The world has a lot of different standards for a lot of things, but I have never heard of a place with the default screw thread direction being opposite.
So does each language have a fun mnemonic?
Photo credit: https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Giy8OrYJTjw/Tfm9Ne5o5hI/AAAAAAAAAB4/c7uBLwjkl9c/s1600/scan0002.jpg
In austrian german dialect, “Mit da Ua, draht ma zua.” which in standard german would be “Mit der Uhr, dreht man zu.” and in english “With the clock, turn it closed.” or something like that.
Da scheißt di au!
Neat. Would be engineering related lol
In English, there’s also “clockwise-lockwise”. It makes more sense than talking about left and right.
I’m gonna try this with my son, he knows with way clocks go better than his left and right.
I like this one more.
The German version as actually survived its original time frame: “So lang das Deutsche Reich besteht, wird Schraube fest nach rechts gedreht” - “As long as the German Reich exists, a screw is tightened by turning right”
I’m German, and I’ve never heard that before. I’d be seriously weirded out by someone saying that or teaching it to their kids
I have to admit that this is rather old. So old, in fact, that it does not refer to the Third Reich but the Kaiserreich.
still mentioned twice in the thread. It‘s fucked up how often one would come across Germans casually throwing around Nazi language, looking for confirmation and when not receiving it claiming it’s just innocent fun. HiHiHi
Well, but is actually is not Nazi language in this case.
you think people don’t use it in that context?
also, because you‘re so adamant, I tried to find a source for your claim. I failed. Want to share?
My source is my grandfather, who learned this during his vocational training, which predates the Nazis by quite a few years.
That’s better but not that by much. A few years ago Germany raided some very rich and very well-armed wackos who wanted to bring back the Kaiserreich.
Just like a number of very rich and well armed wackos want to bring back Trump in the US.
German conspiracy wackos and American ones have a lot in common.
During COVID their bullshit ven diagram was a flat circle.
I don’t think anyone thought it was about the third reich
Probably someone did. Not all English-speakers know about the first two, even though they’re implied by “third”.
Yup this was me. I knew it was the third, but it never occurred to me to ask what the other 2 were
TBH I knew about the Kaiserreich, but I had to look up the first one myself. It was the Holy Roman Empire. (Which wasn’t really much of a reich, but the Nazis weren’t noted for their attention to historical accuracy)
I daresay that 99% of “English-speakers” never wasted a thought on why the Third Reich actually was the third.
And honestly, it could be that 90% wouldn’t know what the HRE was or who the Kaiser was once you told them. It’s just not a thing that comes up in the average life.
Never underestimate the incompetence of people, especially in the US, with regards to history. Just look how they are basically trying to recreate Germany’s 1933 at the moment.
So … shouldn’t German screws now turn to the left?
See!!! This is why communism is bad!! Since you’ve started turning everything to the left, it’s all come apart!!
Nar. A statement and its converse are not equivalent.
Never heard of this. We say ‘auf links, rechts zu’ and simply order the words alphabetically
yeah, this one is only for inside voice. I won’t be teaching it to anyone anymore.
One mnemonic is to imagine yourself opening a jar.
I use the right hand rule - ball up your fist with your thumb sticking out, and turning in the direction of your fingers curling will result in the screw going the rest your thumb points.
Right hand for right-handed threads and left hand for left-handed. If unsure, it’s most likely right-handed.
The assumption in this whole post is that it’s right-thread, since left is so uncommon.
Me learning this about electromagnetism: huh, neat.
Me learning this about something I actually use in day to day life: 🤯
It’s especially helpful when you’re looking at screws (or nuts!) from the back or any other weird frame of reference.
Your door is a jar.
Is it a jar of jam or jelly?
Solang das Deutsche Reich besteht, wird die Schraube rechts gedreht.
That’s a lot of extra words for lefty loosely, righty tighty.
And how are we supposed to turn screws nowadays?
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Don’t you dare give them ideas
Wenn das der Kaiser wüsste!
I guess we’re screwed
If japanese has one, I’ve never heard it. Japanese wife hasn’t either. She was surprised it’s a thing. She saidaybe tradesmen might, but certainly nothing everyone knows
saidaybe?
Probably a typo of “said maybe”
Or a typo of “you’re gonna be the one that saves me”
Though that’s admittedly somewhat less likely.
Though admittedlyafter all
Yes, very likely.
Just another instance where AI said fuck this, I ain’t correcting that today.
My dude, look at my post history. I actually noticed it and though “eh, I’ll fix it later” since my wife had finished her coffee and we wanted to free up a table for the people waiting at the cafe.
