Outdated Concept?

How do you explain “counterclockwise” to a child with a digital watch?
–Anonymous

That’s a great question! We have a lot of clocks in the apartment, but none of them are analog.

So what would we say instead? A variation of righty tighty, lefty loosey comes to mind.

 

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18 Responses to Outdated Concept?

  1. tammy j says:

    you’re asking me?
    I remember my own way of telling time when I was little.
    should I even admit this? lol.
    I said things like it’s 5 minutes past 6:30.
    I’m telling this to a physicist? LOL. well there ya go.
    that’s math humility for you. ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Mike says:

    As a navy machinest mate (mechanic) and commercial power plant operator, closing valves was always “righty, tighty” and opening valves was always “lefty, loosy.”

    For some reason, once I made it to the control room and, later, to the simulator, I seemed to be prone to going to “open” on valves when I intended to close them or “close” on valves when I meant to open them. Eventually, I discovered why. It wasn’t me. It was the way the control room and been “engineered.”

    The switches in control room were set up such that valve switches were operated in the counterclockwise direction — left — to close and clockwise — right — to open; totally counterintuitive and poorly human factored.

    The I realized that switches out in the plant on control panels and breakers were set up, for the most part, exactly the opposite, righty tighty, lefty loosey, as one would expect.

  3. I would be clueless. Explain time to a youngster is anther one can be diffucult one to do

    • Jean says:

      I imagine it’s a lot easier with digital clocks. There is still the business of 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, going back to Babylonian days.

  4. Cathy in NZ says:

    I suspect there many outdated concepts – which as an older person means nothing to a younger person.

    I was on the bus the other day – got talking to this young, probably late 20s after a woman got on with a pram (baby buggy) that is very modern a 3-wheeler where the front wheel is very large. It wasn’t one of the more modern buses with lift up seats for such carriages and she had a lot of difficulty getting anchored…

    that got me talking to the young about the progress of these type of baby prams and how in earlier time, the pram was on hooks on the front of the bus, then later they had folding prams and these was a place outside but like a luggage rack under our seats…then another type of pram came, which you still see, more for toddlers that folds up and then over…

    (I did find a picture on Pinterest but I can’t load it here…of the prams on the front of the buses)

    then he asked me about fares and how that had changed…especially after a woman getting off tried to tag-off on one of the old concept machine that actually is covered but can outfox you if you are not concentrating (not all the buses still have that old machine)

    actually there have been a vast array of changes to using public transport in about the last 5 years…

  5. Looney says:

    If you are looking north the sun crosses the sky traveling counterclockwise. If you are looking south, the sun will be traveling clockwise across the sky. But actually the sun is standing still relative to the Earth, and we are rotating clockwise with the Earth if we are looking north, which gives the illusion that the sun is traveling counterclockwise. Everything that goes counterclockwise is also going clockwise. It is all a matter of perspective. Does that help?

  6. Sharon says:

    Teach them the clock first then it would be much easier, I think. Good grief, I don’t know, I don’t remember how I taught my kids. ๐Ÿ˜‰

  7. Rummuser says:

    In India, among the Sanathana Dharmis, it is no problem at all. Pradakshina is clockwise and apradhakshina is anticlockwise.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parikrama

  8. Cindi says:

    I would just say, imagine a circle.
    If you go around it to the โ€œrightโ€, itโ€™s clockwise
    And to go to the โ€œleftโ€ is counterclockwise.

    Then of course Iโ€™d have to explain what โ€œcounterโ€ meant.

    And then just for fun, Iโ€™d try explaining how to count back change.
    ๐Ÿ˜‰

    • Jean says:

      You have to start at the top of the circle. I was picturing that when I thought of righty tighty, lefty loosey. It would be easy enough to teach, just have the kids draw it even if they had never seen an analog clock.

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