# Are you aware of the cardinal directions at all times? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2024, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475 "2024-06-04T12:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2024, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/81 "2024-06-05T19:48:25Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I had assumed, almost all my life, that seeing something in one’s “mind’s eye” was a metaphor. And then recently I discovered people saying that no, they’re actually seeing what they’re imagining – and, further, that it’s those of us who can’t who are unusual. I don’t get a visual representation. It’s more abstract than that, like a pencil sketch of a character with a thought bubble that _represents_ having a visual representation. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/82 "2024-06-05T19:49:56Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > It’s worth checking out just to see the second post. What, “image not found”? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/83 "2024-06-05T19:51:24Z")
There was originally a graphic there. It was ironically replaced with that. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/84 "2024-06-06T02:12:03Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > This is clearly visible when you fly over, say rural Kansas. Large areas of land there are generally divided up using the PLSS. This is the land in which I grew up. All roads were straight and aligned north/south or east/west. As a kid, I ALWAYS knew which direction I was going. And I still do, for the most part. If I’m not sure which way is north, I find out quickly. As somebody upthread said, I get a little uneasy if I don’t know which way is north. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/85 "2024-06-06T02:45:05Z")
I’m Jewish. I don’t care what the Pope says let alone take directions from any mere Cardinal. (Sometime I know. ln Chicago the mantra is the lake is always east. But not always.) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/86 "2024-06-06T10:28:40Z")
I quite like maps, so I have a decent sense of direction and orientation, but I have certainly been steered wrong before with subtle curves to roads, or a disorienting journey through a large building. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/87 "2024-06-06T16:34:34Z")
For me, coming from a grid-based city like Chicago, my first trip to Boston was my downfall. I swear I’d start off somewhere walking, say, east and an hour later I’d notice that somehow I’m headed southwest. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/88 "2024-06-06T17:02:08Z")
The roads in Boston don’t go anywhere in particular, and certainly not in a straight line. Another maddening city to navigate is my birthplace, Washington DC, with it’s bicycle spoke layout. Once you’re on one of the spokes heading in or out of the city you’ll be OK, unless you need to get to somewhere else in the city. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/89 "2024-06-06T18:58:47Z")
Most of the time, yes. Although I can be fooled, for example if I’m near an interstate or a water’s edge that runs predominantly north/south but has some local variations. Sometimes I need a second to orient myself to the Sun or stars. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/90 "2024-06-06T19:17:24Z")
I am never aware of the cardinal directions. I am lucky enough to live in a place with mountains to the north, so I can usually think “okay, where are the mountains relative to this place” and figure it out that way if I need to. But I never know it unless I explicitly think about figuring it out. My husband is always aware of the cardinal directions and is always saying things like “I’m waiting at the south door” and then I have to figure out which one is the south door. Or I’ll be talking to the kids and say something like “Canada is to the north of the US” and point in a completely random direction, and he’ll correct me and point to actual north. It’s not just the cardinal directions, either – I’ll also be like “so to get to X from here, you have to take Y street” and point in some completely random direction that is not actually where Y street is. I just have no clue where anything is when I don’t have the visual indicators right in front of me without doing more cognitive work than my brain usually does. Also! The local downtown roads around here are a mess because instead of going N/S and E/W, they go NE/SW and NW/SE. So sometimes my husband will say something like “go south on Anacapa” and I can’t parse it because in my brain Anacapa is an E/W street, aaaaagh! (If I tell him my confusion, he is nice enough to restate it in whatever directions my brain actually understands.) ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/91 "2024-06-07T07:29:40Z")
My subdivision isn’t gridded and the streets meander around a lot. Drop me down in front of a random house in the subdivision and I’d know where I am, but I’d only be able to vaguely point to North. I do know where the North Star is when I’m in my house/yard, but wander a few hundred yards from my house and I can start to doubt my directions. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/92 "2024-06-10T20:55:42Z")
If I have a particular landmark to work from, yes, I can figure out the cardinal directions. Do I just innately know them, with no reference points? Of course not. I have a friend who insists that everyone should, at all times, be aware of which way is north, even if locked in a dark room with no windows and no idea how you got there. He frequently suggests that I am lacking in some basic fundamental skill because I cannot do this. My feeling is this: if it were indeed possible for human beings to just know the cardinal directions innately, we wouldn’t have bothered to invent the compass. The fact that we did, and that a compass is considered an essential thing to have with you when hiking and so forth, is proof that knowing the cardinal directions is NOT a basic human ability. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/93 "2024-06-10T21:37:00Z")
