80
Side of bed debate - Which side is left? (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 months ago by Mostly_Harmless_Variant@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
102 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] UnPassive@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

To avoid confusion, just say driver and passenger side.

I meant this to be a joke, but if you assume your bed drives forward toward the side with your pillows then it actually works. But if you read in bed with a reading pillow then I guess you probably want to drive your bed toward your feet side of the bed...

[-] Mostly_Harmless_Variant@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Driver and passenger side confuses me more because of your last point. It's backwards. But it still needs to be named foot of the bed and not head because it's where it feet go. So your first point also makes sense. Both are right and wrong at the same time

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 5 months ago

Imagine you are driving the bed. If you lean up you're looking forward. You could call them driver and passenger side based on this. Sort of like port and starboard lol.

[-] fixmycode@feddit.cl 3 points 5 months ago

but that would make beds the other way around in some countries

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 5 months ago

It is left as an exercise for the bed users who are from countries which drive on different side of the roads to determine their own phrasing.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] FMT99@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

My girlfriend lies on my right arm, so she's on the right side of the bed and I'm on the left.

[-] cobysev@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

If I'm talking about sides of the bed, I'm almost never in the bed at the same time, so I would be talking from a position at the foot of the bed. Beds are practically never in the middle of the room, so I wouldn't be standing over the head of the bed while orienting. So the foot of the bed is the default position to reference.

If I'm in bed and talking about sides, I usually just guesture and say, "this side" (or "your/my side" if I'm talking to my wife) instead of designating left or right.

[-] Mostly_Harmless_Variant@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Your logic is that of my BFs.

If the bed to be used with people in it, I think that perspective should be the fixed perspective how it is used. If you're partner is on your right hand side, the side you sleep on is the left.

[-] cobysev@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Maybe it's just a weird mental imagery thing to me, but if I'm talking about sides of the bed, I first mentally orient myself in the room of that bed before I can explain which side I'm talking about.

If I'm talking to someone whom I don't share a bed with, it feels weird to describe the bed from my perspective in it. I'd rather explain from a neutral position near the bed, not my position while using it. Especially if I'm talking about other people's beds. I don't want to imagine myself in their bed before discussing a side of the bed.

To me, there's a huge difference between the generic "left and right" side of the bed from the perspective of the foot of the bed, and "left and right" side based on which side I occupy at night. One feels far more personal, and I'd rather not deal with that visual, or risk other visually-oriented people like me imagining me in bed.

[-] Professorozone@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

I have no idea. Like others I usually request the side closest to the bathroom since I go during the night more often than her. I could see it either way.

[-] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 months ago

Lie in bed on your back. Stick out your left hand. That is the left side of the bed. Stick out your right hand. That is the right side of the bed.

Completely arbitrary.

[-] wuphysics87@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 months ago

Where is the head and foot of the bed? Where are the top and the bottom? If the bed were stood up on the foot, is the top the front or the back? These questions may have something to do with the answer or are completely meaningless.

[-] Mesophar@lemm.ee 1 points 5 months ago

"Complicated descriptions"? Is there a lamp on one side, or a closet door? Just use that as a frame of reference, I wouldn't call that a complicated description. Or, if you usually have the same bigs-poon, little-spoon orientation, you can describe which shoulder you're laying on. But I still think using features of the room is the simplest way. "I'm laying on the closet side."

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

Fair point. Complicated descriptions may have an exaggeration, but relative to simply left/right it's still mildly accurate. I'm not a sensory thinker so pulling from objects other than what I'm referencing seems like adding a few extra cognitive steps. Silly, I'm aware, but that's my brain.

[-] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 months ago

port-side?

[-] Akrenion@programming.dev 1 points 6 months ago

In medicine you use the view of the examiner like your boyfriend. I don't think that is reasonable for the people lying down though.

[-] Mostly_Harmless_Variant@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

So using the point of the examiner, is the mattress the belly or back or the bed? I say it's the belly, the baseboard would be the back. So it would be the same as laying in the bed.

[-] Akrenion@programming.dev 1 points 5 months ago

I might have gotten things messed up because I am not a medical student. Apparently the swap happens only for MRI and similar things where the picture swaps the coronal plane.

If you want the explanation for it search for sagittal and coronal plane. It gives you a way of talking about bodies independent of rotation.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
80 points (93.5% liked)

Asklemmy

43942 readers
630 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Cloak@lemmy.ml
14specks@lemmy.ml
mekhos@lemmy.ml
tmpod@lemmy.pt