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For this week's podcast in English.com, we're asking

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a very simple question. Why do some

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people have a problem telling

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the difference between left and right?

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Yes, it does seem a very

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basic idea, doesn't it? So

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why do people have a problem?

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Well, if you take, for example,

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Richard, a little toy car

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on the table in front of us. Right.

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Now, I say to you, touch the

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top of the car.

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No problem. And I say, do you touch the

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bottom of the car? No problem. The front?

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Yes, no problem. And I say, touch the back

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of the car. No problem. But if

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I say to you, touch the left

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side of the car... The

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left side of the car, so that's on

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my right side. OK. Right,

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so you had to think twice. Yes,

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yes. There was a little bit of mental gymnastics

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going on. Yeah, so also you mean if two

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people face each other, then

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they will understand the idea of being front

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to front, but they have different lefts and

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rights, don't they? Exactly, exactly.

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And I suppose that's even worse

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when you're under stress, the need

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to think again, which is left and which

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is right, like you, Jackie, when

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you're driving.

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Yeah, so that's a good example,

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Richard. When, for example,

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I'm driving and I'm getting towards a roundabout,

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and you say to me, takes the third

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turning

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right, my problem is,

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as I'm driving towards the roundabout,

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that third turning right

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is on my left. I

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just find that little bit confusing. Yes.

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So for you, getting that wrong, it's

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just a case of turning around and

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you'll get it right eventually, but there must

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be situations where the outcome is more serious.

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Yeah, Richard, hospitals.

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Hospitals? In the end, I... NHS,

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the National Health Service in the UK, they

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have a list of never

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events. Never events.

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Things that should never, ever happen in a hospital.

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Yes, like leaving a surgical

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instrument inside a body after

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an operation.

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And they do that. But the big

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thing that people get wrong,

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the surgeons get wrong, is

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they amputate, for example,

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the wrong leg.

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Oh no! Yeah, left

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or right. The left knee or the left eye and

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they do the wrong one. Because they're facing

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the person so you've got to twist

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it round haven't you? You'd think they'd double check wouldn't

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you? So Jackie, we've talked

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about the problem so why

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do people have this problem? In fact, there

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are loads of studies but there isn't

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any conclusive evidence

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one way or the other. Everybody

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has

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the ability to get the

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left-right decisions wrong. It's

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just that some people have to put

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more of an effort into

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judging left from right.

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So that can be why. Some

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people, instead of just saying something's

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on the right, they often say it's on the right-hand

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side

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because it makes it clearer in their head.

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Yeah, but do you know what I think the main problem

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is? Well,

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I think the problem is because we say

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left and right. Tell

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the difference between left and right.

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Rather than right and left. We never

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say right and left. But right is the

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dominant word. Yes.

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I think that's the problem. Left and right,

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you're putting the emphasis on left when

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I think it should be on right. That's a good

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point. I wonder if it's the same in

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other languages.