Which do you say?

[conuly]

Poll #25451 Language question

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 136

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Which do you say?

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Lefty loosey, righty tighty
41 (30.1%)

Righty tighty, lefty loosey
75 (55.1%)

I'm not sure
5 (3.7%)

I'm not familiar with this
15 (11.0%)

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Comments

[8hyenas]

Now another ticky for are you left or right handed! :)

[readerjane]

Righty tighty, lefty loosey. My family never said that, but I learned it from my husband. Only he does twist ties backwards! He does righty loosey, lefty tighty. I tell ya.

Lucky you!

[thetimesink]

Mnay men simply spin the bag and tuck the spun end underneath!

[melita66]

I stop with righty-tighty. I also feel that I learned this late--like as an adult rather than as a kid.

Oh, and in my head, I often think: righty-tighty, loosey-goosey. oops.

[agoodwinsmith]

Yes, this, yes.

[jessie_c]

And then there's propane fittings...

[darkoshi]

I don't say either, but have heard them before. I just remember that most things tighten clockwise.
Telling my mom to turn something (like a key in a lock) right or left doesn't work well as she's as likely to think it means to turn from the *bottom* to that direction rather than from the top to that direction.

[antisoppist]

Yes. I didn't grow up with the saying but people have said it to me as an adult and I don't see how it is supposed to help because I think of it as clockwise and anticlockwise and left and right have nothing to do with it and if I have to stop and work out which my right hand is and which way right is, it takes me longer than remembering it is clockwise to do things up. I don't actually think clockwise and anticlockwise, in my head they are the "do-ey up way" and the "undoey way" of twisting my screwdriver/spanner.

[kengr]

Right on, left out

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Didn't occur to me this saying would involve twistees. It's for aiding on valves which may be oriented any which way but pretty much are standard. Most screws also, but not all.

[fred_mouse]

I'm entirely familiar with the concept, but I wouldn't say either way. I think I've not encountered it 'in the wild'.

Prosodic neepery

[larryhammer]

Lefty-loosy, the vowels are low-middle > low-front in the mouth, while righty-tighty, they're middle-high. Saying it in the LLRT order, the jump in the progression makes it more memorable.

If it were a line of poetry instead of mnemonic, I'd use RTLL, for a smooth progression through the mouth.

[l33tminion]

Extremely surprised to see the majority puts right before left, since English ordering usually lists left before right. I also think it's more conventional to lead with alliteration and to finish with rhyme.

[frith]

Neither. Deposits build up over time, restricting flow, ergo, clockwise, speed up time and close the tap. Counterclockwise, turn back time and open the tap.

[agoodwinsmith]

And the answer is that, while I am aware of this, I don't use it, because I think in open/closed and clockwise and counterclockwise - even widdershins - and also: is that "right" from the bottom, or "right" from the top?

[elainegrey]

Also aware but it doesn't really make sense to me. Instead i use my dominant hand, point thumb in direction, turn following the fingers. (Good thing i'm right handed.) It's odd, even knowing i'm right handed, it takes a bit for me to remember which way is "right."

[archersangel]

my mom always said Lefty loosey, righty tighty, so that's what i say.

[lavendertook]

Huh. This is useful.

[thekumquat]

I'd heard the saying but it always confused me because it changes depending on which bit of the thing you are looking at - top/bottom if vertical, closest vs further away if horizontal.

As opposed to 'clockwise to tighten'.

[marahmarie]

Neither, actually, but there was no write-in. Right tighty, the end. Lefty-loosey is implied, and yeah, I do really try that hard to conserve my thoughts for things I actually need to work out by thinking them through a bit more than that.