Discussion: Language and space orientation

Pages 2 and 3 of this NYT article have a fascinating commentary on 'egocentric' directions (one block right, then turn left) versus geographic ('step east with your north leg' as a dance step instruction). A few cultures (including aboriginals) use only geographic and by age 7 they learn/know 'north' whether indoors, outdoors, day or night and seem to have no sense of 'left' and 'right'.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29langu...

I read that article and I thought a lot of the differences might be explained by the channelization of movement in modern society. Pretty much everywhere you go, you're moving on a linear path with branches, whether that's a hallway, sidewalk, subway, road, river, or trail. I bet people who frequently travel through space without paths, like ocean mariners or pilots, have a much better innate sense of direction.

I can't explain the person they blindfolded and spun around, though. That seems pretty peculiar.

I can't explain the person they blindfolded and spun around, though. That seems pretty peculiar.

Without proper controls, it really doesn't prove anything. Usually there are sources of ambient noise that let you figure out the direction.

When I first heard the spun around story as an undergrad, the spinning was only about 8 times. Looks like it might be like the "Eskimo words for snow", which vary between 20 and 200 depending on how much the teller knows about the language and the point they're trying to make.

so, unpronunciation, how many Eskimo snow words are there?

Only marginally more than there are in English...

But there really are 200 words for "beer" in Strine.

All brand names.

I am fascinated by quite a group of people who insist on printed out driving directions from Google Maps or Mapquest, saying this is much easier than looking at the visual information of a map. I often ask them, what you do if you get away from the imaginary line of the written directions? They are useless as soon as one misses a turn. I tell them, that with a map, they could find their way no matter what.
Same thing with the use of the compass, both in reality or as a metaphor for knowing what to do or where to go. A compass is absolutely useless without a map or some way to designate the direction of the place to go. (Tell this a few adventure racers and boy scouts, who think the compass is the solution for any navigational task).