# Left to right or right to left? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255 "2010-05-13T01:59:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/1 "2010-05-13T01:59:06Z")
For media(CDs, DVDs, books, records, etc.) or whatever that you arrange alphabetically, do you arrange them on the shelf left to right or right to left? I’ve always gone right to left. It just seems more logical to my eye that way. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/2 "2010-05-13T03:20:58Z")
I do it back… and to the left. Back… and to the left. Back… and to the left. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/3 "2010-05-13T03:27:36Z")
Can I ask why you feel right to left is more logical? Every time I ever encounter anything that is numbered, or alphabetical, it’s left to right, in the US, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/4 "2010-05-13T03:49:01Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Can I ask why you feel right to left is more logical? Every time I ever encounter anything that is numbered, or alphabetical, it’s left to right, in the US, at least. I usually do left to right, but I suppose since the writing on the spine of a book etc would usually go from top to bottom, having it sorted right-to-left would mean that when you tilt your head to the right you could read the titles top-to-bottom in descending order. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/5 "2010-05-13T04:55:45Z")
I don’t alphabetize, but what sorting I bother to do (DVD sets up top, horror films together, then everything else) is left to right, with the names reading the same way if I notice. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/6 "2010-05-13T06:11:45Z")
I’m left to right with everything except vinyl. That goes right to left and I’ve no idea why. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/7 "2010-05-13T09:31:49Z")
I voted Left to Right, but that’s if I actually organize. It was that or “throw it all in a pile”, which won’t happen on a shelf. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/8 "2010-05-13T09:39:25Z")
I voted “Left to Right” – but that’s for stuff in English. For stuff in Hebrew (which is an RtL language, i.e., written lines on a page are read from right to left, books open on the left when face up, etc…) I’d sort Right to Left. But I figured you meant “in the same direction as the language is written” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/9 "2010-05-13T10:42:39Z")
> [@Hallucinex](#): > > …since the writing on the spine of a book etc would usually go from top to bottom, having it sorted right-to-left would mean that when you tilt your head to the right you could read the titles top-to-bottom in descending order. This is why. I’ve always done it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/10 "2010-05-13T21:31:38Z")
I voted left to right, but the ‘big pile’ option gets used disturbingly often ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/11 "2010-05-13T22:00:52Z")
I used to shelve everything left to right. (BTW, I took Hebrew in college and mixing it in with my English-language stuff proved to be problematic for this very reason.) Then I spent a year and a half working in a bookstore, and for awhile it was like shelving alphabetically was taking over my mind. I had dreams - unbelievably boring dreams - about shelving books. I started arranging my own books in a system not dissimilar to what we used in the store. It started out by separating the fiction from the nonfiction, but soon I was separating the history from the science from the theology… Then I realized I was going crazy. So I intentionally reshuffled my books into a big, disordered muddle, and I’ve kept them that way ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Doctor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/12 "2010-05-14T01:49:41Z")
As I read from left to right it only seems natural to put things on the shelf in that order – on those rare occasions I decide to organize. I go through phases on it. For a while I’ll just stick things in any old order and then I can’t find anything, so I’ll go into a burst of reorganizing. Then I’ll let it slide…lather, rinse, repeat. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/13 "2010-05-14T02:36:41Z")
But then again, I almost never alphabetize anything. Since I read fast, I can just scan until I find what I want, and I group stuff by genre. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/14 "2010-05-14T03:00:41Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I’m left to right with everything except vinyl. That goes right to left and I’ve no idea why. Just a WAG. Have your ever kept your vinyl in a portable crate or container in alphabetical order? Putting the “A” records in front of the “B” records and so on, would make it more likely to place them on the shelves from right to left. Since most vinyl covers have the opening on the right side, and the title on the left edge, you’d want that left side facing you when shelved them. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/15 "2010-05-14T03:13:49Z")
> [@JpnDude](#): > > Just a WAG. Have your ever kept your vinyl in a portable crate or container in alphabetical order? Putting the “A” records in front of the “B” records and so on, would make it more likely to place them on the shelves from right to left. Since most vinyl covers have the opening on the right side, and the title on the left edge, you’d want that left side facing you when shelved them. Nope, pretty much just alphabetical on a shelf. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/16 "2010-05-14T03:24:11Z")
I have trouble with this whole left-right business to start with. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/17 "2010-05-15T07:43:45Z")
> [@Hallucinex](#): > > I usually do left to right, but I suppose since the writing on the spine of a book etc would usually go from top to bottom, having it sorted right-to-left would mean that when you tilt your head to the right you could read the titles top-to-bottom in descending order. I work in a library, so L to R maintains consistency between work and home. My head tilts easily both ways. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/18 "2010-05-15T14:15:31Z")
Why would I alphabetize things in my own home? That would require rearranging things every time I got a new book/cd/dvd. At best I organize things by genre (or the case of tv shows on DVD and movies with sequels, I group them by series), but not even that, usually. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/19 "2010-05-15T14:49:12Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Why would I alphabetize things in my own home? That would require rearranging things every time I got a new book/cd/dvd. At best I organize things by genre (or the case of tv shows on DVD and movies with sequels, I group them by series), but not even that, usually. I found myself with literally _thousands_ of CDs. Even when grouping by genre, it was still unwieldy to locate a specific one that I wanted to listen to. Hence, alphabetize. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255/20 "2010-05-15T15:03:00Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I found myself with literally _thousands_ of CDs. Even when grouping by genre, it was still unwieldy to locate a specific one that I wanted to listen to. Hence, alphabetize. You know, I thought of something after I posted that might make sense in regards to why I don’t sort things alphabetically… I used a program this week to repair errors in the registry of my computer, and I’m unhappy that one of the unadvertised side effects of doing so is that it alphabetized all my favorite places. This makes links harder for me to find, because I locate them positionally rather than by reading what they say. Now they’re all in different positions, which takes longer to find them. I also realized that I have no idea what the names of some of the links were now that they’re not in the same place they used to be ☹ Given this, no wonder I’m resistant to a system that would constantly change the position of where things are located. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-to-right-or-right-to-left/539255.md?page=2)