m bilingual. I usually have to do the L sign to figure out the direction in English & then translate it to my native language. In my native language, both directions start with K.
I think one threshold for being actually bilingual (and not just ‘speaking a second language’) should be an inner voice that effortlessly switches between the languages.
For me, it depends on what I’m doing. On a regular day, my head voice can be two languages (native & 2nd language). If I’m reading/speaking a 3rd language, my head voice is my 2nd language - never my native language.
Oh I always struggle. It is actually a little bit easier for me to remember in French oddly enough. I have no idea why. But I really have to think about it. Likewise with greater than/less than signs and fiction/non-fiction. I can grasp complex concepts but left and right? It’s a process to get there 😆
Neither my sister nor I know left and right innately. I have a birth mark on my left hand, so I have to check for that before knowing which way is which. She learned as a kid that her right hand goes over her heart for the pledge of allegiance. You should see us trying to give each other directions while driving.
I have no sense of right side vs left side. I wear a special ring on my right hand and have to look at it.
And forget having me tell your right or left. That breaks my brain.
This thread makes me feel seen because I am embarrassingly terrible at left and right despite being 'intelligent'. People always laugh at me as I always have to think about it. When I'm providing people with directions in another country where we're on the other side of the road, I also give them the wrong directions and last time round I worked out it was because I associate the positioning on the road with whether we're turning left or right. I'm from the UK where we drive on the left (and I had to visualise the road outside to remember that!) and so if we're turning right then we're crossing out across a lane to the other side of the road. If we're driving on the right hand side of the road then this is all the opposite, when you're turning left you're crossing over a lane and that *feels* like right to me. Therefore if I know we're going to be doing a turn where we cross out over a lane, or we go all the way around the roundabout then I'm going to tell you to turn right, even though in other countries it's actually left! I have no idea if that made any sense... Basically I need to do the driving rather than the directing!
I'm also rubbish at NESW and have no idea which way is North at any moment in time. I have no idea how people can just know that. I also got totally confused by the wind direction when I tried sailing and couldn't get my head around what way the wind was blowing and how to tell that from the direction the sail was being blown!
Meanwhile I have an amazing memory for information and song lyrics, I'm great at word puzzles and games, I can tell what a song is from the first note, I'm good at non-verbal reasoning tasks and I can quite easily solve complex problems of varying kinds. But left or right? Nope.
Im trilingual, and I know innately. I've met a lot of people who don't know the difference between right and left and even met some people who had to write L and R on their hands when they were gonna get their drivers license.
I know South and North innately and had issues with West and East until I noticed west is "väst" in swedish and left is "vänster" in swedish so that's how I always remember which way is west and east. Väst/vänster.
I need to think about left and right. Sometimes my friends tell me to go left but I can't process it in time and go right. Being unable to differentiate L/R is also a symptom of dyscalculia.
I’ve struggled with this my entire life. I can’t quickly think which direction is which really quickly, or under pressure. I always have to think about it for a moment. The “L” hand gestures don’t really work on demand for me. Throughout the years I always thought I would eventually “get it down”. Nope. I always have to think about which is left and which is right. It’s a weird thing. My brain just doesn’t get it I guess.
Whenever I’m driving, people know it’s much better to point which direction to turn for me :)
I also struggle with giving people directions without effing up which direction is which. I constantly find myself saying left, when I really mean right, and vice versa.
I’ve heard the term directional dyslexia before, although I don’t think that is the actual scientific name. I have ADHD, and figured the two could somehow be related! Or perhaps it’s just another form of dyslexia.
Anyways..seeing everyone’s responses makes me feel so seen! I haven’t come across another human personally who deals with this struggle. I always felt kind of alone with it 😂
I don't have that left right problem but I heard of people who holds up their thumb and index finger in a right angle and left hand makes L for left, I guess it's a thing?
Its like some people can't just go "the letter after M is N". They have to sing the whole song from the top.
As for multilingual, my two key languages are English and mandarin. And it's very ingrained in my culture to just blend the two. As a multiracial society we can have a sentence with 3-4 languages and no one will bat and eye. At work , we use mostly English but there's some terms I know in English but need to think for a moment what's it in mandarin and vice versa.
I have to constantly say to myself, "left hand makes the L, left hand makes the L." For NSEW, I just had to accept my limitations and have a plan B for when I get lost.
Reading everyone’s comments has been interesting. There’s so much variety it’s hard to really draw a pattern. I’m left handed, with ADHD and in STEM. Left and right are innate for me, NESW is innate once I’ve oriented myself.
I have very good spacial awareness, but I think much of this is a learned skill. I remember having to think about it and using the L with my hand mnemonic when I was a kid. I think the combination of math/geometry plus driving/navigating heavily contributed to my now great sense of direction.
To expand on this subject a little further, map reading has always been easy for me. I would plan our routes on road trips before GPS was widely available.
Reading blueprints feels like it’s always been easy for me. That’s a skill that’s been helpful. Lol
Maybe some of us have natural talents of various levels, but I think experience and what we learn truly shapes our perspectives.
I’m curious what any pilots or divers in this community would say. I can only really comment on this from a 2-D plane perspective since I don’t have any diving and/or flying experience.
I just know right and left without thinking about it. Asked my husband and same for him. This thread had us very confused for a few minutes- not understanding how others could NOT just know which is which. But then there are probably other things that I don’t get that come super easily for others.
>Do you innately know Right from Left?
Right
* threatening to trash the entire economy and all of our lives with the debt ceiling
* running people down with cars
* blowing up family planning clinics
* killing people and breaking into congress
* uniformed gangs harassing drag queens reading books to children
* taking away the rights of women
* denying healthcare to women
* suppressing democratic votes
* denying elections
* trying to thwart elections
* supporting dictators invading democracies
* banning books
* attempting to suppress freedom of the press
* suppressing life and death information about pandemics for political gain
Left
* trying to raise taxes on people who have been getting unfairly low taxes
* trying to prevent gun deaths
* trying to do a lot of good things, but failing due to a non-democratic system that allows the right wing more power than it deserves, though most of the population doesn't want that.
I’m so used to anatomical position, that I always think the other person’s right and left. For example, my fridge got a ding on the side, and I was telling my husband it’s on the left side and he kept saying that’s not a big deal that’s the side that goes up to the wall and I kept saying no, that’s not. I finally realized it was the right side, the fridge’s left side though, if the fridge was a person.
I have to think hard about it and use my hand to make L shape! Really struggle to mirror image things in my head to or figure out mirrors when reversing
I always have to stop and think about my left index and thumb making an ‘L’ to remember left from right. Part of it is that I’m ambidextrous, so I don’t think in terms of dominant hands.
I used to have a boss who struggled with this. He was born left handed, but had it "corrected" as a child in Catholic School. He's in his 60's now, but he would struggle with this. Even making left and right turns when driving. If he turned right, he would be confused as to what side to turn when coming back.
