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David Thornley wrote:

>FWIW, I wasn't really clear on what was right and what left all the
>time until my early teens, and only in my thirties did clockwise
>and counterclockwise become natural (i.e., could tell one from the
>other without first visualizing a clock).  People with stronger
>internal reference frames may think differently.
>

I'm still not always clear on them in my late-twenties.  I used the term
"right" just as a convenient reference name to "over to that side
(whichever side that is)."  I still catch myself checking to see which
hand makes the 'L' from the back, from time to time...

Clockwise, though, I think I've finally gotten...Of course, I bought a
novelty clock that runs backwards, so...

In any case, my point (which I've surely obscured) is that I don't use
compass directions, per se, but I do use fairly absolutist directions in
describing where things are.  Giving those directions compass names
strikes me as a usable compromise.

