My Uber Eats driver knew his Cardinal directions

[OutofBatt3ry]

Called me when he was close but couldn't find the address.(house is understandably hard to find) Told me he was North east of the delivery location. Holy shit? north east? Not 40 feet right of the green cactus? 8 houses past the red car?

Idunbeliveit!

I met him on the street and gave him an extra 20 for his troubles and the first I met with the ability to navigate.

(Yes, $40 for chips and a burrito is high, but I'm drinking so it's a bargain)

Carry on.

[SteyrAUG]

My favorite directions are "fat girl" directions.

So go down the main road towards Dairy Queen, a block after Krispy Kreme turn in the direction of the Cheesecake Factory and keep going until right after that BBQ place and then turn in the direction of the bakery that makes those cakes.

And yeah, every time I meet a person under 30 who uses words like North, East, South or West I'm impressed. In some ways Google Maps should have elevated map reading, but few people actually learn the map, they just listen to the directions. And god help you if those directions are wrong, I've seen people almost drive into a canal because Google Maps told them a right turn existed.

[OutofBatt3ry]

"Fat girl directions"

lol, I'm using that.

Bravo.

[grnamin]

Every town should have the equivalent of the Big Chicken.

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[Buckaroo]

Every town should have the equivalent of the Big Chicken.

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I live near the old chicken farm. It has a cool sign with a chicken. Does that count?
Eta: My house is pretty terrible to find, I'm having a bunch of friends out Friday after dark and I'm hoping to get them all here relatively painlessly but...

[grnamin]

I live near the old chicken farm. It has a cool sign with a chicken. Does that count?
Eta: My house is pretty terrible to find, I'm having a bunch of friends out Friday after dark and I'm hoping to get them all here relatively painlessly but...If it's a popular landmark, then yes. Folks from the Atlanta area know the Big Chicken.

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[kerplode]

Every town should have the equivalent of the Big Chicken.

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What's better is when the town had a Big Chicken, but the locals still use it as a reference 20 years later. "Well, you drive thatttaway and then just past where Big Chicken used to be, you're gonna want to turn right..."

Thanks, gramps, but I don't know where the Big Chicken used to be...

[Buckaroo]

What's better is when the town had a Big Chicken, but the locals still use it as a reference 20 years later. "Well, you drive thatttaway and then just past where Big Chicken used to be, you're gonna want to turn right..."

Thanks, gramps, but I don't know where the Big Chicken used to be...
Yeah, Rapid City had "Old Storybook Island" which was washed away in the flood 20 years before I lived there in the early 2000s hahaha

[titsonritz]

My favorite directions are "fat girl" directions.

So go down the main road towards Dairy Queen, a block after Krispy Kreme turn in the direction of the Cheesecake Factory and keep going until right after that BBQ place and then turn in the direction of the bakery that makes those cakes.

I have a friend that pulls that on me all the time, makes me ring his neck. I don't know nor care where Burger King, McDonalds, Taco Bell or any of that other bullshit is, just give that damn address or at least a cross road. It is pathetic people not knowing N, S, E & W especially in the own damn town.

[pinzgauer]

If it's a popular landmark, then yes. Folks from the Atlanta area know the Big Chicken.

So do a ton of military pilots and even a bunch of airline pilots.

It was almost torn down, but a large public appeal and they rebuilt it. Motion and all.

We were within sight of it and I pointed it out to my 3-year-old grandson. He got concerned and said: "why does that giant chicken keep looking at me?" (The eyes roll as the beak open and closes)

"Go to the big chicken and turn left" is a pretty common direction around here. Both for drivers and pilots!

[Straight Shooter]

Oh MAN I damn near got PTSD from memories when I drove OTR and called for directions. I dont know how people can find their ass. Women are TERRIBLE.
I LEARNED..THE HARD WAY...to make sure to say "Im coming in in a big truck..are there any low overpass's or wires or anything coming into yall?
You'da thought I asked them about Chinese math. Simply could NOT tell you how to get to their own workplace.
NEVER have used gps or anything other than a map or verbal directions. TWICE in the past week I know of two times where gps sent people WAY off of where they shoulda went.
Its just pure BS they dont teach kids in school how to do simple navigation on the highway...what certain signs and signals mean, and so forth.

[Disciple]

And yeah, every time I meet a person under 30 who uses words like North, East, South or West I'm impressed. In some ways Google Maps should have elevated map reading, but few people actually learn the map, they just listen to the directions. And god help you if those directions are wrong, I've seen people almost drive into a canal because Google Maps told them a right turn existed.

I am not under 30, and I am somewhat of a map nerd, but electronic maps have made me more aware of directions and distances. However I always use map-north-up when it is available and I think that is a very important decision. I liken it to the difference between using "left" and "right" in English and the use of cardinal directions in certain other languages.


In order to speak a language like Guugu Yimithirr, you need to know where the cardinal directions are at every moment of your waking life. Linguist Guy Deutscher explains that Guugu Ymithirr speakers have an “internal compass” that is imprinted from infancy (studies have found children as young as two using cardinal directions), in the same way English children learn to use different tenses when they speak. Studies have shown that speakers of languages that rely on cardinal rather than relative directions to express location have extraordinary spatial memory and navigational skills. Regardless of visibility conditions or their location, indoors or outdoors, stationary or moving, they have a perfect sense of direction, the way some people in our culture have perfect pitch. There is no moment of calculation before they say, “there is a spider west of your foot.” Many stories are available of what to us seem like extraordinary feats of orientation but are par for the course for speakers of geographic languages. One such story relates how a speaker of Tzeltal (southern Mexico) was blindfolded in a darkened house and spun around over 20 times. Still blindfolded and dizzy, he did not hesitate before pointing at the cardinal directions.

[markm]

It boggles my mind that people can't tell North, South, East and West by the Sun's position in the daylight.

[Lefty223]

Directions from ‘down Maine’, ayuh!

-Take a left at the rock that looks like a big bear … or

-Take a right at the bear that looks like a big rock

-Take a left (or right) where the Opry House that burned down used to be …