# Right Angle? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-angle/118942 "2002-07-14T20:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YPOD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e99b99/32.png) [@YPOD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YPOD)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-angle/118942/1 "2002-07-14T20:17:39Z")
Why is a right angle called a right angle? Why not a left angle or straight angle or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-angle/118942/2 "2002-07-14T21:05:30Z")
“Right” in the sense of “correct”. Note that US carpenters use the terms “square”, “plumb” and “true” for correctly setup angles (such as a door frame). I assume that “right” and “true” are synonyms in this context. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-angle/118942/3 "2002-07-14T21:09:02Z")
From the _The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000._ entry for [_right_](http://www.bartleby.com/61/37/R0243700.html): > [@](#): > > The use of right as an adverb indicating directness, completeness, or general intensity seems to be related to the use of right in a more concrete sense to refer to something that is perfectly straight or perpendicular to something else, as in _right angle_. ---
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-angle/118942/4 "2002-07-15T00:18:49Z")
Ever hear of somethin righting itself? (Example : a ship listing to one side rights itself when the ballast is shifted.) A reflex SWAG, the two things might be related: right = vertical?