# Why "gee" and "haw" instead of right and left? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 8, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561 "2008-09-08T01:57:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/21 "2008-09-08T23:05:52Z")
Because animals don’t understand English. Duh! ---
**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 9, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/22 "2008-09-09T01:28:51Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > Would you care to expand on that? Is this the linguistic equivalent of “There were these twins named Lemonjello and Orangejello”? It doesn’t even rise to that level. (In fact, if you Google you can find several people claiming that they personally know people with these names. Believe it if you will.) First the phrase is relatively recent, probably from the 1850s, as a counting rhyme, something that’s not quite the same thing as words for actual numbers. It’s not quite the same as even the numerous examples of number replacement kids counting slang mentioned above. There’s no possibility that it’s an actual relic of a pre-Anglo Saxon British language. It’s not folk etymology. In the words of Wolfgang Pauli, it’s not even wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/23 "2008-09-09T03:45:22Z")
> [@](#): > > In Andrew Vachss’s Burke series, Burke has trained his mastiff Pansy to do something different to every normal command; i.e. “Attack” gets her to lie down, “Eat” is attack, etc. He did that so nobody could poison her, and nobody would know what he was telling her to do. My grandfather told the tale of a neighborhood ne’er-do-well, when he was a child, who had trained his horse to go at “whoa”, and stop at “giddyup”. He loaded up his horse-cart with groceries at the general store, and as he was getting out his wallet, he said “Whoa, fella” to steady the horse, and then had to run after him yelling “Whoa, whoa”, and unfortunately never got the chance to pay. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/24 "2008-09-09T04:58:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > My grandfather told the tale of a neighborhood ne’er-do-well, when he was a child, who had trained his horse to go at “whoa”, and stop at “giddyup”. He loaded up his horse-cart with groceries at the general store, and as he was getting out his wallet, he said “Whoa, fella” to steady the horse, and then had to run after him yelling “Whoa, whoa”, and unfortunately never got the chance to pay. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/25 "2008-09-09T05:35:47Z")
OK, I dug up the family memoirs. Turns out it wasn’t groceries, but drinks, that he ran out on. In Grampap’s own words: > [@](#): > > He was noted for being a bit slippy and would pull any trick. He used to peddle fish around the neighborhood. Every Friday the fish was shipped by train to Gallitzen where Adam would pick up the fish and go to the ice house. He had a small, dark brown or black mare that he drove in a little buckboard wagon. He trained the horse to start when he shouted “whoa” and stop when he said “get up”–just the opposite of what any other horse was trained. > > … > > Old Adam liked his whiskey pretty good. The bar rooms caught on to him after awhile and made him have the cash to pay for it. Adam would show his money and order up a couple drinks. He’d drink the whiskey and then run to the door yelling, “Whoa Nellie, Whoa” and the old horse would start going. Adam would yell that the horse was running off, “Whoa, whoa”; he would catch up to the horse and keep going. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/26 "2008-09-09T06:25:00Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > seriously whatever the original reason was, its a very very legitimate reason to keep them in use. it avoids confusion in an animal who is incapable of telling the difference between conversation and a command. You’ve obviously never done much training of horses. They are quite capable of telling the difference between a command directed at them and casual conversation between occupants of the vehicle. And a good driver also uses a ‘command voice’, which is clearly different from the tones used in casual conversation. Heck, an experienced draft horse team can tell the difference between the driver cursing at the loading dock workers and cursing at them! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/27 "2008-09-09T15:50:44Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > And a good driver also uses a ‘command voice’, which is clearly different from the tones used in casual conversation. It’s been theorized that the ship’s computer on Star Trek functions the same way. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/28 "2008-09-09T17:11:48Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It’s been theorized that the ship’s computer on Star Trek functions the same way. I don’t think so. From what I recall of Star Trek (the original), any command to the computer was always preceded by an opening salutation to get the computers’ attention. Usually “computer…”. That’s a fairly common technique in voice recognition systems, even today. Many cell phones, for example, can be programmed to dial a specific number on voice commands. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/29 "2012-03-05T02:40:44Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > Gee and haw seem to be ideally suited for commanding animals because they sound totally different. One is high and rising while the other is low and falling. The best combination to make sure it is received and understood. It is the vowel sounds which carry most of the information. You could dispose of the initial consonants and the message would still be clear. So what’s “yeehaw!”