Are you directionally challenged? (N,S,E,W)

[ThatCyndiGirl]

While responding to a fellow WTM'er today I realized that I always think of myself standing on a map and looking UP toward North, DOWN toward the South and that the East coast is near my right hand and the left coast is near my left hand.

 

When people give me directions that include "so then you will just turn west" my kids say, "We don't TALK LIKE THAT!" because they have heard me say that more than once.

 

Sooooo, are YOU directionally challenged, too? or are you one of the lucky people who just automatically KNOW which way is North? (because, to me, North is always UP!)

[Caraway]

North is always up or forward. :lol:

 

And my GPS must be set to account for this fact. When my husband messes with it, and the GPS shows me moving left on the map, when actually the car is moving straight ahead... I simply can't drive like that.

[RoughCollie]

My DH gives directions like that: Go south on X Road.

 

Yeah, right. That will get me lost more quickly than anything.

 

What I can't figure out is what if the road twists and turns, and you are only going south for a minute or two before you are going west. What about southeast? How does that figure into it?

 

I'll take good old left-and-right directions ONLY. Even then, I tend to think left and turn right. Even my GPS can't save me from that.

[Little Debbie]

When someone who is giving me directions tells me to turn west, I tell them like it is! "Look, I'm a 'turn left at the Taco Bell' kind of girl. Turning west means absolutely nothing to me!" I think it depends on how you're wired!

Deb

[OrganicAnn]

I almost always know which way is N, S, E & W. I'm also very good at reading maps. I don't know how I do it. I think I just pay attention to major landmarks and their relationship to the directions. Like in older parts of cities often the streets run N/W and E/W. Or if there is a major highway that runs N/S or E/W, that can help.

 

I also like references to buildings when finding somewhere.

[PollyOR]

I belong to the "turn left or right" crowd. ;)

[The Girls' Mom]

Directionally challenged here. Turning west means nothing to me. Especially now that we've moved here. My internal compass was apparently left in TN because I have NO sense of direction here. I have been here 5 months and it has not improved. I've decided that it's because there are no mountains to the east to get me oriented. :001_smile:

[PinkTulip]

Apryl H said, "it's because there are no mountains to the east to get me oriented."

 

This is what helps me. I live in a place where the big mountains are east, the smaller mountains and lake are west, and then I can figure things out from there.

Edited May 16, 2010 by my4cowboys
I'm quote-challenged today

[jujsky]

I could get lost in a paper bag with a map & a flashlight. My GPS is my best friend, though I occasionally still get lost with it.

[Mom-2-7]

I can do N,S,E,W only when I'm in my own town. I live in a valley and know my mountains.

However, if I go to another city then I need left or right directions. Sometimes that doesn't even help!!

[Dandelion]

I've decided that it's because there are no mountains to the east to get me oriented. :001_smile:

 

That's what helps me here... Pikes Peak is to the west (and you can see it from anywhere in town) so that's all it takes to orient me. I used to be much more directionally challenged before we moved here... ;)

[Guest janainaz]

I am directionally challenged and there is no hope. Thank goodness for GPS.

 

Why can't people just say left or right? I swear they do it to make those that just don't get it feel like morons. :glare:

[Wendi]

When I grew up in central Florida, I never had much of a concept of north, south, east, west, at least driving around town. The roads often curved around lakes, and there was not predictable layout, except in a small downtown area. Left or right made a lot more sense.

 

However, now we live in the Phoenix area. A large part of the valley is laid out like a grid, with named streets going east-west and streets (east of Central) and avenues (west of Central) numbered. I find this helps me picture where I am better. I do find myself using the directions east, west, north, south, more often, and find people give me directions that way more. Also, it's pretty common for someone to say, "It's on the southwest corner of 35th and Peoria", or example.

 

Wendi

[Jean in Newcastle]

I need an actual map in order to figure out N,S,E,W directions. And if I already had the map then I wouldn't need the directions in the first place! (Nowadays though I usually just ask for an address. Then I mapquest it.)

