this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
957 points (99.8% liked)
Funny
11030 readers
451 users here now
General rules:
- Be kind.
- All posts must make an attempt to be funny.
- Obey the general sh.itjust.works instance rules.
- No politics or political figures. There are plenty of other politics communities to choose from.
- Don't post anything grotesque or potentially illegal. Examples include pornography, gore, animal cruelty, inappropriate jokes involving kids, etc.
Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the mods.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Between "port" "starboard" "right" and "left" only two of the words have the same number of letters.
Left = Port
For the once per year I have to think about this, that's my mnemonic.
When you are standing in the center of the boat looking forward just remember. Boats are like women! They have PmS! Port (on the left), me (in the middle), Starboard (on the right)!
A related more general mnemonic works for the running lights too. Red has fewer letters than green, so it goes with left which has fewer letters than right and port which has fewer letters than starboard.
You can also face forward and imagine the word "PISS" in the water.
Is that supposed to be an acronym? "Port Isn't Starboard, Stupid?"
You could just imagine "PS", but I guess piss helps.
That's actually rarely the case in my experience. Generally, I mean.
I still remember the pneumonic for “pool” in Spanish that a high school classmate came up with: La Piscina — Piss in a pool.
Fo you have any mnemonics for aft, fore, stern and bow?
In German After is a scientific name for anus, so that's the back of the boat. Hope that helps
I remember "bow" from that scene in Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi shook the boat and made Daniel fall in the water.