? > [@Malacandra](#): > > Whereas IIRC “Onetherum, twotherum, cockerum, quitherum, shitherum, shatherum, wineberry, wagtail, taradiddle, den” has impeccable credentials as sheep-counting doggerel. That looks suspiciously like the word for “three” dropped out, “cockerum, quitherum, shitherum, shatherum,” moved from meaning “4, 5, 6, 7,” to “3, 4, 5, 6,” and so they had to add another number around “8.” Freaky. Presumably whoever used this form never used the component words as numbers outside the phrase. See [http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba46/ba46int.html](http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba46/ba46int.html) ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/30 "2012-03-05T04:38:31Z")
Beats me, the mules I used had already been trained so I was stuck using the terms. When I asked I was told “Dumbass, that’s whut them mules know”! ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/31 "2012-03-05T04:45:08Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > Similarly, many drug/attack/etc dogs used by police are trained using foreign terms (Hungarian in one case I am thinking of). Commands can be given without the presumed criminal understanding or countermanding the order. Also, this minimizes the danger of anyone guessing the commands or accidentally using one of the commands. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/32 "2012-03-05T05:41:59Z")
I’ve read that illiterate farmers-turned-soldiers during the Civil War had hay put in one shoe and straw in the other, and would be trained to march in formation by reference to “hay foot” and “straw foot,” since they didn’t necessarily know right from left. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/33 "2012-03-05T10:43:56Z")
> [@robby](#): > > It’s the normal direction of travel. > > No. > > Actually, forget the whole “direction of travel” crap. The front of a ship is the bow, which is the “forward” end of the ship. The back of the ship is the stern, which is the “aft” end of the ship. (The middle is referred as “amidships.”) > > If you are facing forward, the port side is on your left and the starboard side is on your right. If you are facing aft, the port side is on your right and the starboard side is on your left. Actually on many ferry boats the direction of travel does change and so does port and starboard. Of course they have two bridges and two sets of navigation lights. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/34 "2012-03-05T11:14:49Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Amen to this! Years ago, I house-trained my dog to the music of the Who, and now she poops whenever David Caruso is on the TV. > > (So do I, but still…) I once knew a woman who had trained her dog to “Do Nixon” on command… ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/35 "2012-03-05T12:22:48Z")
I heard a story about a Navy Commander who had the frequent habit of solemnly taking out a small silver case, opening it, looking into it then replacing it back in his pocket. Many wondered what was in the box. Upon his retirement the secret was revealed. It held a scrap of paper on which was written: port left, starboard right. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/36 "2012-03-05T14:22:40Z")
Easier to remember: “port” and “left” both have four letters. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/37 "2012-03-05T15:23:44Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There are a number of other similar/related counting schemes fromk various regions - the one I came across in Sussex at the Weald and Downland Museum was: > Yan, Tan, Tethera, Pethera, Pimp, Sethera, Lethera, Hovera, Covera, Dik > Yan-a-dik, Tan-a-dik, Tethera-dik, Pethera-dik, Bumpit, Yan-a-bumpit, Tan-a-bumpit, Tethera-bumpit, Pethera-bumpit, Figgit I find all of these to be inexplicably charming. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/38 "2012-03-05T16:44:59Z")
> [@robby](#): > > It’s the normal direction of travel. > > No. > > Actually, forget the whole “direction of travel” crap. The front of a ship is the bow, which is the “forward” end of the ship. The back of the ship is the stern, which is the “aft” end of the ship. (The middle is referred as “amidships.”) > > If you are facing forward, the port side is on your left and the starboard side is on your right. If you are facing aft, the port side is on your right and the starboard side is on your left. IIRC, in kayaking, port is always taken as the left side relative to the direction (primary current) of the river. ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/39 "2012-03-05T17:13:39Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > Tradition? Are the vowel sounds in gee and haw easier for animals to understand or for the human voice to project than the vowel sounds in left and right? This is what I was taught. Tradition and vowel sounds. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561/40 "2012-03-05T17:35:17Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Easier to remember: “port” and “left” both have four letters. Also, “There’s no red port wine left.”, which also gives you the correct light colors for your ship. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gee-and-haw-instead-of-right-and-left/462561.md?page=3)