7 ms·

A while ago, I noticed that the bread I eat sometimes had the twist tie twisted clockwise and sometimes counter-clockwise (annoying since that is the direction

by mhb 6y ago

A while ago, I noticed that the bread I eat sometimes had the twist tie twisted clockwise and sometimes counter-clockwise (annoying since that is the direction it should untie). I called the company to ask why and they left a message with an explanation. It wasn't a great explanation, but I was impressed they responded. They said that the breads comes off the conveyor belt and are routed two ways and the twisters are different.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago
I grew up in a house with a left-handed dad and sister. Half the time, the twistie was 'the wrong way' and in opening it, I'd instead twist it into a hopeless knot. Was a bachelor for 3 years on my own, and counted my blessings every time I opened a loaf of bread. Then got married. To a left-handed woman.
- mhb 6y ago
  I wouldn't have expected that the CW to tighten things convention was linked to right/lefthandedness. Especially since many people seem to not have a notion about the convention. But maybe that's my right privilege talking.
  - leetcrew 6y ago
    I think it's more natural to twist things thumb-over-index. index-over-thumb is a slightly awkward movement, at least for me. this corresponds with the right-hand rule (relative to your hand).
    - lallysingh 6y ago
      You get more power pushing with your thumb than pulling with it. My thumb is stronger over one way over the other.
      - leetcrew 6y ago
        sorry, confused myself with that bit about the "up" direction of the bag. I think we agree.
  - GavinMcG 6y ago
    Righty tighty, lefty loosey, right? But I don't think there is a convention when it comes to twist ties, because a twist tie isn't something that gets tighter or looser. It's more closely related to spinning. I'd bet lefties spin tops counterclockwise, too, by and large. Seems to me it comes down to external rotation of the wrist being easier than internal.
    - kevincox 6y ago
      When I twist something I prefer to twist the top of my hands out, so I would twist something different if I was holding the tie with my left or right hand. So I absolutely believe that the handedness affects this because it will change which hand holds the bread and which holds the twist tie. If I hold the bread in the left (twist with my right) I would twist it clockwise (righty tighty) and if I held the bread in my right I would use my left and twist counter-clockwise.
    - jstanley 6y ago
      > Righty tighty, lefty loosey, right? This phrase always irked me, because when you're rotating something, it's not moving either left or right. The top of it moves right, the bottom moves left. Is it tightening or loosening? Further, the only time a phrase might be needed to work out which way to tighten something is when it's unusually-positioned, for example upside down or facing away from you, and in those cases "righty tighty, lefty loosey" gives exactly the wrong answer (to the extent that it gives an answer at all, since "clockwise" and "right" are not the same thing). I prefer the phrase "clockwise moves the thing you're turning away from you, anti-clockwise moves it towards you", which I'm hoping will catch on.
      - wl 6y ago
        I've adopted the right-hand rule: The screw goes the direction my thumb points when my right hand closes. And if it's something left-handed like a bike pedal, it's easy to just use the other hand.
      - leetcrew 6y ago
        I feel like this is the sort of thing that actually makes less sense when you develop explicit reasoning skills. as a child, "righty tighty, lefty loosey" made perfect sense. it never occurred to me that right/left could be relative to the bottom (from my perspective) of a jar lid. only when I started learning about math and coordinate systems did I think "right/left relative to what?".
  - issamehh 6y ago
    I'm right handed yet I generally use my left hand for twist ties. I twist them counter-clockwise too. I never put any thought into it beyond wanting bread.
- siver_john 6y ago
  As the only left handed member in my family, I'm now curious if I ever did that to my family. Though for tasks of that nature I may actually use either hand, or maybe I just started using the right hand because I was the weirdo (asking my mother she said she never noticed but assumed I probably just adapted and used my right hand). As a bachelor I virtually make all my own bread so I don't really notice, but I think I do take time to figure out which way to twist before opening so maybe that is a thing. This is just to say, the things you never think about, and I enjoyed the irony of your situation from the reverse side.
  - samizdis 6y ago
    > As a bachelor I virtually make all my own bread I so wish that the status of bachelor automatically bestowed the gift of being a baker. Sadly, in my case, it has not done so. I've tried to make all kinds of breads, from flatbreads to sourdoughs to leavened and unleavened to soda breads - all sorts. I would wish consumption of my output on only my worst enemies. Happily, though, I can buy packets of bread mix in the supermarket and put them in a bread-making machine.
    - siver_john 6y ago
      I honestly only did it because I was cheap and I wanted to remake a sandwich I had consumed before. I started with a simple foccacia recipe and went from there. But I started baking with my mother years earlier so I had some experience. I now for better or worse have the Toll House cookie recipe memorized, but I'm terrible at making baked goods look appealing.
    - teach 6y ago
      You should check out The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown; it's a masterwork of clear technical writing. The first basic recipe is expanded over 20+ pages, explaining not only what to do but _why_.
      - samizdis 6y ago
        OK, I will do that, thank you. I'm a fan of Cooking for Engineers, and particularly like the schematics. Scroll to the bottom of this recipe to see what I mean: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/36/Meat-Lasagna http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/36/Meat-Lasagna
- aaronbrethorst 6y ago
  Get some spring clips: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VJJWSL9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_4PZV22N1YHV72BJEE8NW https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VJJWSL9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_...
  - Wistar 6y ago
    Nice find. Ordering now.
  - ReactiveJelly 6y ago
    I just fold the end of the bag over and use the weight of the bread to weigh it down. That way I also have an excuse to not eat the last slice. Come to think of it, I haven't kept bread around for at least a year.
- usefulcat 6y ago
  Just use a clothes pin? It’s faster too.

