IS LEFT RIGHT?

Did you ever wonder how we came to call one side of a ship the port side and another the starboard?  Here goes.  

When English sailing ships were sailing hither and thither, there was a problem.  Sometimes the captian would yell "Turn to the left!" and the helmsman would answer back, "Left?" and the captain would yell back "Right!" and you can imagine what kind of problem that could cause.  

Sailing ships were originally just like your auto;  some with a gas tank fill door on the left, some on the right.   English ship builders found that to be a problem though we haven't yet.  They began building all ships with the loading/unloading doors for cargo on the left side.  Soon the captain caught on and started yelling "Turn to the port side!"  It worked.  The other side of the ship faced out into the ocean and open sky when in port and they called it the starboard side.  Two syllables not to be mistaken for port.  

Much later, the airplane building industry took their lead from the English ship builders and put all entrance doors on the left side of the plane.  Even further, they put a red blinking light on the port side and a white one on the starboard side.  

The astronauts don't have to worry about that yet, everything, so far, has been round except for the shuttle which was built like an airplane.  

Okay, now.  How do landlubbers like us remember which side is which?  Left and port each have four letters.  AHA!  Now you'll always know.