this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2025
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Today I Learned

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Literally, it means to take a course opposite the apparent motion of the sun viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Widdershins is cognate with the German widersinnig, i.e., "against" + "sense". The opposite of widdershins is deosil, or sunwise, meaning "clockwise".

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[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 1 points 3 hours ago

It's still in use in Yorkshire too, though pretty rare.

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 1 points 4 hours ago

I actually thought it was Yiddish coming from Germanic for some reason, but never looked into it. I was close, in a sense, I guess.

[–] Pregnenolone@lemmy.world 16 points 9 hours ago

In Australia (and UK) we don’t typically use the term counter-clockwise. We use anti-clockwise

[–] teardownthewalls@lemm.ee 61 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

I learned this term from Terry Pratchett a few years ago as the disc in discworld rotates and the four cardinal directions are rimward, hubward, turnwise and widdershins. Instead of north south east west.

Edit: though I never knew it was a real word!

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 29 points 12 hours ago (4 children)

A surprising number of things on the Disc that appear to be made up fantasy are actually based on real world words, concepts, cultures, and especially bits of folklore. Sometimes messed with a bit, but oftentimes played completely straight. And it makes the jokes even better when you look it up and figure out what Pratchett was referencing when he wrote it. Some of it is quite clever.

It's true that the Discworld is a world, and a mirror of worlds (i.e. ours).

[–] dpflug@kbin.earth 3 points 4 hours ago

This is why the Annotated Pratchett File make for a good reading companion.

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

Not only that but most of them are played down not up when compared to real life. The discworld is a lot less weird than real life.

[–] teardownthewalls@lemm.ee 18 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

This is a big part of why I love them so much. Hardly a week goes by that I don't think of the "boots theory of socio-economic unfairness" from Men at Arms!

[–] spencerwi@lemm.ee 7 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Hogswatch is fantasy Hogmanay if you squint enough, for example.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 9 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I didn’t either! You may also be interested to know that The Glooper is also real. Someone made a water computer to simulate the English economy!

[–] teardownthewalls@lemm.ee 7 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Bill Phillips seems like a pretty cool guy, certainly fits the mad scientist archetype!

I actually haven't read Making Money but I will now :)

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

It's one of my favorites, but I'm a big fan of Moist so I'm a little biased

[–] gofsckyourself@lemmy.world 14 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Sometimes I like to say "counter-widdershins"

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

It’s actually widoutershins

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 2 points 4 hours ago

I'd contract that to "w'outershins."

[–] SculptusPoe@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I learned that from Neverwhere.

[–] moshankey@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago

Ohmygosh, so did I.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Funny, that word was used in a book I was reading over the weekend and I looked it up.