[Ellie]

I appreciate it when people use compass directions, although I'll take as much as I can get, lol. I know that I-35 runs north and south, and that I live on the east side of it and most everything else is on the west side. It helps me to know that. "Right" and "left" turns will be different depending on which direction you're driving, so at least a little bit of compass directionality is useful. :)

[Starr]

I've had people thank me for the directions I give because I am directionally challenged. I only use north or south if it's on the sign. But I give clear directions; go three blocks and turn left at the whatever. I did save us by looking at the sun and figuring out which way we were going when I made a wrong turn in Florida this winter. It was hysterical; it worked. The first time in my life. :tongue_smilie:

[Carrie12345]

My internal compass is so broken it isn't even funny. There are several towns that are north of mine and, no matter how well I *know* this, they always *feel* south.

Our school district has two main campuses: East and West. My body always tells me they're locations are the opposite of their names.

 

Traveling to away Little League games is a nightmare, lol. I'm running out of ink printing MapQuest directions!

 

Oh, and I've been driving on route 80 for 16 years. I still have to stop and think "California to the west, NYC to the east" before hopping on. :tongue_smilie:

[edithcrawley]

I don't do well with NESW directions, unless it is for interstates because they tend to be labeled that way. I'm not even that good with street directions in general, I'd much prefer someone telling me to look for the old red barn and take a left than look for a certain street sign. I think this is because many of the street signs are printed quite small, and it is hard to see them when you are driving on country roads (50+mph). Sometimes the signs disappear, whereas landmarks don't change quite as often.

[Mommyof4ks]

Me too! If it were not for my GPS I would get nowhere lol.

[BridgeTea]

I rely on compass directions, and I am thrown off if someone says, "Turn left/right at the Taco Bell". It's not that I can't tell left from right, and it's sure not because I think I'm more clever or whatever. I think I just have a fear I will be coming from a different direction than what you expect me to! So if you are giving me driving directions and are spitting out the lefts and rights, I am madly translating those to be N/E/S/W in my head and making a visual map.

 

Funny how our brains work differently. I can visit a city once every 10 years and drive straight to the relative's house/zoo/museum or whatever from memory. MrTea is convinced my uterus has the power to do that. ;)

[Barb_]

While responding to a fellow WTM'er today I realized that I always think of myself standing on a map and looking UP toward North, DOWN toward the South and that the East coast is near my right hand and the left coast is near my left hand.

 

When people give me directions that include "so then you will just turn west" my kids say, "We don't TALK LIKE THAT!" because they have heard me say that more than once.

 

Sooooo, are YOU directionally challenged, too? or are you one of the lucky people who just automatically KNOW which way is North? (because, to me, North is always UP!)

 

Yes. I have trouble with left and right too. I *know* where they are but I will say left when I mean right and vice versa. I have to memorize landmarks when I move to a new state so that I can figure out directionals. I get utterly lost in a new place. The one non negotiable on my new van was GPS. Hallelujah.

 

Barb

[Parrothead]

I have mad map skills, but I don't know which direction is which if I leave town. If I'm home I know Canada is both to my north and east. The rest of the US is to the south and west.

[Desert Rat]

Not where I live, I'm not directionally challenged. Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains. They are very distinctive and hard to mix up. Sunrise Mountain is east (obviously). Mt. Charleston is West. BUT, visiting other places in flatland, I'm totally confused.

[Barb_]

Not where I live, I'm not directionally challenged. Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains. They are very distinctive and hard to mix up. Sunrise Mountain is east (obviously). Mt. Charleston is West. BUT, visiting other places in flatland, I'm totally confused.

 

Unless you live in South Florida. As a young driver in my teens my mantra was, "East toward the beach, west toward the swamp."

 

Barb

[MyThreeSons]

I've never lived in an area where the roads are mostly N,S,E or W, so I don't use compass directions. The Interstate nearest our house says East and West, but it runs just as much North and South -- it's almost on a 45 degree angle thru here.

 

I don't consider myself directionally challenged, though. I do have a pretty good feel for where towns and landmarks are in relation to the compass points, it's just that you can't get to them that way.

 

When I give directions, I use left or right, and fast food restaurants are frequently my landmarks. Around here, it's actually quite difficult to find out the name of the road you're turning onto -- they simply don't mark roads the way they did where I grew up. It's one of my pet peeves.

