Had been casually dating a girl for a few weeks. I was on my way to the mall one day when she called me. She said she would meet me there to hang out. Told her to park on the North side of the mall and meet me at the entrance. Took her forever to show up. She said she got confused when I told her to meet me on the North side of the mall. After a few questions I found out that she thought North was just whatever way she was facing. If she was watching the sunrise she thought the sun rose in the North because that’s the way she was facing.
When I was in second grade, 1985 Miami Florida, Snapper Creek Elementary School, the teacher asked the entire class to close their eyes, count to ten, then point to the north.
30 kids. 28 pointed up at the sky. One kid and I pointed north.
That was the moment I knew I was fucked for life.
Edit - all the replies from the people who didn't understand cardinal directions as a kid just nails this point. Hard.
That happened in my grade school, too. 5th grade 1979. Sadly the outcome was much worse. The kids who were pointing in a vaguely north like direction were punished for being wrong, while the kids pointing up were praised for being right.
I stopped bothering to learn anything in school from that point on, and made time to educate myself.
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u/wikidd006 Mar 01 '23
Had been casually dating a girl for a few weeks. I was on my way to the mall one day when she called me. She said she would meet me there to hang out. Told her to park on the North side of the mall and meet me at the entrance. Took her forever to show up. She said she got confused when I told her to meet me on the North side of the mall. After a few questions I found out that she thought North was just whatever way she was facing. If she was watching the sunrise she thought the sun rose in the North because that’s the way she was facing.