Yugunnabethawunthatsavemeee
So when someone changes a light bulb, which direction to turn is just a feeling in their bones?
That’s fair.
Japanese usually just say 時計回り (clockwise) or counter-clockwise
I can easily imagine: “right is right left gets you / it left”
But not every language has the double meanings of right and left.
It depends which bicycle pedal you’re screwing in. They have opposite threads, designed where they’re self tightening on each side.
Same with gas regulators that attach to the cylinders, for some reason. Oo and some hub nuts on cars
I’ve heard flammable gas uses reverse (left hand) thread to prevent cross connection. At least for welding gases in NZ; not sure about natural gas.
Acetylene does, gas lines are standard pipe.
Suppose it’s cause natural gas runs at like, 1-3 psi, while a fresh tank of acetylene is 5,000?
Least in the US
If I remember correctly, old timey glass kerosene lanterns also have backwards threads for some reason
Gas threads and water threads are opposites to each other for safety reasons. Might be part of that thought.
Bottlescrews and turnbuckles both have one end threaded in each direction.
Please tell Tongshen, who manufactures the popular TSDZ2 motor. The pedal keeps coming loose because they don’t do this. I keep a key on me to tighten it when it starts to loosen.
Exactly! Bicycle pedals have a left-hand thread on the left-hand side and “normal” threads on the right-hand side.
Definitely nothing in Arabic AFAIK.
The Spanish version is my favourite: la derecha oprime y la izquierda libera (the right oppresses and the left liberates)
Holy shit, fucking hell, now this is some goddamn wordplay!
I’m stealing this like the fucking British Museum.
I had never heard that before. Is that a region or country-specific thing?
Isn’t everything in Spanish?
Definitely not a common phrase. I’ve never heard of it (from Spain) and I just asked about 10 others from other countries and only one has. We usually would just say clockwise or counterclockwise
I’m using this in every language I speak from now on!
Oh wow that one is really good :D
BASED
¡Gracias por la lección de español de hoy!
That’s awesome.
I don’t speak Spanish, but is there a reason this works well as a mnemonic? Like is there a reason you can’t misremember it as la izquierda oprime y la derecha libera? Because the English phrase works by alliteration.
Edit: i guess if you think of it in terms of politics that helps
I think I saw that on reddit 2years ago, thank you for reminding me how’s the actual saying (I ~have adopted ever since I saw it, lol)
I never really got that one, because “left” vs “right” only works when you are looking at the top of the screw. At the bottom, left tightens, and right loosens. So the one I remember is “clockwise to close”.
Edit: the image on the post is actually a good example. If I’m off the screen to the right holding the spanner, then from my perspective, “left” would tighten.
It works for screws, but as a kid, I was never sure if the clock on the wall should be visualized attached to the ceiling or on the floor when saying “clockwise”. So I was always a bit hessitant on that.
Agreed. If the screw moves left or right, it fell out of its hole, lol. I guess “clockwise” is hard to rhyme.
I’ve always thought this too. I understand clockwise/anticlockwise and the direction being defined from the top - but it’s a circle - no matter which way you turn, it spends 50% of the time going either direction. The phrase works with screwdrivers (especially ratcheting ones), but not so much spanners or Hex Keys IMO.
I always railed against this. I’m using clockwise-lockwise from now on.
If you mime tightening a bolt, your thumb moves to the right. And vise versa.
Left or right-handed?
Both. Odd that you would ask without trying it yourself.
With my left hand, my thumb starts facing right, and then sort of goes down and towards the left.
Am i weird if i tighten bolts by moving my fingers up/down intsead of side to side?
“Eins og kókflaska” or “Same as a Coca Cola bottle”, not universal in Iceland though
Uuuh, upwards? :D
Just like the screws ;D
Nope. Polish doesn’t have one.
Neither does Czech.
Neither does Russian. We only share right-hand rule from physics.
Nothing in Slovak either. Slavs got srewed.
I never could remember until I was well in my 20s nd heard the righty tighty thing in HIMYM of all places
Never heard it in Polish but we generally don’t need a mnemonic to remember which side is left and which is right (except in politics).
We have: “Nach fest kommt ab”
The phrase “Nach fest kommt ab” is a German saying that translates to “After tight comes off” in English. It’s typically used to describe the idea that if you tighten something too much (like a screw), it will eventually break or come loose. It’s often used to remind people to not overdo things.
Yes, but that phrase does not tell you in which direction you have to turn to tighten it. So it doesn’t really answer the question?
There’s the fun police again