[elizabeth]

Right there with ya. I have been lost going to a place 20 miles from my house and I like directions along the lines of Turn right at the big grey barn and if you are on the correct road you should see a Barbasol shaving sign as you turn on the road. Signposts for me are buildings, odd signage along the highway etc. Dh will not let me drive alone on the interstate system as he is sure I would be lost

[MamaSheep]

Oh I'm horrible with directions and I'm desperately in love with the GPS I bought dh for Christmas. (He picked out which one he wanted and I got it for him and wrapped it up and put it under the tree. About a month later he decided he "needed" a new cell phone, and the one he got has a GPS built in. I'd have been irritated except for the affair I was having with the GPS behind his back, and now we can be together always....)

 

I navigate by landmarks. And I do best with natural landmarks like a huge rock with a distinctive hole in it, or three tall pine trees on a hill. Just to give you an idea why this might be, where I grew up people would give directions by saying, "You go down to the intersection and turn left." And it meant the same intersection every time. There was only one road out of town (if you could call it that, it was really just a government employee housing area), the rest all went around in loops and wound up back at "the intersection". Everyone was annoyed when "they" (some desk jockey out in DC) decided we needed speed bumps and a stop sign at "the intersection". None of the streets had names back then, but I drove by there last year when I went back for a high school reunion, and saw that they'd put up street signs with names on them. Silliness, if you ask me. Anyway, if you walked away from town, there was wilderness, but you always knew generally where you were in relation to where you started by looking at the surrounding mountains, and if you wanted to get back to a particular spot, you watched for landmarks along the way. And generally there was a trail nearby because the elk, deer, and buffalo herds travelled along paths and kept them worn clear. We kids also knew that if you should happen to get lost, if you followed an animal trail downhill you'd generally wind up at a river, and if you followed the river downhill you'd eventually wind up at a town, though it might not be for a few days, depending on where you started out. So those were my survival navigation skills growing up...lol.

 

Then I moved to downtown Savannah Georgia when I was 18. All by myself. Alone. It was really discombobulating. I felt unbelievably lost the first couple of months I lived there, and made sure I didn't go anywhere alone because I was highly skeptical about being able to find my way back to the dorm and if you wandered too far in any direction you could wind up in a pretty bad neighborhood. Not only were there no mountains, but the foliage was so dense (unlike the western scrub I grew up with) that you couldn't see very far in any direction, and the houses all looked the same. There were cute little downtown "squares", which were little parks, and each was a little different from the others, but I had no idea which was which, or where they were in relation to each other unless I had a map in my hand (which I also never left home without). It took me a while to adjust to navigating using street names, and it seemed really odd to me that people ALWAYS gave directions in terms of compass directions when there were no mountains or other visual cues that I could detect to clue you in to which direction was which. After I lived there a while I learned that the river is north, and Abercorn Street cuts south from the river and runs through the middle of town, so everything was either east or west of it. But it took me a while.

 

Then we moved out here, and there are blessedly mountains again, so I know where I am, more or less, most of the time. However, I still tend to navigate by landmark and with all the development going on over on our side of town in the past few years I sometimes feel like there's a conspiracy to confuse my by tearing down or moving my navigational landmarks. They pulled out the fruit orchard where I used to turn and put up a big white fence. Well, ok, so I turn at the big white fence. But then they put up a big white fence on the other side of the street I need to turn on, and I have a bear of a time finding it anymore (yay GPS!). And I can't tell you how many times I completely forget to look at street signs. People ask me for directions and I have a hard time giving them because I tend to say, "well you go through four stop lights and up a hill, and then when you see the old barn on the left you go two more streets and then turn right", when it would be easier to say, "Go up sixth south and turn east when you get to 2600 west" or whatever. (Dear internet stalker: these are fictional directions. Don't try to follow them, you will never find me. ;) )

 

I'm not any better indoors either. Highly symmetrical public buildings will be the death of me. I go around a corner, and I have no idea where I am or how to get back to the entrance, because it all looks the same. My city boy dh teases me about it.

