• Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    36
    ·
    2 months ago

    this is a very real condition. my wife has a phd in experimental physics and can NOT remember which is which. if she looks at her hands she has a trick (the L your thumb and index fingers make is the correct orientation) but say “turn right!” to her and you might have well just made the muted trumped voice from the old peanuts cartoons

    • vithigar@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      2 months ago

      Does she remember whether she’s right or left handed? Just as a static fact about herself? I feel like it should be easy to reconcile an instruction like “turn right” by cross-referencing the knowledge of “I’m left handed” with “this is the hand I prefer to use”.

      • Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        truuuust me she’s tried everything you can think of. I find it surprising that she cant remember right as in correct as in dominant hand but she cannot. its honestly a little baffling

    • theangryseal@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      2 months ago

      I have a problem with it a little bit. It aggravates the fuck out of me when I’m dealing with screws, especially if I’m screwing something in upside down or from around the back.

      I literally hate myself. :p

      • Eiri@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        Try thinking of a clock. Most screws get tighter when turned clockwise. When time moves forward, your schedule gets tighter. Like the screw.

        I’m not sure it’ll help, but since it’s a rotational reference for a rotational target, maybe it’ll help.

        Personally I’m constantly drawing circles with my finger like a clock hand and then positioning my hand to face the screw while still drawing circles. It helps a lot.

        • ThisIsNotHim@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 months ago

          The problem is the mnemonic everyone uses doesn’t use rotational motion. Maybe we need an actual rotational motion mnemonic. Maybe “clockwise screw wise” would work

          I could never remember how screws worked until physics and the right hand rule.

    • crozilla@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      2 months ago

      Can confirm. Had it my whole life. If you shout “turn right,” there’s a 50/50 chance I’ll get it right, but my brain is just guessing. I have to stop and think about it to know for sure. I would make a shit Rally driver…

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      I told my partner to turn left an intersection and she couldn’t remember which was which, so she went straight ahead instead. Like the choice locked her up, and resulted in no action being taken at all. I assume we would have driven into a building if it had been a T-junction