# Faucets outside the USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 8, 2003, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271 "2003-09-08T11:43:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/1 "2003-09-08T11:43:23Z")
So last night I was re-watching the 1997 version of **Lolita** on HBO, mostly just to piss off [Anniee](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=208726) , and I noticed something that has nagged me since I first saw it. When Lolita wakes up in the middle of the night in the first hotel, she sits up , sees Humbert in the bathroom drinking water and says she’s thirsty. Humbert quickly puts the glass back under the faucet and fills it by turning on the left faucet. Here in the US, that is always, to the best of my knowledge, hot water. He’d already had the water running, so the water would’ve been at least warm by that time. Surely he wouldn’t pour his beloved Lo a glass of warm water? Is this merely an oversight on the part of the director, or is there actually somewhere that has the cold water on the left? ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/2 "2003-09-08T11:48:14Z")
afaik, there is no standard here (uk). Taps can be on either side. ---
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/3 "2003-09-08T11:57:38Z")
A small sample from Ireland: My kitchen: Hot on left (actually a single tap - water gets hotter a you turn the lever to the left). My bathroom: Hot on Left Toilet at work: Hot on left My parents’ kitchen: Hot on left My wife’s parents’ kitchen: Hot on left My wife’s parents’ bathroom: Hot on left So, there you go. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/4 "2003-09-08T12:31:23Z")
Hot tap on the left 99.99% of the time in Australia. If it’s one of those single lever jobs, then flicking the lever left gives you hot water. Probably seen the cold tap on the left maybe twice in my life. [Hijack]Is America the only nation that uses the word _faucet_? Canada? And does it only apply to household water taps? You don’t have beer faucets in bars, I don’t think. Just curious.[/Hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/5 "2003-09-08T12:37:51Z")
Never mind the taps, **TLD** , the Yanks have their light switches upside down. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/6 "2003-09-08T12:46:19Z")
[anecdotal]I seem to remember a plumber telling me that there is a standard in the UK, but it is not universally observed, because some taps are not fitted by professionals, and others have been there for longer than the standars have been in place. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/7 "2003-09-08T13:07:31Z")
Canada? We say ‘tap’. At least in Southern Ontario. ‘Faucet’ always struck me as annoyingly pretentious. And it’s on the left. As for light switches, up is ‘on’, and down is ‘off’, right? Although the one in my bathroom is wired upside-down then. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/8 "2003-09-08T13:18:36Z")
There was a thread a while ago about the light switch thing. It became unintentionally funny when it got bogged down into what constituted “up” and “down”, and people actually had to link to photos. Was it the direction of finger movement, or the visible state of the switch afterwards (and yes, on older lever-type switches, the two are the same). Aussies have to flick in a downward movement to turn a light on. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/9 "2003-09-08T13:38:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Desmostylus \* > Never mind the taps, **TLD** , the Yanks have their light switches upside down. 😉 Nonsense. The light switches are oriented exactly the same. It’s your flipping _country_ that’s upside diown. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/10 "2003-09-08T13:46:40Z")
I’ve always ever known the hot taps here to be on the right side. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/11 "2003-09-08T13:54:53Z")
For an indoor tap, “faucet” seems to be pretty standard in Middle American dialect, which is basically what I speak. An outdoor tap is a spigot. Oh, and the word “tap” itself? Largely relegated to the set phrase “tap water.” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/12 "2003-09-08T14:20:29Z")
They have FAUCETS in other countries? ::sucks teeth:: Goll-lee, you learn something every day… ---
**Author:** ![Fop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/91b2a8/32.png) [@Fop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fop)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/13 "2003-09-08T14:23:42Z")
In Finland we have a single tap with hot water when you twist to the left. I thought you weren’t supposed to drink tap water in the UK and USA? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/14 "2003-09-08T14:32:23Z")
I don’t know about the UK, but many cities in the US have excellent drinking tap water. In blind taste tests tap water often beats out “designer” bottled waters. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/15 "2003-09-08T14:40:49Z")
UK tap water is safe to drink (although there have been occasional incidents where the authorities instructed people to boil their drinking water because of crypto contamination during periods of flooding. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/16 "2003-09-08T15:06:45Z")
“Spigot”? _“Spigot”?!?_ Wow! Nobody _ever_ uses that word here. It sounds very strange to me. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/17 "2003-09-08T15:11:37Z")
We pretty much say both faucet and tap in the USA, with a preference towards (or do you say _toward_?) “faucet.” And as **OxyMoron** says, “spigot” for an outdoor tap. And of course “tap water”; “faucet water” would just be too strange. “Water from the faucet” is okay. American’s can’t drink tap water? That’s one of our proudest pieces of infrastructure! Of course you can drink it. Well, maybe not in some wells, but “city water” is fine. Granted I had to boil mine after the blackout, but I didn’t, and live to tell about — ach. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/18 "2003-09-08T16:42:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunspace \* > \*\*As for light switches, up is ‘on’, and down is ‘off’, right? Although the one in my bathroom is wired upside-down then. \*\* Unscrew the face plate and turn the whole switch assembly over and, voila, it is no longer wired upside down. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/19 "2003-09-08T17:27:38Z")
I am also used to hot tap on the left. One explanation might be that the picture might just have been reversed right/left. You don’t recall if the actor’s handedness was the same as in the rest of the movies? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271/20 "2003-09-08T17:28:32Z")
Damn. Why didn’t I think of that? 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faucets-outside-the-usa/200271.md?page=2)