[fivetails]

Most of the time, I can deal with the N/S/E/W stuff ~ but we've been out west here for a year and a half and I still haven't gotten used to people giving directions in distance [kilometers, miles] instead of time. :tongue_smilie:

[ThatCyndiGirl]

Ohgood, I'm not the only one!!

 

Next:

 

Why do people say, "South/Southwest" like on weather reports? What in the world does that mean? Isn't saying "southwest" enough?

 

Meaning, they say "SouthSouthWest" all together like that. Why is SouthSouthwest or NorthNorthWest any different than saying Southwest or Northwest??!?!?!?!?

 

I feel so directional and weather challenged.

 

AND....it gets worse! I moved to Oklahoma and all ya hear is "hook echo", "mesocyclone" and "tornadic activity". I think it's all a concerted effort to make commoners feel like morons.

Edited May 16, 2010 by ThatCyndiGirl

[elise1mds]

North is always up or forward. :lol:

 

And my GPS must be set to account for this fact. When my husband messes with it, and the GPS shows me moving left on the map, when actually the car is moving straight ahead... I simply can't drive like that.

 

OMG this is so me.

[Daisy]

No, I have no problem with N, S, E, W, type directions. Actually I prefer them. I don't like being told. "Hang a right on the road that comes right after the Dairy Queen, but before the red house...." Blech. I don't need the play-by-play. But my husband does need that. Trying to give him directions is hard for me because I don't even notice that kind of stuff.

Edited May 17, 2010 by Daisy

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

When someone who is giving me directions tells me to turn west, I tell them like it is! "Look, I'm a 'turn left at the Taco Bell' kind of girl. Turning west means absolutely nothing to me!" I think it depends on how you're wired!

Deb

 

 

:iagree: Me too! EVERYBODY in my dh family is like that. We live 4 miles west of...... And Im sitting here thinking so is that left or right? :001_huh:

[Spy Car]

No, I've got a very strong sense of direction. I will say that when it fails (very rarely) it really does a number on my head :D

 

Bill

[ThatCyndiGirl]

No, I've got a very strong sense of direction. I will say that when it fails (very rarely) it really does a number on my head :D

 

Bill

 

 

Ya know, in my informal polling it DOES seem that men are generally more directionally oriented than women. Why is that? :confused:

 

(And that is just in my small limited sample. Please don't think I am being sexist!)

[Spy Car]

Ya know, in my informal polling it DOES seem that men are generally more directionally oriented than women. Why is that? :confused:

 

 

 

Built-in pointer? :D

 

Bill

[ThatCyndiGirl]

Built-in pointer? :D

 

Bill

 

:lol:

 

 

HA!!! Like a sun-dial!!! Can't wait to tell dh that one!

[Lolly]

I do great with N,S,E,W. I mean, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Unless it is right at noon, you just gotta glance or have a general idea where it went down yesterday.

 

However, I am extremely directionally challenged. I can't tell right from left without a good deal of thought. (Or using the hand trick. I was totally lost before that.):001_huh:

[RoughCollie]

No, I've got a very strong sense of direction. I will say that when it fails (very rarely) it really does a number on my head :D Bill

 

Well, where does a strong sense of direction come from? Do some people really have an internal compass? Is it a talent?

 

I've noticed that DH never gets lost and he can always find the car in a big, crowded parking lot.

 

I get lost, but I learned to calm down the kids about it when they were little: They are not lost because they are with me!

[Forget-Me-Not]

I even get left and right mixed up. It's a miracle that I manage to leave my house at all, let alone return to it :D

[Caraway]

There is a gender difference in spatial ability. Men tend to function more on a grid (N, S, E, W) and women on paths (go like you are going to the grocery store, then turn left at the gas station).

 

This from Wikipedia:

 

Men on average have a standard deviation higher spatial intelligence quotient than women.[1] This domain is one of the few where clear sex differences in cognition appear. It has also been found that spatial ability correlates with verbal ability in women but not in men, suggesting that women may use different strategies for spatial visualization tasks than men do.