by mhb 6y ago

JoeAltmaier 6y ago

I grew up in a house with a left-handed dad and sister. Half the time, the twistie was 'the wrong way' and in opening it, I'd instead twist it into a hopeless knot. Was a bachelor for 3 years on my own, and counted my blessings every time I opened a loaf of bread. Then got married. To a left-handed woman.

mhb 6y ago
I wouldn't have expected that the CW to tighten things convention was linked to right/lefthandedness. Especially since many people seem to not have a notion about the convention. But maybe that's my right privilege talking.
- leetcrew 6y ago
  I think it's more natural to twist things thumb-over-index. index-over-thumb is a slightly awkward movement, at least for me. this corresponds with the right-hand rule (relative to your hand).
  - lallysingh 6y ago
    You get more power pushing with your thumb than pulling with it. My thumb is stronger over one way over the other.
    - leetcrew 6y ago
      sorry, confused myself with that bit about the "up" direction of the bag. I think we agree.
- GavinMcG 6y ago
  Righty tighty, lefty loosey, right? But I don't think there is a convention when it comes to twist ties, because a twist tie isn't something that gets tighter or looser. It's more closely related to spinning. I'd bet lefties spin tops counterclockwise, too, by and large. Seems to me it comes down to external rotation of the wrist being easier than internal.
  - kevincox 6y ago
    When I twist something I prefer to twist the top of my hands out, so I would twist something different if I was holding the tie with my left or right hand. So I absolutely believe that the handedness affects this because it will change which hand holds the bread and which holds the twist tie. If I hold the bread in the left (twist with my right) I would twist it clockwise (righty tighty) and if I held the bread in my right I would use my left and twist counter-clockwise.
  - jstanley 6y ago
    > Righty tighty, lefty loosey, right? This phrase always irked me, because when you're rotating something, it's not moving either left or right. The top of it moves right, the bottom moves left. Is it tightening or loosening? Further, the only time a phrase might be needed to work out which way to tighten something is when it's unusually-positioned, for example upside down or facing away from you, and in those cases "righty tighty, lefty loosey" gives exactly the wrong answer (to the extent that it gives an answer at all, since "clockwise" and "right" are not the same thing). I prefer the phrase "clockwise moves the thing you're turning away from you, anti-clockwise moves it towards you", which I'm hoping will catch on.
    - wl 6y ago
      I've adopted the right-hand rule: The screw goes the direction my thumb points when my right hand closes. And if it's something left-handed like a bike pedal, it's easy to just use the other hand.
    - leetcrew 6y ago
      I feel like this is the sort of thing that actually makes less sense when you develop explicit reasoning skills. as a child, "righty tighty, lefty loosey" made perfect sense. it never occurred to me that right/left could be relative to the bottom (from my perspective) of a jar lid. only when I started learning about math and coordinate systems did I think "right/left relative to what?".
- issamehh 6y ago
  I'm right handed yet I generally use my left hand for twist ties. I twist them counter-clockwise too. I never put any thought into it beyond wanting bread.
siver_john 6y ago
As the only left handed member in my family, I'm now curious if I ever did that to my family. Though for tasks of that nature I may actually use either hand, or maybe I just started using the right hand because I was the weirdo (asking my mother she said she never noticed but assumed I probably just adapted and used my right hand). As a bachelor I virtually make all my own bread so I don't really notice, but I think I do take time to figure out which way to twist before opening so maybe that is a thing. This is just to say, the things you never think about, and I enjoyed the irony of your situation from the reverse side.
- samizdis 6y ago
  > As a bachelor I virtually make all my own bread I so wish that the status of bachelor automatically bestowed the gift of being a baker. Sadly, in my case, it has not done so. I've tried to make all kinds of breads, from flatbreads to sourdoughs to leavened and unleavened to soda breads - all sorts. I would wish consumption of my output on only my worst enemies. Happily, though, I can buy packets of bread mix in the supermarket and put them in a bread-making machine.
  - siver_john 6y ago
    I honestly only did it because I was cheap and I wanted to remake a sandwich I had consumed before. I started with a simple foccacia recipe and went from there. But I started baking with my mother years earlier so I had some experience. I now for better or worse have the Toll House cookie recipe memorized, but I'm terrible at making baked goods look appealing.
  - teach 6y ago
    You should check out The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown; it's a masterwork of clear technical writing. The first basic recipe is expanded over 20+ pages, explaining not only what to do but _why_.
    - samizdis 6y ago
      OK, I will do that, thank you. I'm a fan of Cooking for Engineers, and particularly like the schematics. Scroll to the bottom of this recipe to see what I mean: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/36/Meat-Lasagna http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/36/Meat-Lasagna
aaronbrethorst 6y ago
Get some spring clips: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VJJWSL9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_4PZV22N1YHV72BJEE8NW https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VJJWSL9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_...
- Wistar 6y ago
  Nice find. Ordering now.
- ReactiveJelly 6y ago
  I just fold the end of the bag over and use the weight of the bread to weigh it down. That way I also have an excuse to not eat the last slice. Come to think of it, I haven't kept bread around for at least a year.
usefulcat 6y ago
Just use a clothes pin? It’s faster too.