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in reply to @pervocracy's post:

Counterclockwise from you from your point of view always moves the screw head toward you, clockwise from you from your point of view always moves it away (even in something you're screwing in from the other side)

This is how right handed threads work by definition

You can use your fingers and thumb on your right hand to remember this. If you grip a screw with your right hand, your fingers wrap CCW, and your thumb points toward you

Maybe this is just because we didn't get taught it like that over here, but this has felt like a weird way to teach it ever since I heard it. I just learnt that clockwise moves it forward in the same way I learnt that north is "up".

Ah, so you're saying that tightening is the same turning direction that makes the car go to the right, which only works because you drive the car with your head positioned above your torso, and don't climb into the car by doing a head-stand in the driver's seat and hooking your legs around the headrest.

Over your head should still be the same rotation, no?

Beyond that, you should be able to transpose the saying by twisting your hand like a spring in the straightforward position, then pointing it at the screw/bolt in question, and then letting your hand untwist? I dunno if I am describing it well, just got to thinking about it whole driving

I will occasionally resort to using my right hand: if I stick my thumb out and curl the rest of my fingers into a partial circle, then turning from knuckle to fingernail (i.e. in the direction my non-thumb fingers are pointing) results in motion in the direction my thumb is pointing.

This is because most of the world uses right-handed screws, though of course it would be possible to machine or 3-d print left-handed screws

Note: do not use this method if you are having difficulty distinguishing your left and right hands.

It has been massively easier for me to just remember "clockwise tightens", "counterclockwise loosens". Yeah, there's no silly little trick to remembering that, but it remains true regardless of your orientation relative to the screw/knob/bulb/whatever.

... Except in the few cases where you encounter one that's reversed for some reason

The issue I have with that is when you've got to twiddle something that's inside some larger device so that you can't see it directly, but can manipulate it slowly with your hands, and the screw/bolt is oriented so that the head is further away from you than whatever it's stuck in. Then you have to remember is that clockwise pushes things away from you, and counter-clockwise brings them towards you. Whether "tighter" is equivalent to "away from you" or "towards you" depends on the situation.

Right hand rule: if you use your right hand to make a fist with your thumb sticking out, twisting in the direction that your fingers curl will make the screw go in the direction that your thumb points.

Works for basically anything that uses a screw (faucets, jar lids, etc.)