# Stupid Q With A Point: Is Always Righty Tighty? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 9, 2019, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802 "2019-03-09T01:35:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/41 "2019-03-11T19:19:27Z")
The LP being backwards mightily frustrated me when I was trying to unhook an old rusty tank from a grill and nothing I seemed to do would loosen it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/42 "2019-03-11T20:54:25Z")
I recall reading a claim that some WWI I or II German equipment had unmarked left handed bolts that if they were turned the wrong way so they’d tighten instead of loosen, it would set off a booby trap. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/43 "2019-03-11T21:43:41Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I learned from my grandfather that the LP threads on a trailer are left-handed so you can’t accidently thread them to the water lines. It seems weird to me that they’d do this – aren’t the flow rates and pressures and fluids different enough that they’d want different sized fittings, anyway? Are both systems actually identical except for the threading direction? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/44 "2019-03-12T06:16:46Z")
> [@Saint Cad](#): > > I learned from my grandfather that the LP threads on a trailer are left-handed so you can’t accidently thread them to the water lines. Seems unlikely as the connectors are so different. Water comes in on an FHT (Female Hose Thread) garden hose fitting, and the propane is either the classic left-hand thread POL (Prest-O-Lite) fittings that roamed the earth in Grandpa’s time, or the newer right-hand QCC fitting with the big chunky squarish threads. Pretty clever work to make the fittings on propane tanks accept either type. As for the “clockwise” but earth-referenced rotation, the spelling I’m familiar with is deosil. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/45 "2019-03-12T16:52:18Z")
Just to note, my grandfather also taught me that the Japanese renamed a city to Usa so they could sell their products as MADE IN USA so the feedback of “That don’t make no sense” may be justified. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/46 "2019-03-12T22:03:44Z")
> [@BeagleJesus](#): > > Imagine you are holding a bottle of Coke and you want to take the cap off…what direction do you turn? If you’re like most Americans your hand already knows how to do this without your conscience input. Simply rotate your imaginary bottle of Coke so that the threads line up with whatever you are trying to (un)screw Shit. Now I’ve poured imaginary Coke all over everything. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/47 "2019-03-12T22:05:57Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Shit. Now I’ve poured imaginary Coke all over everything. Not to worry. It dries clear. I just tested it by imagining that I poured it all over my keyboard yesterday, and now it’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/48 "2019-03-13T07:26:08Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Right and left seem slightly ambiguous when the motion is circular. I prefer clockwise and counter clockwise. That may not work much longer. Some of my younger relatives hardly understand them already – they pretty much only know digital clocks. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/49 "2019-03-13T07:46:26Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > I’m trying to unscrew an aerator off a faucet. The aerator screws on (and off) from the bottom up. In such a case where one is coming up from beneath the threads, is it still righty tighty, lefty loosey? Or, is it the mirror image and the reverse? This always gets me. Similarly, I have a filter housing to a filter in a water softening system that screws up from below the threads. Per usual, I always forget which way it unscrews. It’s this “coming up from the bottom” business that throws me every time. Am I overthinking it?😕 No, you’re not overthinking it because it can be confusing. Imagine if the faucet faced up instead of down and in that case to loosen the aerator, you would turn counterclockwise. In your case, the aerator faces down but since you are above it looking down, this reverses the ‘clock’, and you turn clockwise to loosen. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/50 "2019-03-13T11:01:46Z")
Another vote for clockwise (in) and counterclockwise (out). Righty tightey and lefty loosey don’t mean anything to me when it comes to bolts as when one part of it moved righty the other part moves lefty at the same time. Yes I can translate it, but think in terms of circular direction and in and out movement (not tight/loose). Most everything is uniform in this, but most everything is not everything. ---
**Author:** ![48Willys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/db5fbb/32.png) [@48Willys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/48Willys)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/51 "2019-03-13T19:12:23Z")
Just to be clear so that no one breaks off their lug nuts/bolts on the “old” cars, the left side lugs can be left hand thread. The right side lugs are always right hand thread. Unless of course, some nitwit pulled the hub off of the left side of the rig & installed it on the right side of the rig. It has been done, I have corrected it at least three times. Every time I found this, unbeknownst to me, the wheels on the rig had a tendency to loosen up for no reason. Each time I was in there to fix a different problem. For the customer, my fixing of the loosening lug nut issue was a bonus. No charge. Also note that almost all left hand bolts have a “L” stamped on the head of them. The nuts are also almost all marked with notches cut across the flats to indicate left hand thread. This is an industry standard. So if you see notches on a nut that just will not come off, try turning the nut the other way. It sure beats breaking it off. ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/52 "2019-03-15T08:29:59Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > My brain hurts. Probably not. > **[Can the Brain Itself Feel Pain?](https://www.brainline.org/author/brian-greenwald/qa/can-brain-itself-feel-pain)** > > Although the brain has no pain receptors itself, it is the main tool the body uses to detect and react to pain — physically and emotionally. ---
**Author:** ![BeagleJesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@BeagleJesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeagleJesus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802/53 "2019-03-15T12:16:09Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Shit. Now I’ve poured imaginary Coke all over everything. > [@Napier](#): > > Not to worry. It dries clear. I just tested it by imagining that I poured it all over my keyboard yesterday, and now it’s fine. I think I would enjoy spending an afternoon in your imagination [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-q-with-a-point-is-always-righty-tighty/830802.md?page=2)