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A comment on Medieval staircases were NOT built going clockwise for the defender's advantage. Parent comment

Re:Medieval staircases were NOT built going clockwise for th... by kwyjibo1230 on Monday October 09, 2023 @02:24PM (#37823498)
Wow, so Widdershins is not just a made-up word from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series!
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Re:Medieval staircases were NOT built going clockwise for th... by redwall_hp on Monday October 09, 2023 @02:42PM (#37823721)
I'll admit that Discworld is the first place I heard it. It's a perfect example of the sort of idiom authors should think about though, rather than using overly modern terms.
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Re:Medieval staircases were NOT built going clockwise for th... by Tagbert on Monday October 09, 2023 @02:31PM (#37823584)
It seems it goes back a little further than that.

> probably from Middle Low German weddersinnes, literally "against the way"

https://www.etymonline.com/word/widdershins#etymonline_v_799...

Basically, this is NOT the way.

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