this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Port and starboard are in relation to the ship while left and right are in relation to the person
Because left and right are relative, port and starboard are absolute.
Or to be more specific. Left and right are ambiguous because of the missing reference frame. It could be my left, your left or the left of the ship.
Port and starboard are always left and right in the reference frame of the ship.
Shipleft, shipright, fixed
But a Shipwright is a job.
You're gonna steer the ship right into some innocent dude!
Port is the place where you park the boat. Starboard would be the side where the stars are. None of these words are specific enough.
If only one side is made to be connected to the port, then that's pretty specific.
fair enough
I guess in emergencies on the water it needs to not look too much alike when you say it.
And also that smug feeling when you know it and someone else is out of the loop.
Can't 'fix' hundreds of years of tradition
Nah, we can.
Traditions are just peer pressure from dead people.
So fuck em.
That's incredibly short-sighted. Traditions are part of what makes up people's culture.
Some should be made away with for sure, but I disagree with the blanket statement.
Because port and starboard refer to the left and right side of the boat. If you are facing the stern your left would be starboard and right would be port.
And to remember the whole thing: "Star" comes from steer, goes back to old ships which had their rudder and till tied to the side at the aft and specifically, when looking forwards, to the right as people tend to be right-handed. Thus, steering-side == right if you're looking forwards.
"Port" because that's the side the port is on if you land without risking damaging the rudder. Originally it was "backboard" because that's the board (== side of ship) that's (often) in the helmsman's back, English changed it at some point while everyone else kept it. The terminology goes back to at least Old Norse, probably earlier, that's just the earliest that's attested.
In Dutch it's still bakboord.
but we've been sailing for a long time!
In Germany, too: "Backbord" & "Steuerbord"
TIL
My son is also named Bort
Doh
bort bort