In English, or at least the variety of American English I speak, it's understood that turning a dial/screw "right" means turning it clockwise. But this doesn't seem inevitable to me -- after all, while the tangential motion at the top of the dial is rightward, the motion at the bottom is leftward (and still other points are moving up or down). Are there languages/cultures where the convention is reversed, or where left/right would not be used in this context at all?

posted by aws17576 to Writing & Language