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Comment by jyounker | Hacker News Reader

"Port", "starboard" are unambiguously defined relative to the vessel. "Left" and "right" require specifying or guessing a point of reference.

For instance if you're facing port and I ask you to take two steps forward, you could either take two steps to port or two steps towards the bow. If I tell you to take two steps to port then the direction is unambiguous.

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In theater you always specific 'stage left' or 'stage right' for the same reason, even though it's more syllables.

I've told my doctor that I had a problem with my passenger-side nostril before

One fun thing about this is that I have to guess what country you're in to know which side you mean.

The passenger side is where the booger is sitting.

It's still ambiguous.

"Stage left" as if I'm standing looking towards the stage from the audience, or looking from the stage towards the audience?

No it isn't because the term was invented specifically to avoid this confusion -- it means "left from the perspective of the performer facing the audience".

ok, but forward on a boat is toward the bow, as unambiguous port and starboard

It's the difference between "forward for you" and "forward for the boat". Without words like "port", you might do the wrong thing when I say "take one step forward". Did I mean for you to go further in the direction you're already facing, or did I want you to step towards the prow?

You can step forward to any side of the boat.

In Soviet Russia, the boat can step forward to any side of YOU!

It's not as unambiguous because, to the guy with his back to starboard, forward could just as easily mean port! It may seem clear if someone's shouting, and pointing, at the bow, but if I'm recounting the action of a tense combat scene and say he "slips on a banana peel and falls 'forward'", you can't know for sure what I mean- does he fall straight towards port, or does he a break a leg, twisting, tumbling toward the bow? c:

We use similar approaches with terrestrial navigation too.

At the intersection of Main and Oak, go two blocks east. The building will be on the north side of the street.

Those instructions are the same no matter what direction the person is facing or direction they came from.

However, on a ship, the absolute positions of NSEW (relative to the Earth) aren't as useful as the ship may be heading any direction (and may be going forward or reverse). So a different absolute coordinate system is use - fore, aft, port, starboard.

Terrestrial navigation is also multidirectional.

It's not, because forward depends where you are looking it. That is, the front part of the boat might be on your back.

So "move forward" doesn't say much, whereas "toward the bow" e.g. does.

Same for left/right compared to port/startboard.

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