Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by interroboink on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @07:24PM (#35621917)

Your medical comment reminded me of the fascinating constellation of terminology used to identify locations and orientations in anatomy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomical_terms_of_location

Some of the terms: dorsal/ventral, proximal/distal, anterior/posterior, superior/inferior, oral/aboral, basal/apical

When you're describing something like a microbe, the terms get fairly arbitrary; which is the "head" end of some little blobby thing?

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by dogmatism on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @08:14PM (#35622429)

the thing that's tricky is basal/apical can be different directions: i.e. the base of the lung is at the bottom, the base of the left ventricle (in the heart) at the top. You have to know the shape of the organ to know. There's also cranial/caudal, axial/coronal/sagittal just off the top of my head

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by pbhjpbhj on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:01AM (#35626326)

That's some good punning!

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by bewaretheirs on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @01:20AM (#35624531)

And dentists talking about tooth faces have buccal (cheek-side), lingual (tongue side), occlusal (chewing surface), mesial (side closest to center), and distal (the other side from mesial).

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