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Great addition to any vessel
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Funny
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"Port" and "left" both have four letters. "Starboard" is the other one.
Learned that trick a few years ago and have not forgotten since.
Starboard is right because it has two "r"s is how I was told
The problem is that left and right are different depending on which direction you're facing on the ship.
That's why it isn't right or left. That would be confusing.
Port is always left facing foward on the ship. It's on the right when looking towards the rear.
for the same reason we have forward (forward) and aft (back)... oh wait
Funny thing is cars still use right and left (atleast in US) often. Somethings driver vs passenger side. Driver vs passenger doesn't work everywhere for every car in the world like it does with boats.
What also might be funny is driver vs passenger could be seen like port and starboard in the future if we get self driving cars. There would be no designated driver side of a car, and every side is a passenger. Just like boats nowadays can port on either side because there are no steering oars needed.
When trying to find which is which, you will know that your mnemonic is about left/right relative to the ship. The distinction between left/right and port/starboard is only needed because when communicating to others, you would need to set the reference frame.