Some species of other animals appear to have magnetic sense. I wonder whether a few humans do also? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/94 "2024-06-10T21:42:14Z")
I worked for years in commercial real estate – the sales and leasing of shopping centers and office buildings. I worked with ‘Larry.’ Whenever Larry would accompany me to a meeting with a client – no matter where we were – what part of town, or what part of the building – view to the outside or deep in a basement – Larry would gesture as he would mention a place. Like he’d casually talk about the proximity of this shopping center to a major freeway intersection or the nearest competition to the business with whom we were meeting. And he’d kind of casually, habitually toss a hand in ‘that direction’ as he spoke. Very quickly, I began to notice that Larry _always_ pointed in exactly the right geographic/compass direction for the thing he was mentioning. I never brought it up with him, but it persisted over the couple of years that he and I worked together. Uncanny. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/95 "2024-06-10T21:55:53Z")
Yes, almost always. Years of backpacking off trail and now in my job of property management. I help oversee 500 properties and if someone asks me, for example, where the kitchen is on a particular property, I can answer, ‘the northwest corner’ usually without hesitation. I overheard two gentlemen talking once. Gentlemen A: How do you always know which way north is? Gentleman B: There’s this big fireball in the sky… > [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Very quickly, I began to notice that Larry _always_ pointed in exactly the right geographic/compass direction for the thing he was mentioning. My wife does this except she’s always wrong. It always confuses the hell out of me. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/96 "2024-06-10T22:04:19Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I think “towards the ocean” is a much more natural direction to keep in mind than “towards the north pole”. > > When i visited Hawaii i always knew where the ocean was and where the mountains were. “Makai” is towards the ocean, while “mauka” is inland toward the mountains. Perfect for an island, especially a volcanic one. I habitually and subconsciously keep track of my orientation. Where the sun is, what time of day is it, knowing a general layout of roads. Horizon landmarks are great. Growing up near Portland, Mt. Hood was perfect for this. I have a good sense of direction. I can usually get myself back to places I’ve been before. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/97 "2024-06-10T22:42:49Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > > [@DavidNRockies](#): > > > > Very quickly, I began to notice that Larry _always_ pointed in exactly the right geographic/compass direction for the thing he was mentioning. > > My wife does this except she’s always wrong. It always confuses the hell out of me. I know you’re not my husband but THIS IS ME. (And it confuses my husband too!) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/98 "2024-06-10T23:25:33Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@pulykamell](#): > > > > I’ve been somewhat surprised at how many people are unable to generally figure out which way is North-ish (or wherever) by the sun. > > You not only have to be able to see the sun; you need to adjust for both time of day and time of year. Much of the year here the sun’s not going to be only east and west, it’s also going to be south, sometimes considerably south. Parabolic TV antennas do the trick quite reliably: they point south-ish in the northern hemisphere and north-ish in the southern hemisphere. > [@TriPolar](#): > > The roads in Boston don’t go anywhere in particular, I like _Alice in Worderland_ too. 😃 > [@DSeid](#): > > I’m Jewish. I don’t care what the Pope says let alone take directions from any mere Cardinal. The Pope has an easy to remember direction: St. Peter’s Place 1, Vatican City, Vatican City. The Cardinals are a mess though, I concur. > [@raspberry\_hunter](#): > > I know you’re not my husband but THIS IS ME. (And it confuses my husband too!) I know you’re not my wife but… I am getting better at not taking it literally. I take it she means to say that there must logically be a direction somewhere that will turn out to be right, if the right landmark (often a parked car: now that’s annoying when they move) is still there. Otherwise she claims they have reconstructed the area. If we go from A to B and then from B to C her suggested method is to go from A to B, then back to A and from there to C, because she knows the routes A-B and A-C, but she does not picture B-C. She knows that is not the way to do it (that is: the way I do it) and admits it is cheating. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/99 "2024-06-11T00:47:00Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > The Pope has an easy to remember direction: St. Peter’s Place 1, Vatican City, Vatican City. The Cardinals are a mess though, I concur. 700 Clark Ave, St. Louis, MO ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/100 "2024-06-11T01:22:15Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > 700 Clark Ave, St. Louis, MO During the summer, yes. Then in the fall and winter, it’s 1 Cardinals Dr, Glendale, AZ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475.md?page=6)