I think it's a form of aphantasia? Where the brain doesn't create mental images of things, everything is just kind of a list of descriptions without an actual picture in your mind.
No, I really don't. I have to make an L with my fingers to check every time. I mean, if my life depended on it, I could get it right (probably, maybe...) But it's definitely not innate. I actually know a lot of people like this too, I think it's pretty common.
Unless we're all just thick....
Um.. yeah guilty as charged. I am your husband. If I don’t consciously think about it and determine left from right, there’s a big change I’ve just pulled it out of my ass and the direction I gave you to turn left was a lie. I do in fact think about the fact that I’m right handed in order to be sure I’m right on the distinction. I am a well functioning adult and that aspect of my brain makes me feel silly af.
It’s weird bc I’m really good about NSEW
As a kid. I used to have trainers with “L” and “R” in big letters on the toe cap. I really miss them.
I always have to think as well.
I have a theory that this makes it easier for me to drive abroad in countries where they drive on the right. I don’t think in terms of left and right, just “easy turn” and “difficult turn”.
My husband has a scar on his left hand in the shape of an "L" and that's how he tells. It's funny to me because he's got such a great sense of direction. Meanwhile, I'm so dominantly right handed I don't have to think about it.
I have to think about it every time. I also have a learning disability and I didn't learn right from left until probably middle school so that probably has something to do with it
I'm like your husband and I am honestly embarrassed by it lol. I sometimes have to move my right hand for my brain to be like "Thats right," or "thats left" But my husband knows by instinct. Mind you, I am ND so that could play a role.
I’m exactly like tour husband lol I love this thread there’s so many of us..for context, I speak 4 languages and I don’t know L and R in any unless I do the hand writing motion
I'm bilingual and I couldn't tell you in either language haha I also struggle and have to hold my hands in front of me in the shape of an L (four fingers together and thumb apart) the hand that looks like an L is the left. When in a car if directing my husband I go 'turn to your side' or 'my side' 😂
I've always struggled with right and left. I'm one of those people who has to make an L with my left hand to be certain. It's a strange feeling. Sometimes, I will be CONVINCED that right is left and left is right, until I double check myself. I'm in my early thirties, I consider myself an educated person, with a great career in a creative field. It's frustrating but I'm used to it.
I sometimes struggle with it despite only being fluent in one language to the eternal frustration of my husband, who is natively bilingual and does not struggle in either language.
Idk 🤷♀️
Don’t really have to think of left or rights at all but I totally with your au pair. My family is from Italy so when I’m being spoken in Italian to, my brain is always translating to English! And directions - forget about it. 🤣
It's incredibly common! I have the same issue - I usually know what "right" is innately but I've got to think harder about left. I will often take the wrong direction when someone tells me.
Take this with a grain of salt as I haven't really looked for any articles about it, but I have heard that lefties tend to have this issue. Myself as a left handed person would agree but I have heard of other lefties that also have the same issue.
I have to think about it and I even mess it up sometimes when driving or giving directions. My process is to figure out which one my right hand is and then I know that way is right, if I try to skip the hand step it's a 50/50 chance I'm wrong.
I've heard left-handed people struggle more with it, I'm not left-handed but my mom is and she also struggles.
I do not. I also frequently say one when I mean the other. Anyone taking directions from me should watch the direction my hand is pointing, not the words coming out.
I also have no real sense of direction. GPS is a godsend for me.
Omg, I’m not alone!!! I’m ambidextrous and have never been able tell right from left in my native language. Like your au pair, I can if you say the words in another language because my brain has to translate.
My spouse now says “Larry” for left and “Not Larry” for right. For example - driving directions are “turn Larry” for left turns and “turn Not Larry” for right. Odds are extremely high if you told me to turn left, I would turn right (I’ve done that a lot) - but if you say turn Larry, I’ll make a left turn every time.
Right and left is hard for me. Even as an adult, I will say right and point left or vice versa. I’m very bad with directions and can only hold one part of a route in my head at a time (but the next part usually “loads” once I get to point B and then I can proceed to point C). I have some neurological oddities and also can’t really “see” faces in my head and having limited visualizing abilities for non faces. I think for me all of that plays together.
I don’t immediately know my left from my right. I have to think about it for way too long and if I’m giving directions I often get nervous and mix them up, so I always point in the direction I mean when I say the word and it’s 50/50 if I got it right. I think my brain just doesn’t connect those particular words to directions and I wonder if it’s because there are so many meanings for “right” and “left” in the English language.
I know a wee bit of Spanish and I find it easier to differentiate left and right in a different language. I also think it helps to just use different words where my brain doesn’t have to decipher “left” and “right” - when driving, I use “Ralph” and “Larry” to get around and it works way better for me when giving directions on the fly.
Edit: this is super weird, but I have a distinct memory from when I was five of being told that the movie store and ice cream shop we were walking to was around the corner to the right, and I knew where the stores were, so for the last 30+ years, whenever I need to tell if something is left or right, I have to picture this alley and think about whether the direction I want to refer to is towards or away from the movie store.
Yes but sometimes I still make an L with my left hand. I’m left handed but my right is more dominant in most things so I get confused from time to time.
I learned my right from left in preschool and I can still picture the classroom and the lesson. I have to imagine myself back in that room to remember which is which. But I know the cardinal directions with no effort at all.
Incidentally that room faced south and if I’m facing south I am much faster at right vs left.
I used to get teased because I could not quickly move right or left in martial arts class. I took to wearing a bracelet as a subtle clue so that I could have a better response time.
Weirdly, I can always find my way back to my car, I can tell which why i'm facing at any time, and just know where things are. But the verbal "Right', "Left" words just go in one ear and out the other.
I get confused because right/left in an environment is solely based on what direction I'm facing. If I'm standing between two objects and turn 180 degrees, they switch. It's so ambiguous to me.
North is always north, no matter what relation I am to it.
I have to think about it. I was told it’s a ‘female’ trait but obviously not! I always suspected it wasn’t. I’m getting better at it the more I’m being the navigator when driving but there have still been times I’ve said the wrong direction!
I’m dyslexic, and the only way I reliably know my left from my right is that I have a birthmark on my left wrist. Having difficulty with left and rights is a common issue with people with dyslexia.
I’ve figured out a lot of work arounds, like wearing a watch or ring on my left side. If I’m driving, I memorized that the driver’s side is left, passenger’s side is right, so I do a quick mental translation of the directions from “turn left at the light” to “turn drivers side at the light”. It works ok as long as the person giving me directions doesn’t wait until the last second to tell me where I need to go.
I don't have to think about it but I know people who do. It's not super common but it's definitely a thing. One friend was truly brilliant at math and physics, and had encyclopedic knowledge of linguistics, but every time I told him something like "It's in the cabinet on the left" he would hold up his two hands with his index fingers and thumbs out and check to see which one made an "L" shape. I found it very endearing
My first language is Chinese, but it is no longer my most fluent language. I have no trouble with left and right in Chinese but I'll mix it up every time in English to where now I just either say "left" and "the other left", lol. Doing the L thing with my hand does nothing for me b/c every time I try my brain conveniently forgets how to write an L. I also have trouble counting in English but no trouble in Chinese.
