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A comment on Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”. Parent comment

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by CWuestefeld on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @09:26AM (#35627854)
In English, there's an archaic "larboard" meaning "port side". My understanding is that this word was intentionally banished due to confusion originating from the sound being so similar to "starboard".
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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by red-iron-pine on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @09:55AM (#35628168)
Makes good sense. Imagine trying to scream that to someone at night in a storm after you've both had a ration of rum.

Probably a non-trivial number of people were hurt or killed because of that linguistic similarity; we see the same with air traffic control and pilots using ambiguous language.

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by tropicaljacket on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @10:58AM (#35628944)
this is mentioned in the linked article
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