[mammaruss]

I get lost extremely easy! I can give the NSWE directions to get our customers safely to our place, because I have been giving those directions for the past 18 years.;) If someone is giving me directions, I always inform them that I need a very detailed play by play of left, right, watch for the big tree, etc....Our oldest ds takes after me--but youngest ds does not get lost at all.

I was taking both boys and their cousin to a hotel for a fun weekend once and there was road construction.....ughhhh....I kept following the detour signs-which then proceeded to get me more lost! :glare: I could see the hotel--but I could not find the way off the freeway to get around the road construction and to the hotel. Thank goodness my then 11 year old nephew was able to figure it out--and he had never been to that area before--I just don't know how he knew??:confused: He said it just all made sense in his head. Just don't get it...

[myfatherslily]

Built-in pointer? :D

 

Bill

 

:rofl: You are terrible!!! I'm dying laughing here...

 

So my husband hardly ever gets lost and only has to go someplace once and it's permanently in his head. I'm not sure about actual direction though, north, south, etc.

 

I, on the other hand, regularly stop to think, "Okay, the sun rises in the east [insert me pointing toward the generally area I'm pretty sure the sun rises, although I rarely see it happen]... and sets in the west [pointing my other arm the opposite direction]... so north must be [imagining the map in my head... west, east, that's "we" and north is above that]... right there [pointing to newly determined northward location. Yes, I have to do this even at home, every time.

 

I can ride along to some place literally a dozen times, but still not be sure how to get there. I have to DRIVE it myself at LEAST twice (within a year...if the two times more than 6 months apart, then I'd better pull out the directions again).

 

So no, I have NO sense of direction!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Built-in pointer? :D

 

Bill

 

 

OMG!!!!!!! :lol::lol::rofl::rofl:

[MamaSheep]

Ohgood, I'm not the only one!!

 

Next:

 

Why do people say, "South/Southwest" like on weather reports? What in the world does that mean? Isn't saying "southwest" enough?

 

Meaning, they say "SouthSouthWest" all together like that. Why is SouthSouthwest or NorthNorthWest any different than saying Southwest or Northwest??!?!?!?!?

 

I feel so directional and weather challenged.

 

AND....it gets worse! I moved to Oklahoma and all ya hear is "hook echo", "mesocyclone" and "tornadic activity". I think it's all a concerted effort to make commoners feel like morons.

 

 

Wait! I know this one!

 

Ok, so on a compass Northwest is halfway between North and West, right? But if you look halfway between North and Northwest, there's a nifty direction called North Northwest. Halfway between Northwest and West is another nifty direction called West Northwest. Make sense?

 

It's kind of like on a color wheel (sorry, my training is in art, so everything is like something in art...lol). You have the primary colors red, yellow and blue, then halfway between these are the secondary colors, violet, green, and orange. Then halfway between THOSE are the tertiary colors, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, and red-orange. (At least in an additive color pallette...if you're talking subtractive color that's whole other ball of wax...not to confuse you even further...lol.)

 

So the "primary" compass points are N, S, E, W. The "secondary" compass points are NE, SE, SW, NW. Then there are "tertiary" compass points, NNE, ENE, ESE, SSE, SSW, WSW, WNW, and NNW.

 

Clear as mud?

 

P.S. I know what you mean about the regional weather techno-talk. When we first moved here I kept thinking what the heck is a "weather inversion", and why does whatever it is wreak such havoc with my asthma?

[Chris in VA]

I get left/right mixed up sometimes, and directions (NSEW) are even worse.

 

What gets me is that, while I can often get somewhere, I have a terrible time finding my way backwards--get me in a neighborhood with lots of turns, and I literally have to have a second set of directions to get me back out.

[Tap]

Nope, in fact I am one of ThOsE people who prefer to give directions in NSEW. We live in a city with a lot of one way streets that are just randomly placed. We also have streets that are sometimes one way, then two way, then merge back into one way. Combine that with streets that change names and then change again... Oh, and did I mention the freeway exit that is #5 if your going North, but #6 if you are going South?

 

It is very difficult for me to give directions in this town. I much prefer to give NSEW directions so no matter where people are starting from, they can get there. Or if they have to turn around, they can still figure it out.

Edited May 17, 2010 by Tap, tap, tap