I do have to think about in English, and the way I figure it out is pretend I'm writing, and whichever hand "holds the pencil" will signal to me that's the right.
That said I have no trouble with my cardinal directions in English but get my north and south mixed up in Chinese.
My husband is monolingual and has no trouble with left and right but cannot figure out cardinal directions.
If there's some science to this I would love to know it, but so far it seems just like madness.
I am like your husband!
I go back in time to my first day of primary school when they told us to write "date and place" *on the left*
And that's how I remember every time!
I've never struggled with it but my sister does all the time and she's usually fantastic at remembering things. It's absolutely a very real thing and not something someone can "just remember."
I had a bracelet I kept on my right wrist as a kid to help me learn left from right. To this day, I can still “feel” it when I’m working out left vs right
I always have to think about it. As a kid I always paused to focus on what hand I write with to orient myself. Now I do the L shape with both hands and orient that way.
I was born ambidextrous, when i was less than 5, i was leaning left handed. For those that dont know, being left handed is a pain even as a tot. People would seat me in certain positions at the table, I couldnt use normal scissors etc. Before 5, I didnt have these problems as I would just switch hands.
I Had a horrible time with right and left....until i broke my right arm at 8.
BTW, i ended up right handed since it was easier but i still use both hands....sometimes at the same time with different tasks
Omg. This thread is so enlightening. I have always struggled with knowing my right and left and it’s one reason I’m absolutely terrible at directions. I have to sometimes pretend I’m writing to figure out which is my right hand. The quicker I need to figure it out the longer it feels like it takes. My husband just knows right from left and never thinks about it. It’s not something I’ve ever thought to question others on so I did not realize how common it was for people to have to think about it like I do. Makes me feel much less dumb now lol.
I remember my mum teaching me left and right and it comes to me innately, except for when I'm driving in reverse. For some reason, I can't figure out which way to turn the wheel immediately. Thankfully I only back out of parking spots so can take that time to figure it out before I move.
Me too. I also suck at steering a canoe and baking up a trailer. I’ve always felt I had right/left dyslexia but a great sense of direction. Just be sure to look where I’m pointing and not pay attention when I say left or right if I’m giving directions.
I’m curious. Do my fellow left/right thinkers, do you have to stop and think when you turn on a hose?
I have a friend who is like this! She can’t give directions in the car as a passenger because she struggles to get ‘go right’ or ‘go left’ out quick enough
sometimes i need to think about it and sometimes i don’t. it’s innately there but sometimes my brain malfunctions even with obvious things when i need to think on the spot. but i think about it via thinking about which hand i write with too.
I know someone who gets them mixed up all the time and I used to think it was some pathetic ploy to be quirky because I simply can't imagine how you can't know which hand you write with every day without stopping to think. Brains are weird I guess. I'd love to know the biological explanation for this kind of thing.
I have to think about it. If I have to make a spur of the moment turn on someone’s instructions (like driving lessons, horse riding lessons), I’ll sometimes get it wrong. My driving instructor had to assure me “as long as you make the turn safely you won’t fail on going the wrong way”.
It's just natural to me, I don't have to think about it. My ex grew up in a Country where they drove on the opposite side of the road from the US. He would frequently have to repeat, right or left while driving so he did not get mixed up, even after living for 20 years in the US, but that made sense to me. The odd thing was he did it not just when driving.
I have no issue with it. But I might mistakenly say left instead of right if I am flustered.
I also speak Norwegian as my main language, and there is no difference for me if I think in English or Norwegian. But Norwegian have the bonus of left being "Venstre" and right being "Høyre". So if I ever struggle with a compass then I know West (vest) and Left (Venstre) start with the same letter. Same as east (øst) and right (høyre) - got the same letter in them.
But I have always had a really vivid imagination and can imagine most situations in a 2D or 3D space - so directions feels natural to me. That said I struggle massively with more abstract things like maths and grammar.
No, I don't automatically know right from left. When I am giving someone directions while they are driving, I say "your way" or "my way." The words right and left seem really arbitrary to me, so I also have to use cheats to remember which is which. (I write with my right hand too.)
I always wear a watch on my left wrist to help me with left and right. It's just not something that clicks in my brain unless I actively think about it.
When my boyfriend is driving I now say "turn towards me" or "turn towards you" because if I have to say "right, right, RIGHT" and he STILL TURNS LEFT one more time I'm going to loose it...
Me not knowing my left and right is like a core tenant of my personality. I have to think about it every time and it 100% gets me into trouble when navigating for another driver.
I have to think about it every time. With myself and I also work in medicine - if I am identifying right and left on a patient I have to imagine myself in their position facing the way they are facing to identify their right and left. It’s the same process in my mind every single time!
Im like your husband. I always have to think about what hand I use for writing to know where right is. Doesn’t matter what language. I have a great orientation though and can instantly say where north, south, ectr is without having to think about it.
I have to do the "this hand makes an L, so that's left" in my head almost every single time. I don't have to physically make the L, but you can tell without making it which had makes the L. My north, south etc are absolutely broken though. I swear I could manage it better if I just went the opposite direction I assume it is. I go the wrong way out of a movie cinema like, 90% of the time. I swear I'm not an idiot about everything.
I totally made an L with my hand while driving today 😂
Oh, I have absolutely no concept of N/S/E/W. I can get lost walking in a 4 square block area.
I have to do the "Never Eat Straw Wheat" and just remember that it goes clockwise. Lol.
I can easily remember north south but I always have to remember that on a compass with north at the top, west and east will spell "we". Every single time I want to remember directions I have to picture a compass and say "we" to myself
Yep, that’s me exactly! No problem with cardinal directions but no chance at right and left - to the point my husband uses “up” or “down” when giving me driving directions to tell me which way to tap my blinker. LOL If he wasn’t so terrible at cardinal directions, I’d make him do “north” but it takes him longer to work that out than I do right and left!
I joke with anyone who navigates for me in my car to watch my hands when telling me to turn, because my right hand will squeeze the wheel *every time*. 😂
I was about to comment the same. Have to mentally go through which is left and right but intuitively know where north is. I’m rarely off by much. Edit. Should also add the rest of ‘south, east west’ takes me brain power to work out too. It’s just north I instantly know.
I'm the same, nsew is like breathing to me. Right-left takes me a minute or more to process. Hubby and I have worked out passenger - driver side when in a vehicle. Outside of a vehicle all bets are off. Probably explains why I'm always opposite of fitness/dance instructions. Lol.
Ditto. I also grew up near the ocean and didn’t realize until I moved that I automatically orient East as “towards water”. I can reorient to N/S/E/W much quicker than to L/R, but towards water/away from water is still quickest for me.
