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-   -   Was it just me? (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/was-it-just-me-84781/)

Nancy Aug 29th, 2000 02:16 PM

Was it just me?
 
Did anyone but me notice that when you asked directions in Germany, the right & left were backwards! My sister & I really started to wonder. <BR> <BR>Also, what time do shops close in Germany?

KlausW Aug 30th, 2000 04:17 AM

Not only are right & left backwards, up & down are sideways !!!

Huh? Aug 30th, 2000 04:21 AM

Backward? How so? Please post an example. Did you ask directions only to be told to "turn left" when the person directing you meant (or should have said) "right"? <BR>

frank Aug 30th, 2000 04:31 AM

Puzzle 1 : when you look at yourself in a mirror why are you right-to-left reversed but not upside down?

Judith Aug 30th, 2000 05:08 AM

You think that is something-I am my own grandmother!

Brian in Atlanta Aug 30th, 2000 06:10 AM

Frank: Because your eyes are spread out on a horizontal, not vertical axis.

frank Aug 30th, 2000 06:17 AM

Brian : no, you would look L/R reversed even if you had only one eye.Nice try.

Christopher Jones Aug 30th, 2000 07:38 AM

The image is NOT reversed to-to-bottom OR left-to-right : it's reversed front to back. <BR> <BR>CHris <BR>Sheffield

frank Aug 30th, 2000 07:47 AM

Chris, no, its L/R compared to an observers original view of you, you dont see the back. <BR>SOLUTION <BR>The reason is, to reflect any object, including yourself, you must rotate it. <BR>People normally spin on their vertical axis to turn & look at a mirror. <BR>(think of the turn as needed for an observer to compare both) <BR>If instead you did a backwards handspring your image would be upside down instead of L/R reversed.

elvira Aug 30th, 2000 09:23 AM

In the United States, the mirrors reverse the image R/L; in the U.K., is it reversed L/R? If I buy a mirror in the U.K., will I have to have it converted when I bring it back to the States?

Cindy Aug 30th, 2000 09:31 AM

Is this left/right business what causes my European toilet to swirl in the wrong direction? It's making me dizzy.

rand Aug 30th, 2000 11:54 AM

It is south of the equator where the image reverses counter clockwise not clockwise. But right on the equator it won't reverse at all.

Nip Aug 30th, 2000 11:57 AM

Does that mean people at the Equator don't age?

Buyer Aug 30th, 2000 12:03 PM

I think my white running shoes just GO in the wrong direction... or it could be the magnetic pull of my fanny pack... or quite possibly what everyone else was speaking some infernal language that was not anything like Englisch...

Dr. Fordor Aug 30th, 2000 01:06 PM

Some people suffer from directional dyslexia, but the whole German culture? Nancy, when you asked the question of which way to go, were you standing next to the person looking in the same direction or opposite the person, as if they were a mirror?

tommy Aug 30th, 2000 03:34 PM

STOP ALL THIS TALK ALREADY - I CAN'T FIND MY DRAMAMINE AND I'M ABOUT TO HURL!

topper Aug 31st, 2000 04:46 AM

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