Re: Letf / Right, was Re: Count and mass nouns

Quoting jcowan@REUTERSHEALTH.COM:

> Costentin Cornomorus scripsit:
>
> > What, left and right? Those are, like, cardinal
> > directions. Much more fundamental than east or
> > west.
>
> Nope, it depends on the language/culture.  There are definitely languages
> that think absolute directions (not always compass points, can be things
> like upriver/downriver, coastal/inland) are more fundamental than
> self-relative
> ones like left/right, front/back.
I dunno if this is the place for cultural relativity. The compass points are
pretty much an artefact of sitting on a spinning Earth, and other 'absolute'
directions are similarly contingent, whereas right/left is just as relevant
for someone floating in vacuum.

Hm, occurs to me that the 'left' in "I turned to the left" and "she stood to
my left" are not the same thing - rotation vs translation.

                                                         Andreas

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