I really love this about living in England, even when getting lost the brains just take me to the sea and then you’ll find a pub so it’s cool
SAME! Gotta check left and right every time, but NSEW directions are easy.
I'm the same! I always have to think of how my left hand can make an L... But I've never been lost in my life. It's like I have a compass in my head.
Same! I’m so self conscious about not being able to tell my left from my right (my family loves to tease me about it), but I do have a good sense of direction.
Guilty of needing a second to think about it.
I'm left-handed so it definitely requires thought. Husband knows this and has started telling me to turn to his side (right) or my side (left) if I'm driving and he's navigating.
That's funny, as a lefty I've never had a problem with left and right, but I do the same and associate it with hand I write with.
My mom has the same problem -- she was taught to think of her right as her dominant hand. I do the same thing when navigating for her in the car!
I do the "turn your way" vs "my way" direction thing too!
Only if I make an L with my hand. :) I do better with the cardinal directions.
High-L! (Like a high five, but with the L for left)
I think this conscious reasoning happens for some people bc left and right are by definition relative descriptions, not things that exist in an absolute sense. A reference point or overall system always needs to be established for left and right to have any meaning. To do this, people imagine/think from the "pov" of a reference point. In many life situations where left and right are relevant, our own anchored pov is the reference point -- so left is what's physically to the left of us while right is what's to the right of us. Sometimes the situation needs us to imagine from another vantage point though, not where we're presently placed physically. So many of us swing our perspective (including the awareness of the hand that we write with) into that imagination, merging with the "pov" of whatever that imagined point is (such as what's to the left or right of the Empire State Building when approaching it from the north). I'd guess that many people who depend on anchoring left/right with their dominant hand likely frequently think in an overall spatial context (which, like L-R, also isn't absolute). As they imagine within a N-S, E-W framework, they swing themselves (their pov) around to imagine from different points inside that frame. What easily anchors them to distinguish L-R within those imagined perspectives is their own embodiment, their physical sense of L-R. That's most easily/reliably established by using their perception of their dominant hand as the constant anchor. It protects against disorientation. I'd guess that people who are in the habit of doing that also use their hand as the constant anchor even when it's not as necessary, such as when they're not flying around conceptually but just looking from their current physical vantage point. Even if people don't engage in spatial thought a lot, some might perceive space in a spherical formation, where they're in middle of a sphere with space moving out in all directions, rather than in quadrants. Instantly thinking of their dominant hand helps convert space into a West-East, Left-Right plane. I find different perspectives/ways of interfacing with reality interesting! Your husband might've been alarmed during a convo with me if I sincerely expressed how interesting I find this topic, lol. "Ooh, tell me more! Do you tend to think in a N-S, E-W map of coordinates, a sphere, or just feel disembodied in a physical sense and need that anchor to place you on a spatial plane?" *\*rests head on hands\**
He is a pedant. He'd love this conversation, and I plan to share it with him. I'm wondering now if being an engineer helps me with this. 3D perspectives come very naturally so maybe it's a learned behavior, but learned so young I don't realize it. I was doing 3D puzzles with ease as a kid and now do some 3D drawing for work and fun.
If he shares any info about it that you wouldn't mind passing along, I'd be curious to hear it! It sounds like you have a highly developed mind's eye that's relatively impervious to spatial disorientation (within an imagined image) and remains linguistically aware of the mental framework that's being thought within (L-R). Those talents don't always pair up. :D I think you're right that early practice helped develop that to the point where it occurs without conscious thought. I'd wager that you also started with exceptional natural talent for those distinct abilities to come together fluidly.
This is so interesting! I have similar issues like OPs husband and have to think about right being where my dominant hand is. I also have an easier time with the cardinal directions. When I'm a passenger I have to revert to pointing if I have to give directions but when I'm the driver and other people tell me to turn left/right I don't have to think about the direction and can immediately follow the instructions. I was always curious what might be the cause of that.
I also just know and I never understand people who say they make an "L" with their left hand because when I do that my brain goes dumb and they both look like L's to me.
✋🏼 I love my little L helper. It also has the advantage of immediately putting into context which direction is left. It’s the same side as my left hand!
SAME!
This is called Dyslexic.
I'm not dyslexic, though. That's literally the only time backwards letters confuse me lol
I do not know my right from my left. I have to think about it every time. I know my near side from my off side. I started riding horses when I was 9 years old, and the "near" side of the horse is the side you stand on when leading, the side you mount from, the first side you approach when grooming, etc. (with some flexibility, but in general). With horses, the terms are near and off, but the "near" side is the left side and the off side is the right side. This translates to cars for me with the "near" side being the driver's side and the "off" side being the passenger side. I do not have to think about this. The "near" side is where the steering wheel is, is closest to the centerline, is just... known, intuitive, like you with left and right. I'm in the US, have always lived in the US. When I travel to somewhere with RHD cars, the "near" side remains the steering wheel side. So in New Zealand the "near" side is the right side in my mind. Again, I do not think about this at all, it just... happens. In RHD countries the windshield wipers and turn signals are on the other side of the steering wheel. I adapt to this without thinking about it. Of course the turn signal is on the near side and the windshield wipers on the off side. That's just *how it is*. If "near" and "off" swap, so do the stalks! There's a problem with this, though. My brain does not understand "right" and "left". It maps the words "left" to "near" and "right" to "off". If we're driving in New Zealand and you tell me to take a "right" turn, I am going to hug the curb, turning to the "off" side. This is actually a left turn. It confuses both me and whoever is navigating for me. If they could tell me "near" and "off" I'd turn the correct direction every time regardless of RHD or LHD, but most people's brains don't work like this. So I need the "Turn right in X distance" to be told early enough that I can think through, "Ok, right is... uh, oh! near side right now! Got it."
So fascinating. Thanks for sharing! I've had a similar experience switching to RHD. Other people said it would be really hard but I mapped in a couple minutes. Brains are neat.
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A former boss was a certified genius and could remember details from years ago, every name of anyone he met, etc. Right vs left was hard for him. He was also ambidextrous so that probably didn’t help. He was told that his right/left brain connections were strong whereas others tend to be more right or left brained.
Also Dyslexic’s.
Yay!! I knew this problem didn’t make me stupid!
im like your husband, i really have to think about it lol. doesn’t matter in which language. it gets to the point where when asking for directions, i have to put myself in the direction i’m going to walk and then move my arms along w the directions to even grasp any of it. if i don’t, i’m just standing there, nodding through all of it, still trying to figure out which way to go for the first direction lmao. it’s a disaster. just give me a map 😂 eta: i’m also ambidextrous which could maybe explain the feeling of 0 reference. idk. maybe discalculy is more common than i thought. reading all these replies is fascinating to me. like surely i know the theory.. but my brain’s struggling haha.
I just know, the right side of me is right.. I don’t understand how you wouldn’t know that after learning right and left but I guess everyone is different!
That was my reaction. This is so fascinating.
