Four directions, plus... ?

I was glad to learn both facts. I tried NYC-Hong Kong with this distance calculator to see the arch it draws, but that site approximates the earth as a perfect sphere (if I understand it correctly), so it's a bit off. Must be one of the coolest flights there is.

#28 -- Agreed on the concept of "North" not intrinsically including the notion of one point.

#22 -- the absolute west can be different from the relative west. If you're facing north, going west equals the absolute west. But if you're facing south, going west could be either the absolute west or the referential west: going in a westward direction from where you are i.e. left (which would actually be east in this case).

I was thinking of a reason why the Finnish language would have such an intricate directional system and figured it could be because they use it for giving directions. If that is so, then I'm interested to see how they use that system.

Shilgia (#23) is indeed right: some cultures use the absolute directions instead of left and right. And when they say go west, they mean the absolute west, whichever way you're facing. These people always keep track of where the four directions are, something most people in the West don't seem to do. Ask a random person to point east and most won't be able to do it (unless in a very familiar place). That's why I'm interested in what the Finns do: if they use their system for directions and they use it absolutely, they must always be keeping track of the four (or eight) directions too. I've only heard about absolute direction among Eastern/Austronesian cultures.

#31 -- That may be true in languages where wthe same word is used for "west" and "left", assuming there is such a language, but not in English. If you're facing south, and you go west, you go to your right. If you go to your left, you're going east.

#32 -- I agree with you that you can't do it in English, but we were talking about Finnish. So that's why I was wondering how the Finns do it.

(Popups are forbidden here but I just want to quote shilgia at #23.)

Maybe Jantrao means there are cultures where people give directions in terms of North, South, East, and West instead of left and right?

#23 You may safely include Manhattan culture there. It isn't quite laid out accoridng to the four absolute directions, but it's close enough that people tell each other to head west along a given street (or arrange to meet on, say, the northeast corner formed by the intersection of two streets).

#31 Finnish has dedicated words for left and right that do not have to do with "absolute" directions. I only know the word for right. That is because, as is the case with many other languages and to the annoyance of us lefties, the word for "right" also means "correct," "proper" etc.

CK

Jantrao, if I understood you correctly, we use them as absolute directions in Finnish. So if you have to go to "kaakko" (south-east), you'd head between South and East no matter which way you were standing originally.

re: "By the way, where the sun rises changes a bit over the months, but our definition of the East does not."

Just wanted to add to that: this far north (in Finland) it actually changes a lot. Right now (around midsummer) it rises a lot "before" east and sets a lot "after" west even here in Helsinki. Of course, in the north of the country the sun just keeps circling around the sky.

Chris, you can work around your pop-up ban. For quotes, type {Q} (but using square brackets) just before and {/Q} just after. {i} and {/i} for italics, and {b}{/b} for bold. For a link, you do {L=brief description of website}http://www.whatever{/L}. Replace my curly brackets with square brackets in all cases. Thanks to DianaHaddad and shilgia for cluing me in on this long ago.

should that be clueing? I guess so. They both look wrong.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Chris, you can work around your pop-up ban.<hr></blockquote>

#36 Thanks, but it's no longer an issue though I will keep your expedient in mind. I wrote #34 at my girlfriend's parents' house in Savonlinna (where we spent the midsummer weekend), but now I am back in Helsinki for the beginning of "Finnish for Foreigners 2." Judging by the first few lessons this morning, I can say with confidence that the next three weeks will be rather harder than the last three have been.

CK