...stupid question

Jim Haseltine Jim at Ur-q.freeserve.co.uk
Sun Jun 30 00:46:31 EDT 2002


Near side is the side nearest the kerb, so in Britain it's the left side of
the car (which just happens to be the passenger side of my 88 Ur-q and my 84
CGT but is the driver's side of my 81 Ur-q 'cos it's LHD).

As I understand it, horses are mounted from the left by tradition in western
countries because originally the majority of people who rode horses wore
swords, being either soldiers or nobility. As swords are usually worn on the
left, mounting from the left is much easier.

Regards,

Jim Haseltine

----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Frank" <frank at zk3.dec.com>
To: "quattro list" <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2002 9:14 PM
Subject: Re: ...stupid question


> Per Lindgren wrote:
>
> >
> >> This one for any Brits out there: what are nearside and offside?
> >>
> > I'm not a Briton, but I believe nearside is the same as starboard or
right.
>
> I think y'all are turned around, Per. The near side is the port side of
> the horse; offside is to starboard.
>
> *Lots* of bonus points to whoever can explain, why do you mount from the
> horse's left side?  (As if the horse knew left from right, or cared?!?)
> --
> Douglas Frank    Compaq Computer Corp.
> ZKO              110 Spit Brook Rd.       The older I get,
> 603-884-0501     Nashua, NH USA 03062       the better I was.
>
>






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