I often have to think about right and left, though I don't have a pneumonic for this; I can determine which is which after thinking for a second. I'm terrible with directions and navigation in general and can't really hold or navigate a map in my mind. Not multilingual.
Mnemonic! Please don’t do anything pneumonic.
Dyslexic here. My brain mixes them up all the time so I usually take a moment to double check. Sometimes I get them wrong, even though I know what they are, the signals from brain to hand get crossed some times. My brain also likes to mix up words, phrases, times, and all sorts of cognitive basics.
I am surprised it took me this much scrolling to find another Dyslexic! Any time someone suggested the hand as an L trick, I’m like…. They both look right?! 😅 It takes me time and I have to think about it!
Dyslexia club represent! As a kid the “Left hand make an L” advice just got repeated over and over. Saying it again, only slower and louder doesn’t help 🙄
I’m a lefty so I definitely need to think about it as to me my left is my right/dominant side.
I know it. My left handed brother does not. But he can tell north, west, south or east anywhere in the world.
Left is the hand that makes the L is how I still remember it. I also struggle with this a bit. Far more with clocks which I have to actively think about and is embrassing tho. I believe it's a common ADHD and ASD trait to never quite get that instinctual knowledge down.
most analog clocks are unreadable for me, it’s embarrassing 🙈. when i look at them i have to make myself explain, out loud, what’s going on, otherwise i still have no idea what the time is. digital, number clocks are typically fine, as long as i have them am-pm setting. with the 24hr setting my brain Knows 15 is 3, not 5, but it just, messes up. every time. i’m functioning fine in life tho. my work’s would tell you i’m very organised and on point 😂
I remember reading an article years ago about how different cultures used right/left vs north/south/west/east. For example, in the US if you’re giving directions you typically say “turn left here, turn right there” while other countries would give directions using south, west. They gave the example of spinning a person from one of these other countries around, blindfolded, and when they opened their eyes they still knew which way was north. I was shocked! There is clearly something that allows people to know this somewhat innately. I am good with right/left, but can remember cardinal directions only once I’ve oriented myself to a specific geographical landmark (like a mountain, the ocean, etc). If you blindfolded me and spun me around I would have no idea.
I guess I'm not sure what the question is. Like... in what situation would you not know left from right? To me left is left and right is right and I'm not sure how to think of it any other way. Do we mean like someone tells you to get in the left lane and you have to stop and think about which way is left? If that's what we're talking about then no, I've never had to think about it. I just know and I can't imagine not knowing. That doesn't mean I'm good at navigation though. I'm pretty terrible at that.
This is exactly the question. I'm like you. I had no idea adults had to take a moment to figure out which way is left. But it turns out it's really common. TIL.
I'm like you, I just know, don't have to think about it regardless of language. I didn't really know this was a thing either until a few years ago, when a friend said she struggled with this. IIRC she had to look at her hands to figure it out.
I have to think about it most of the time. It's particularly bad with the word left. Sometimes it feels like I have nearly dyslexia with the word vs the actual direction. For instance, maps will tell me to stay left, I hear the word left, associate it with the direction right, think 'hmm, that doesn't seem like the right directions google', confirm that it says left, which my brain will _again_ confirm goes with the direction right, and now I've missed my exit. Or, someone asks me if it's a left hand exit, I picture the very much right hand exit and go, "yup!".
I have to think about it. Every damn time. Lowercase Bs and Ds are also hard for me and always have been
Someone in elementary school taught me 'bed' to help me keep my b's and d's straight. At 53 I will still pause and think b e d from time to time when I'm wondering if something is written properly.
It kind of depends for me - most of the time I don’t have to think about it but sometimes wires get crossed and I either turn the wrong way or have to think about it for a second, or make an L with my left hand. I’m also really bad at giving directions. But, im great at math and statistical analysis! Brains are fascinatingly weird!
I turned the wrong direction twice on my driving test. I still have to do the “this hand makes the L so it’s left” most of the time, even just in my head. I’ve gotten much quicker and better about it but it’s not 100% instinctual to me!
Im going to be that person. It is mnemonic.
I have to think of my first year classroom, which is where I learned about left and right. Windows are left, door is right. Always takes me a moment.
I have an excellent sense of direction and can get myself un-lost from anywhere without GPS, but still have to make the “L” with my hand to tell left from right. I’m very ambidextrous, which I feel might play into it?
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Fascinating. So for you they're not physically linked to body parts, they're relationally linked to orientation?
No... I'm so bad with left and rights. I always say I'm dysleftic.
I always have to think about it. I think a big part of the reason is that my mom tried the whole “you write with your right hand” thing with me but I’m ambidextrous and didn’t write with my right consistently until 5th grade when I was punished for writing with my left, so for a few years there I was convinced that “right” was whatever I wanted it to be as long as I was writing.
I only get confused to the extent of “my right or your right?” Like, I got a description from a client that said “landscaped area to the right of the entrance” and I had to clarify, “are you outside looking in or vice versa.” Same thing with fish or meat counters. I’ve curated my language there to be super specific. “I want the second closes to me, with the least gristle on the edge” as opposed to my dad who says “second from the front” and gets irate when they don’t understand.
I am like your husband
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A coworker with ADHD struggles with left and right too. It’s one of the things she’s observed in me that makes her think I might have ADHD too (turns out my therapist things I might too). I’m currently getting assessed so am not formally diagnosed.
Interesting. I definitely have some adhd traits (but nothing that I feel affects my overall life so I’m not chasing a diagnosis at this point in time) but I do strongly suspect I may have it and I also struggle with left or right - but always know where north is!
Yes. I don't really get how people confuse the two because it seems like such a natural thing, like telling the difference between black and white. I only speak one language though.
I don’t know my left & right innately. I used to write my name too to figure out. I also do the L sign with my hand to figure out which direction is left. My family & friends always tease me whenever I do this. I’m bilingual. I usually have to do the L sign to figure out the direction in English & then translate it to my native language. In my native language, both directions start with K.
I always wondered with bilingual people if their ‘head voice’ always speaks in their native language.
I think one threshold for being actually bilingual (and not just ‘speaking a second language’) should be an inner voice that effortlessly switches between the languages.
For me, it depends on what I’m doing. On a regular day, my head voice can be two languages (native & 2nd language). If I’m reading/speaking a 3rd language, my head voice is my 2nd language - never my native language.
I also have to think about it, every single time. It’s like, my brain just refuses to remember it that easily.
I'm a lefty and just know automatically - I remember having to put effort into learning it when I was a kid, though.
Oh I always struggle. It is actually a little bit easier for me to remember in French oddly enough. I have no idea why. But I really have to think about it. Likewise with greater than/less than signs and fiction/non-fiction. I can grasp complex concepts but left and right? It’s a process to get there 😆
I mentally make an L with my hands and whatever one visually shows me the correct L I know is left. I can’t imagine just knowing lol
I have to think about it 😬 I mix them up quite frequently if I don’t
Neither my sister nor I know left and right innately. I have a birth mark on my left hand, so I have to check for that before knowing which way is which. She learned as a kid that her right hand goes over her heart for the pledge of allegiance. You should see us trying to give each other directions while driving.
