EASY WAY TO REMEMBER HOW TO USE YOUR SCREWDRIVER
[a screwdriver is unscrewing a screw by turning counter-clockwise]
The LEFT liberates the screw from its oppression
[a screwdriver is screwing a screw by turning clockwise]
The RIGHT tightens the screw’s place in the social order imposed to it
Left and right to describe rotation is like the least helpful mnemonic ever.
And the picture above is a clear example why. The one saying left has an arrow pointing to the right and vice versa.
When you are asked to turn left or right, you instinctively know where to turn your body. Now, imagine you are looking at it from above, seeing yourself from the top. When you turn left or right, your head and the rest of your body turn in a specific direction, which should be easy to visualize. That’s the same movement in which you’d turn a valve / turn a steering wheel / rotate a screwdriver when asked to turn it left or right.
Reposting this as a direct response to you in case it’s helpful:
Try using your right hand directly to figure out which way to turn a screw. Make a loose thumbs up. Point your thumb in the direction you want the screw to go. The way your fingers are curling is the way you turn your screwdriver. If it helps, try to imagine there are arrows pointing out of your fingertips. Works just like the right hand rule in physics.
EDIT: here’s a picture of what I mean:
I absolutely love this method. Whenever you’re screwing anything (unless it’s reverse threaded ofc), just point your thumb in the direction you want it to go and twist it in the direction or your fingers. Really helps when you’re all turned around like lying on your back under the kitchen sink and need to tighten a nut.
It’s such a godsend. I wish people would teach both methods. It’s great that the “righty-tighty” thing works for so many people because it’s probably much faster than using your hand, but I spent so many years thinking I was shit at mechanical stuff because I couldn’t figure which way to turn a screw. I probably wouldn’t have a fucking obnoxious complex about it nowadays if I had learned this when I was five.
For a screwdriver. Not really. If your body is in a different frame of reference then I really doubt the direction is the worst of your problems.
It’s basically the same as the right hand rule in physics. The reference frame is not difficult to derive. The ease of the rhyme or “hand” to use is the point.
Or just use your right hand directly, just like some forms of the right hand rule. Make a loose thumbs up. Point your thumb in the direction you want the screw to go. The way your fingers are curling is the way you turn your screwdriver. If it helps, try to imagine there are arrows pointing out of your fingertips.
A few years ago, I learned that there are people who can distinguish left and right as easily as they can distinguish up and down. Righty-tighty lefty-loosey as a mnemonic device works for those people. I have never had, nor will I likely ever have, an intuitive understanding of which way to turn a screw. If one part of the screw is moving left, another part is moving right. My brain simply cannot keep it consistently straight. I have to use my right hand in the manner I described every so often. It’s not a hindrance to me (I build stuff all the time and have a little hobby machine shop), and I sure as shit wish I had been taught this method as a child.
CW and CCW (or anti-clockwise) don’t alliterate with loose or rhyme with tight though.
Plus there was a whole generation that never bothered to learn to read clocks…