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Comment by rhn_mk1 | Hacker News Reader

Slightly off-topic, but does anyone else have to check each time which of the words "latitude", "longitude" corresponds to which measure?

Why aren't we using some self-explanatory terms?

I propose "rotitude", "iclinitude". Guess which is which.

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I prefer the certitude of vertitude and and horitude myself. Remarkably the only name clash is with pole dancers in LA.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vertitude

Mnemonic: think of latitude and longitude as parts of a ladder. Lines of LONGitude are the LONG bars that run from South-to-North and lines of latitude are the rungs (East-to-West).

h/t https://www.geographyrealm.com/remember-difference-latitude-...

Well you got it backwards.

No, longitude lines indeed run north-to-south (and, therefore, the longitude number measures how far east-to-west you are).

I read it wrong, as in latitudes are north-to-south gradations. Wasn't thinking of level lines.

Mnemonics aren't any more self-explanatory, they just rely on clumping extra arbitrary concepts, in the hope that something will stick.

I used to get it wrong. But at some point I started to remember that latitude tells something about the climate at a location and then it clicked for me. Or if it was that latitude determined which stars cover the night sky. Either of these. They are more permanent, longitude is just a matter of time.

The range of longitude is longer (-180 to 180, total 360), latitude (-90 to 90, total 180).

Make a mnemonic for yourself. The one I've heard is latitude -> ladder.

They are self-explanatory, if you understand Latin.

Broad and long? Not self-explanatory.

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