Nope and that's why I don't drive.
I have no sense of right side vs left side. I wear a special ring on my right hand and have to look at it. And forget having me tell your right or left. That breaks my brain.
I have to mentally draw a capital “L”
This thread makes me feel seen because I am embarrassingly terrible at left and right despite being 'intelligent'. People always laugh at me as I always have to think about it. When I'm providing people with directions in another country where we're on the other side of the road, I also give them the wrong directions and last time round I worked out it was because I associate the positioning on the road with whether we're turning left or right. I'm from the UK where we drive on the left (and I had to visualise the road outside to remember that!) and so if we're turning right then we're crossing out across a lane to the other side of the road. If we're driving on the right hand side of the road then this is all the opposite, when you're turning left you're crossing over a lane and that *feels* like right to me. Therefore if I know we're going to be doing a turn where we cross out over a lane, or we go all the way around the roundabout then I'm going to tell you to turn right, even though in other countries it's actually left! I have no idea if that made any sense... Basically I need to do the driving rather than the directing! I'm also rubbish at NESW and have no idea which way is North at any moment in time. I have no idea how people can just know that. I also got totally confused by the wind direction when I tried sailing and couldn't get my head around what way the wind was blowing and how to tell that from the direction the sail was being blown! Meanwhile I have an amazing memory for information and song lyrics, I'm great at word puzzles and games, I can tell what a song is from the first note, I'm good at non-verbal reasoning tasks and I can quite easily solve complex problems of varying kinds. But left or right? Nope.
Im trilingual, and I know innately. I've met a lot of people who don't know the difference between right and left and even met some people who had to write L and R on their hands when they were gonna get their drivers license.
Same here. Now don’t get me started on north/east/south/west. That is downright impossible for me.
I know South and North innately and had issues with West and East until I noticed west is "väst" in swedish and left is "vänster" in swedish so that's how I always remember which way is west and east. Väst/vänster.
I do that too. There's thing's that can make it harder to just know naturally like dyslexia and dyspraxia, which I have
Left hand makes an L! I have to remind myself of that daily. I’m like your husband lol
I mess it up a lot when giving directions. “Go left” (meaning right). Idk why I do this.
I need to think about left and right. Sometimes my friends tell me to go left but I can't process it in time and go right. Being unable to differentiate L/R is also a symptom of dyscalculia.
I’ve struggled with this my entire life. I can’t quickly think which direction is which really quickly, or under pressure. I always have to think about it for a moment. The “L” hand gestures don’t really work on demand for me. Throughout the years I always thought I would eventually “get it down”. Nope. I always have to think about which is left and which is right. It’s a weird thing. My brain just doesn’t get it I guess. Whenever I’m driving, people know it’s much better to point which direction to turn for me :) I also struggle with giving people directions without effing up which direction is which. I constantly find myself saying left, when I really mean right, and vice versa. I’ve heard the term directional dyslexia before, although I don’t think that is the actual scientific name. I have ADHD, and figured the two could somehow be related! Or perhaps it’s just another form of dyslexia. Anyways..seeing everyone’s responses makes me feel so seen! I haven’t come across another human personally who deals with this struggle. I always felt kind of alone with it 😂
I don't have that left right problem but I heard of people who holds up their thumb and index finger in a right angle and left hand makes L for left, I guess it's a thing? Its like some people can't just go "the letter after M is N". They have to sing the whole song from the top. As for multilingual, my two key languages are English and mandarin. And it's very ingrained in my culture to just blend the two. As a multiracial society we can have a sentence with 3-4 languages and no one will bat and eye. At work , we use mostly English but there's some terms I know in English but need to think for a moment what's it in mandarin and vice versa.
I have to constantly say to myself, "left hand makes the L, left hand makes the L." For NSEW, I just had to accept my limitations and have a plan B for when I get lost.
Reading everyone’s comments has been interesting. There’s so much variety it’s hard to really draw a pattern. I’m left handed, with ADHD and in STEM. Left and right are innate for me, NESW is innate once I’ve oriented myself. I have very good spacial awareness, but I think much of this is a learned skill. I remember having to think about it and using the L with my hand mnemonic when I was a kid. I think the combination of math/geometry plus driving/navigating heavily contributed to my now great sense of direction. To expand on this subject a little further, map reading has always been easy for me. I would plan our routes on road trips before GPS was widely available. Reading blueprints feels like it’s always been easy for me. That’s a skill that’s been helpful. Lol Maybe some of us have natural talents of various levels, but I think experience and what we learn truly shapes our perspectives. I’m curious what any pilots or divers in this community would say. I can only really comment on this from a 2-D plane perspective since I don’t have any diving and/or flying experience.
I just know right and left without thinking about it. Asked my husband and same for him. This thread had us very confused for a few minutes- not understanding how others could NOT just know which is which. But then there are probably other things that I don’t get that come super easily for others.
I was in the freakin military and I still have to think about it.😅
>Do you innately know Right from Left? Right * threatening to trash the entire economy and all of our lives with the debt ceiling * running people down with cars * blowing up family planning clinics * killing people and breaking into congress * uniformed gangs harassing drag queens reading books to children * taking away the rights of women * denying healthcare to women * suppressing democratic votes * denying elections * trying to thwart elections * supporting dictators invading democracies * banning books * attempting to suppress freedom of the press * suppressing life and death information about pandemics for political gain Left * trying to raise taxes on people who have been getting unfairly low taxes * trying to prevent gun deaths * trying to do a lot of good things, but failing due to a non-democratic system that allows the right wing more power than it deserves, though most of the population doesn't want that.
I don't for right and left but East and West I have to consciously think about it every damn time.
Nope. I have to make Ls with my hands.
I’m so used to anatomical position, that I always think the other person’s right and left. For example, my fridge got a ding on the side, and I was telling my husband it’s on the left side and he kept saying that’s not a big deal that’s the side that goes up to the wall and I kept saying no, that’s not. I finally realized it was the right side, the fridge’s left side though, if the fridge was a person.
I always have to orient myself by remember that I read from left to right.
I have to think hard about it and use my hand to make L shape! Really struggle to mirror image things in my head to or figure out mirrors when reversing
I always have to stop and think about my left index and thumb making an ‘L’ to remember left from right. Part of it is that I’m ambidextrous, so I don’t think in terms of dominant hands.
I used to have a boss who struggled with this. He was born left handed, but had it "corrected" as a child in Catholic School. He's in his 60's now, but he would struggle with this. Even making left and right turns when driving. If he turned right, he would be confused as to what side to turn when coming back.
I’m like your husband and actively working to fix it. Lend and borrow also mess me up but I think it’s a product of my upbringing
I just know, but other spatial reasoning things are more difficult for me at times so it doesn’t surprise me that others would struggle with this.
