# Second from the left (or is it second from the right?) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 18, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-from-the-left-or-is-it-second-from-the-right/814403 "2018-05-18T16:19:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-from-the-left-or-is-it-second-from-the-right/814403/21 "2018-05-19T18:53:29Z")
This has got to be a first on the SDMB- a poll that is 100% one choice (so far). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-from-the-left-or-is-it-second-from-the-right/814403/22 "2018-05-19T22:48:49Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > It would be interesting to raise this question in Israel or an Arabic country because my guess is that it is related to our left to right reading. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-from-the-left-or-is-it-second-from-the-right/814403/23 "2018-05-19T23:01:39Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Well, I agree, but the reason I started this is because someone argued vehemently that I was wrong, and made it quite clear that the orientation was from the people in the photo. I wondered if anyone else had this bizarre and totally wrong viewpoint as well. 🙂 Curious then to hear what their explanation would be if some people in a photo like that are standing perfectly sideways (shoulder facing camera) Does it change once they reach a certain angle of sideways standing? What angle would that be? What if some are standing on their head? What if they’re all lying down head to toe in a line? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-from-the-left-or-is-it-second-from-the-right/814403/24 "2018-05-20T00:49:17Z")
You just won a kewpie doll, which one do you want? Second from the left, please. I don’t expect the carny to say “My left, your left, or the kewpie doll’s left?” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-from-the-left-or-is-it-second-from-the-right/814403/25 "2018-05-20T01:08:42Z")
Wasn’t there a big thread here arguing about this here a while back, or did I read it somewhere else? Wherever it was, someone was _very_ insistant that you went from the object’s POV. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-from-the-left-or-is-it-second-from-the-right/814403/26 "2018-05-20T03:20:00Z")
“Stage right” is good if you’re rehearsing a play, or doing some similar thing. Otherwise there’s no need for it and no sense in using it. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-from-the-left-or-is-it-second-from-the-right/814403/27 "2018-05-20T10:37:40Z")
If you throw out cultural conventions, it can get ridiculous rather fast. - If one of them has a wristwatch, do its hands turn clockwise? - Hmm, that depends. The watch obviously sees it as counterclockwise. From the camera’s point of view, it would depend on whether the watch is facing the camera or away from it I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-from-the-left-or-is-it-second-from-the-right/814403/28 "2018-05-21T01:23:24Z")
FWIW If you were positioning people in the photo to pose them you might then say right or left from their perspective but anything else would just be confusing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-from-the-left-or-is-it-second-from-the-right/814403.md?page=1)