this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Knew it! No one can remember that shit.
Between "port" "starboard" "right" and "left" only two of the words have the same number of letters.
Left = Port
For the once per year I have to think about this, that's my mnemonic.
When you are standing in the center of the boat looking forward just remember. Boats are like women! They have PmS! Port (on the left), me (in the middle), Starboard (on the right)!
A related more general mnemonic works for the running lights too. Red has fewer letters than green, so it goes with left which has fewer letters than right and port which has fewer letters than starboard.
You can also face forward and imagine the word "PISS" in the water.
Is that supposed to be an acronym? "Port Isn't Starboard, Stupid?"
You could just imagine "PS", but I guess piss helps.
That's actually rarely the case in my experience. Generally, I mean.
I still remember the pneumonic for “pool” in Spanish that a high school classmate came up with: La Piscina — Piss in a pool.
Fo you have any mnemonics for aft, fore, stern and bow?
In German After is a scientific name for anus, so that's the back of the boat. Hope that helps
I remember "bow" from that scene in Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi shook the boat and made Daniel fall in the water.
"Port" and "left" both have four letters. "Starboard" is the other one.
Learned that trick a few years ago and have not forgotten since.
The problem is that left and right are different depending on which direction you're facing on the ship.
That's why it isn't right or left. That would be confusing.
Port is always left facing foward on the ship. It's on the right when looking towards the rear.
for the same reason we have forward (forward) and aft (back)... oh wait
Funny thing is cars still use right and left (atleast in US) often. Somethings driver vs passenger side. Driver vs passenger doesn't work everywhere for every car in the world like it does with boats.
What also might be funny is driver vs passenger could be seen like port and starboard in the future if we get self driving cars. There would be no designated driver side of a car, and every side is a passenger. Just like boats nowadays can port on either side because there are no steering oars needed.
When trying to find which is which, you will know that your mnemonic is about left/right relative to the ship. The distinction between left/right and port/starboard is only needed because when communicating to others, you would need to set the reference frame.
Starboard is right because it has two "r"s is how I was told
"no red port left in the bottle"
I've ingrained this in my brain by doing hand motions whenever I say "port and starboard". I throw my left hand out to my left when I say port and right hand when I say starboard. The muscle memory stops me from forgetting.
Instructions unclear, just punched my first mate in the groin.
This is one the few things I can remember and I have literally no use for it.
I remember it but then question myself
Imagining a ship at port works for me, since then i can remember which side faces towards the port
??? It looks all wrong
Does that not depend on which side the port is on?
Nope, it’s one of the few things that everyone in the world has managed to standardize on.
that and standardized container sizes
Alphabetically, port comes before starboard. We read left to right...
a large portion of the world doesn't..
Right. This is in English, which is what I'm referring to.
ok. when you're right, you're right