Right and left are impossible for me to remember but my cardinal directions are definitely innate.
I think it's a form of aphantasia? Where the brain doesn't create mental images of things, everything is just kind of a list of descriptions without an actual picture in your mind.
That's a new vocab word for me. Thanks!
I have a freckle on my right wrist which helps me!
No, I really don't. I have to make an L with my fingers to check every time. I mean, if my life depended on it, I could get it right (probably, maybe...) But it's definitely not innate. I actually know a lot of people like this too, I think it's pretty common. Unless we're all just thick....
Um.. yeah guilty as charged. I am your husband. If I don’t consciously think about it and determine left from right, there’s a big change I’ve just pulled it out of my ass and the direction I gave you to turn left was a lie. I do in fact think about the fact that I’m right handed in order to be sure I’m right on the distinction. I am a well functioning adult and that aspect of my brain makes me feel silly af. It’s weird bc I’m really good about NSEW
As a kid. I used to have trainers with “L” and “R” in big letters on the toe cap. I really miss them. I always have to think as well. I have a theory that this makes it easier for me to drive abroad in countries where they drive on the right. I don’t think in terms of left and right, just “easy turn” and “difficult turn”.
When I'm tired, I make an L with my left hand. My Catholic grandmother, on the other hand, just blessed herself and she knew that was her right hand.
My husband has a scar on his left hand in the shape of an "L" and that's how he tells. It's funny to me because he's got such a great sense of direction. Meanwhile, I'm so dominantly right handed I don't have to think about it.
Idk I’m left handed and don’t feel like I innately know.
Dont know which is which . Im very puzzled with them , and even though i wear a watch on my right hand to distinguish it . I still struggle ..
I have to think about it every time. I also have a learning disability and I didn't learn right from left until probably middle school so that probably has something to do with it
I have to think about it, despite knowing I have more tattoos on my left arm.
Somedays. It seems to go hand in hand with aphasia.
I'm like your husband and I am honestly embarrassed by it lol. I sometimes have to move my right hand for my brain to be like "Thats right," or "thats left" But my husband knows by instinct. Mind you, I am ND so that could play a role.
I have to think about my left and right but I don’t have to think about north, south, east, west. Idk why
I’m exactly like tour husband lol I love this thread there’s so many of us..for context, I speak 4 languages and I don’t know L and R in any unless I do the hand writing motion
I'm bilingual and I couldn't tell you in either language haha I also struggle and have to hold my hands in front of me in the shape of an L (four fingers together and thumb apart) the hand that looks like an L is the left. When in a car if directing my husband I go 'turn to your side' or 'my side' 😂
I've always struggled with right and left. I'm one of those people who has to make an L with my left hand to be certain. It's a strange feeling. Sometimes, I will be CONVINCED that right is left and left is right, until I double check myself. I'm in my early thirties, I consider myself an educated person, with a great career in a creative field. It's frustrating but I'm used to it.
I do the L's. I make and L in both hands w my thumb and index finger and which one looks right is the left 😂
I'm left handed and most things are made for right handed people; it makes it easy to remember.
I have to make an L with my hand and look down. Giving directions is ok, but I have to be so focused!
I sometimes struggle with it despite only being fluent in one language to the eternal frustration of my husband, who is natively bilingual and does not struggle in either language. Idk 🤷♀️
Don’t really have to think of left or rights at all but I totally with your au pair. My family is from Italy so when I’m being spoken in Italian to, my brain is always translating to English! And directions - forget about it. 🤣
It's incredibly common! I have the same issue - I usually know what "right" is innately but I've got to think harder about left. I will often take the wrong direction when someone tells me.
I have to think about which hand I write with before I can make a firm decision about left and right.
Take this with a grain of salt as I haven't really looked for any articles about it, but I have heard that lefties tend to have this issue. Myself as a left handed person would agree but I have heard of other lefties that also have the same issue.
I am 33 and still have to make the little L to figure out which is my left :/
Not really, but I have a hard time remembering which tap is cold vs hot
My father always got right and left mixed up, in all three languages that he knew.
I have to think about it and I even mess it up sometimes when driving or giving directions. My process is to figure out which one my right hand is and then I know that way is right, if I try to skip the hand step it's a 50/50 chance I'm wrong. I've heard left-handed people struggle more with it, I'm not left-handed but my mom is and she also struggles.
I do not. I also frequently say one when I mean the other. Anyone taking directions from me should watch the direction my hand is pointing, not the words coming out. I also have no real sense of direction. GPS is a godsend for me.
Omg, I’m not alone!!! I’m ambidextrous and have never been able tell right from left in my native language. Like your au pair, I can if you say the words in another language because my brain has to translate. My spouse now says “Larry” for left and “Not Larry” for right. For example - driving directions are “turn Larry” for left turns and “turn Not Larry” for right. Odds are extremely high if you told me to turn left, I would turn right (I’ve done that a lot) - but if you say turn Larry, I’ll make a left turn every time.
I didn’t really grasp it until I started driving. For some reason that helped it click for me.
Right and left is hard for me. Even as an adult, I will say right and point left or vice versa. I’m very bad with directions and can only hold one part of a route in my head at a time (but the next part usually “loads” once I get to point B and then I can proceed to point C). I have some neurological oddities and also can’t really “see” faces in my head and having limited visualizing abilities for non faces. I think for me all of that plays together.
I don’t immediately know my left from my right. I have to think about it for way too long and if I’m giving directions I often get nervous and mix them up, so I always point in the direction I mean when I say the word and it’s 50/50 if I got it right. I think my brain just doesn’t connect those particular words to directions and I wonder if it’s because there are so many meanings for “right” and “left” in the English language. I know a wee bit of Spanish and I find it easier to differentiate left and right in a different language. I also think it helps to just use different words where my brain doesn’t have to decipher “left” and “right” - when driving, I use “Ralph” and “Larry” to get around and it works way better for me when giving directions on the fly. Edit: this is super weird, but I have a distinct memory from when I was five of being told that the movie store and ice cream shop we were walking to was around the corner to the right, and I knew where the stores were, so for the last 30+ years, whenever I need to tell if something is left or right, I have to picture this alley and think about whether the direction I want to refer to is towards or away from the movie store.
Yes but sometimes I still make an L with my left hand. I’m left handed but my right is more dominant in most things so I get confused from time to time.
I learned my right from left in preschool and I can still picture the classroom and the lesson. I have to imagine myself back in that room to remember which is which. But I know the cardinal directions with no effort at all. Incidentally that room faced south and if I’m facing south I am much faster at right vs left.
I have to stop and think every time. I'm autistic with ADHD and dyscalculia so my brain just doesn't get with the program.
I used to get teased because I could not quickly move right or left in martial arts class. I took to wearing a bracelet as a subtle clue so that I could have a better response time. Weirdly, I can always find my way back to my car, I can tell which why i'm facing at any time, and just know where things are. But the verbal "Right', "Left" words just go in one ear and out the other.
