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?

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-10 points

What the fuck are you talking about.

You’re either rotating the fastener to the right or the left.

It doesn’t matter what side you’re talking about, because you’re not moving one side of the fastener, you’re rotating the whole thing one direction or the other.

Clockwise just means something is rotating to the right.

If I ask you to turn around to the right, are you going to ask me what side of you I’m referencing?

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6 points

You aee assuming a top orientation moving to the right. Give somebody a wrench handle at the bottom of nut and tell them left to loosen, you will see how most take it literally and move handle to the left side of their body. they think in terms of their left and their right, not the screws right left from a starting location at top, or if from 4 oclock position to the “left of” 4 oclock as if you were facing the 4.

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8 points

If I ask you to turn around to the right, are you going to ask me what side of you I’m referencing?

No, because humans have a pretty clear forward direction. Screws don’t. You say turn a screw to the right, do you mean make the top of the screw move right or the bottom move right?

Most people assume the top, but not all, and the language is ambiguous.

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1 point

Slightly, anyway. If you’re both standing over the thing it can potentially be agreed on. If you’re all over the place working on some big machine you need to use some language, and I’m not aware of a standard way to do it.

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-4 points

The “front” or “forward” direction of a screw is clearly the face of the fastener itself, be it a hex head, Phillips, or Slotted screw. Picking a side of a face as the front doesn’t make any sense. The whole thing needs to rotate one direction or another, and it will either rotate to the right to tighten, or the left to loosen.

If I ask you what the front of a clock is, are you going to tell me it’s the top curve near the ceiling? No it’s the face of the clock, and the hands rotate around it to the right.

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4 points

The “front” or “forward” direction of a screw is clearly the face of the fastener itself, be it a hex head, Phillips, or Slotted screw.

Correct.

Picking a side of a face as the front doesn’t make any sense.

Right. Nobody is talking about the under side of the fastener. Just looking it the face of the fastener, as one does when driving into something.

The whole thing needs to rotate one direction or another,

Wrong. A rotating circle rotates in all directions, including right and left, up and down, at the same time. If you attach an arrow perpendicular to the circle, pointing in the direction of rotation, then (if rotating clockwise) the arrow will point right at 0°, down at 90°, left at 180°, and up at 270°

and it will either rotate to the right to tighten, or the left to loosen.

You’re talking about the TOP of the rotation. The bottom of the rotation is moving the opposite direction. Just like the right and left sides move in opposite directions.

Think about a wrench hanging off a fastener, handle pointing to six o’clock. To tighten it (clockwise), does the handle move toward your left or right?

No it’s the face of the clock, and the hands rotate around it to the right.

From nine o’clock to three oclock it rotates to the right. From three to nine it rotates to the left.

The rule for the top of the rotation is “righty tighty”. For the bottom of rotation the rule is “lefty tighty”.

The “righty tighty” saying doesn’t specify which side of the rotation it’s referencing, which as a kid helping my grandfather in the garage was confusing.

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16 points

Here is clockwise. One arrow is going to the right and one to the left.

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3 points

What happens if you look at it from the other side?

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11 points

I tend to agree but you could argue that from a perspective in the center of the rotation you’re turning to the right. Imagine standing in the center of those arrows.

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-5 points

The whole thing is rotating to the right, that’s what clockwise means. Clocks rotate to the right. One arrow is not pointing left, it’s pointing in the direction of rotation, which is to the right.

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3 points

Is the direction of rotation in the room with us right now?

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4 points

You think this arrow is pointing to the right, when it is clearly pointing up and to the left? Fascinating.

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15 points

The bottom arrow is, definitionally, pointing left.

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