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Side of bed debate - Which side is left? (lemmy.world)

submitted 5 months ago by Mostly_Harmless_Variant@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Which side of the bed is the left side? Is the answer based on the perspective of laying in the bed (person's head at the head end)? Is the answer based on viewing it from the foot of the bed, looking at the head of the bed? Is there an "anatomical position" or special terminology like in boating for this?

For context: My boyfriend and I can't agree on this. We change who gets which side based on the shoulder we'd predominantly sleep on and how it's feeling. This let's us get good cuddles before shoulder pain gets irritated. He comes to bed after me. A while back he asked what side I'm sleeping on. I said "left". Later that night, he comes in and almost lays directly on me because he claims "left" is the other side. Since then we have to describe which side using complicated descriptions.

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[–] BaumGeist@lemmy.ml 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

take a cue from the theater folk: stage left/right is defined by the performers' perspective. Call it "bed left" and "bed right" to talk about it from the perspective of someone on the bed, and "standing left" or "standing right" to talk about the perspective of someone looking at the bed

Although it's kinda silly to me that anyone's default orientation would be from looking at the bed, which is not the position most commonly associated with the thing famous for laying in it.

[–] nixcamic@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

But that's the position you most commonly look at a bed from. And when figuring out where you're gonna get into the bed.

Like the only time you actually use the information about sides of bed is from the perspective of outside the bed.

[–] BaumGeist@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago

that's another flaw: standing left only conflicts with bed left if you're standing at the foot. At the head they're the same. On either side, it's an arbitrary decision.

Whereas bed left will always be the same side of the bed regardless of its shape, its orientation in the room, or your position in relation to it.

[–] Mostly_Harmless_Variant@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

Nice job renaming stage and audience to bed and standing. I would've used their original terms. Our bed is not a stage and we don't entertain an audience so that would've gotten weird/entertaining at some point.

And absolutely agree. I was dumbfounded when he said otherwise. There's a good few who agree with the logic. Personifying the bed breaks that logic though.