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#94740 02/07/03 11:01 AM
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Just a-wondering....

Is 'counter-clockwise' the universal phrase in the US? Over here we'd normally say 'anti-clockwise'. Doesn't seem to make any difference to the meaning as you'd get that from the context, but as it was the first time I'd seen it, it set me wondering...

What's the verdict Down Under?


#94741 02/07/03 11:03 AM
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anti-clockwise here, although the main clock in my house runs in the direction traditoinally called anti-clockwise.


#94742 02/07/03 11:09 AM
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We actually have a perfectly normal alarm clock which, through some twist of fate, runs backwards (counter- or anti- clockwise) in perfect time. That is, the numbers on the face have now become meaningless, but the hands always read the correct position when it's seen in a mirror. I love it because it's not supposed to run backwards, and it actually ran forward for a long time. No one knows why it switched but I keep it going, and re-set it twice a year for Daylight Saving Time. I admire it because it's just been so obstinately ignoring the way it was designed to work!!!


#94743 02/07/03 11:13 AM
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And I admire your clock, too, Bean. Is this a highly unusual phenomenon among clocks? Is it unique? I mean, is it unique for a clock set up to go clockwise to break independent and reverse direction on its own? If unique, you could submit your clock to Ripley's.

I don't like the sound of anti-clockwise as much as counter-clockwise simple because of the alliterative loss in anti-clockwise. But it's always useful to have another term.


#94744 02/07/03 12:35 PM
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Is this Information or an Announcement?

I've lived above and below, and always used to watch dogs in both hemispheres to see which way they turned around before settling down. Not to mention faucets and drains. No conclusions reached. Guess they were too small. Never saw enough bats at one time to notice.


#94745 02/07/03 01:06 PM
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AnnaS:

This is Anti-Information and Counter-Announcement.

On dogs:

One one dog:

Nikita, our now gone-to-dog-heaven husky, always turned counter-clockwise before settling down. Huskies are from the Northern hemisphere; they know nothing about and are unaffected by the Coriolus Effect.


#94746 02/07/03 01:15 PM
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Yet Nikita evidenced the Coriolis effect. Who says dogs "know" about it? Do hurricanes "know" about it?


(you owe me a martini, honkin-big-time)


#94747 02/07/03 01:22 PM
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Do hurricanes "know" about it?

Depending on what you mean by "know", yes they do. Dogs, on the other hand, are small scale phenomena and *don't know about Coriolis forces.

Regarding clocks: some electric clocks have a little knob to twist to get them started. You can twist it either way and the motor will happily turn in the direction imposed upon it.

#94748 02/07/03 01:26 PM
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Hey, we're out of school due to slush. Yes, slush. Were I in NY, we'd have a honkin' big martini, stirred anti-clockwise, which sounds like slowing down time, just because you spelled Coriolis correctly and I didn't.

Hey, do people in the Southern hemisphere stir their pots anti-clockwise or clockwise? If this is a yart, please advise, but I can't recall our discussing how Southern hemisphere beings stir their pots.


#94749 02/07/03 01:43 PM
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Probably depend on whether or not they were left-handed, WW.

Slush??!! Oh, to be in the South (of the Northern hemisphere) again.


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