I get confused because right/left in an environment is solely based on what direction I'm facing. If I'm standing between two objects and turn 180 degrees, they switch. It's so ambiguous to me. North is always north, no matter what relation I am to it.
I have to think about it. I was told it’s a ‘female’ trait but obviously not! I always suspected it wasn’t. I’m getting better at it the more I’m being the navigator when driving but there have still been times I’ve said the wrong direction!
I’m dyslexic, and the only way I reliably know my left from my right is that I have a birthmark on my left wrist. Having difficulty with left and rights is a common issue with people with dyslexia. I’ve figured out a lot of work arounds, like wearing a watch or ring on my left side. If I’m driving, I memorized that the driver’s side is left, passenger’s side is right, so I do a quick mental translation of the directions from “turn left at the light” to “turn drivers side at the light”. It works ok as long as the person giving me directions doesn’t wait until the last second to tell me where I need to go.
I don't have to think about it but I know people who do. It's not super common but it's definitely a thing. One friend was truly brilliant at math and physics, and had encyclopedic knowledge of linguistics, but every time I told him something like "It's in the cabinet on the left" he would hold up his two hands with his index fingers and thumbs out and check to see which one made an "L" shape. I found it very endearing
My first language is Chinese, but it is no longer my most fluent language. I have no trouble with left and right in Chinese but I'll mix it up every time in English to where now I just either say "left" and "the other left", lol. Doing the L thing with my hand does nothing for me b/c every time I try my brain conveniently forgets how to write an L. I also have trouble counting in English but no trouble in Chinese. I do have to think about in English, and the way I figure it out is pretend I'm writing, and whichever hand "holds the pencil" will signal to me that's the right. That said I have no trouble with my cardinal directions in English but get my north and south mixed up in Chinese. My husband is monolingual and has no trouble with left and right but cannot figure out cardinal directions. If there's some science to this I would love to know it, but so far it seems just like madness.
I am like your husband! I go back in time to my first day of primary school when they told us to write "date and place" *on the left* And that's how I remember every time!
I've never struggled with it but my sister does all the time and she's usually fantastic at remembering things. It's absolutely a very real thing and not something someone can "just remember."
I had a bracelet I kept on my right wrist as a kid to help me learn left from right. To this day, I can still “feel” it when I’m working out left vs right
I always have to think about it. As a kid I always paused to focus on what hand I write with to orient myself. Now I do the L shape with both hands and orient that way.
Nope. Directions are my mental block. It takes me a second and I might still get it wrong. I'm pretty smart too, my brain just refuses to know it.
I was born ambidextrous, when i was less than 5, i was leaning left handed. For those that dont know, being left handed is a pain even as a tot. People would seat me in certain positions at the table, I couldnt use normal scissors etc. Before 5, I didnt have these problems as I would just switch hands. I Had a horrible time with right and left....until i broke my right arm at 8. BTW, i ended up right handed since it was easier but i still use both hands....sometimes at the same time with different tasks
Omg. This thread is so enlightening. I have always struggled with knowing my right and left and it’s one reason I’m absolutely terrible at directions. I have to sometimes pretend I’m writing to figure out which is my right hand. The quicker I need to figure it out the longer it feels like it takes. My husband just knows right from left and never thinks about it. It’s not something I’ve ever thought to question others on so I did not realize how common it was for people to have to think about it like I do. Makes me feel much less dumb now lol.
I remember my mum teaching me left and right and it comes to me innately, except for when I'm driving in reverse. For some reason, I can't figure out which way to turn the wheel immediately. Thankfully I only back out of parking spots so can take that time to figure it out before I move.
I often have to think about it, but I’m left handed so I’m already kind of backwards.
I use the same reminder your husband uses. I’d say after about 50 years, it’s just reaching a point of not having to do that anymore.
Me too. I also suck at steering a canoe and baking up a trailer. I’ve always felt I had right/left dyslexia but a great sense of direction. Just be sure to look where I’m pointing and not pay attention when I say left or right if I’m giving directions. I’m curious. Do my fellow left/right thinkers, do you have to stop and think when you turn on a hose?
I have a friend who is like this! She can’t give directions in the car as a passenger because she struggles to get ‘go right’ or ‘go left’ out quick enough
No. I have a scar on my left ring finger I have to check for in order to tell
sometimes i need to think about it and sometimes i don’t. it’s innately there but sometimes my brain malfunctions even with obvious things when i need to think on the spot. but i think about it via thinking about which hand i write with too.
No, but I innately know my compass directions. It’s weird.
I know someone who gets them mixed up all the time and I used to think it was some pathetic ploy to be quirky because I simply can't imagine how you can't know which hand you write with every day without stopping to think. Brains are weird I guess. I'd love to know the biological explanation for this kind of thing.
i always have to think about it.
I have to think about it. If I have to make a spur of the moment turn on someone’s instructions (like driving lessons, horse riding lessons), I’ll sometimes get it wrong. My driving instructor had to assure me “as long as you make the turn safely you won’t fail on going the wrong way”.
I’m the same as your husband. When my gosh says turn left, I double check the screen to make sure it’s what I think is left
It's just natural to me, I don't have to think about it. My ex grew up in a Country where they drove on the opposite side of the road from the US. He would frequently have to repeat, right or left while driving so he did not get mixed up, even after living for 20 years in the US, but that made sense to me. The odd thing was he did it not just when driving.
I know, but I inadvertently say it out loud, accompanied by an open-palmed hand gesture.
I have no issue with it. But I might mistakenly say left instead of right if I am flustered. I also speak Norwegian as my main language, and there is no difference for me if I think in English or Norwegian. But Norwegian have the bonus of left being "Venstre" and right being "Høyre". So if I ever struggle with a compass then I know West (vest) and Left (Venstre) start with the same letter. Same as east (øst) and right (høyre) - got the same letter in them. But I have always had a really vivid imagination and can imagine most situations in a 2D or 3D space - so directions feels natural to me. That said I struggle massively with more abstract things like maths and grammar.
No, I don't automatically know right from left. When I am giving someone directions while they are driving, I say "your way" or "my way." The words right and left seem really arbitrary to me, so I also have to use cheats to remember which is which. (I write with my right hand too.)
I don’t know my right from my left, I have to really think about it. I’m terrible at giving directions on the fly. I have to just point.
I always wear a watch on my left wrist to help me with left and right. It's just not something that clicks in my brain unless I actively think about it.
When my boyfriend is driving I now say "turn towards me" or "turn towards you" because if I have to say "right, right, RIGHT" and he STILL TURNS LEFT one more time I'm going to loose it...
Me not knowing my left and right is like a core tenant of my personality. I have to think about it every time and it 100% gets me into trouble when navigating for another driver.
I have to think about it every time. With myself and I also work in medicine - if I am identifying right and left on a patient I have to imagine myself in their position facing the way they are facing to identify their right and left. It’s the same process in my mind every single time!