Who's right? Burning question inc overwhelming pettiness.

[DoJo]

I have told my husband that I would throw our petty bickering over to the MN wisdom and in order to try and remain neutral, I will not tell you which side of this is me.

We have a van which has two rows of seats in the back which face each other. We were trying to fit something large in the back, so removed the rear seat altogether, leaving just the rear-facing bench behind the driver's seat which led to a discussion about maximising the interior space.

One of us thought that moving the seat 'forward' meant moving it towards the front of the van (i.e if you were sitting in it, you would be moving backwards, but it would be moving in the direction the van was facing/travelling).

One of us thought that moving the seat 'forward' meant sliding it towards the middle of the van so that anyone sitting in it would be moving forwards but the direction of the seat would be towards the back of the van and therefore against the direction of travel.

So, who is right?

Forward = towards the front of the van. Obviously.

You'd move the seat forward in the direction it would naturally move. Think of yourself sitting on it and nudging it forward - you'd be going in the direction of your own legs.

I agree. Towards the front of the van.

Forward = facing forward moving towards front of van imho

Could mean either. Depending on the context.

I'd think towards the front of the van

I'd say that moving it forwards meant moving it towards the front of the van, (direction of travel).

Moving it towards the front of the van

Forward is moving it further towards the front of the van.

It depends on the frame of reference. If I was sitting in the seat and someone asked me to pull the seat forward I would automatically move the seat in the direction the seat was facing as I would in a normal car. If stood outside of the van I would probably assume forwards meant towards the front of the van.

If I was in the back of the van facing the seats that were facing me, I would definitely say 'We need to push the seats back' as the seats themselves would be moving backwards. If I was in front of the seats facing the back of the van I would say we need to push the seats forward, even though they were moving towards the back of the van. I think it's all about the direction the seats face so I would say the second person is right.

Dh and I both think it means towards the middle of the van.

I would initially say towards the middle of the van as that is forward for that particular seat (but not forward for the whole van ) but I would absolutely concede that either could be correct and we would need to agree a singular definition for that situation!

@IdiotSandwich - interesting you say that as the person who thought that 'forward' was in the direction the seat faces had just been sitting in the seat in question, whereas the one who thought forward was towards the front of the van had just got out of the front seat.

So when you sit in this chair you are facing the back of the van, is that right? Forwards is therefore moving it away from the windscreen, towards the back of the van.

Foward is towards the front regardless of orientation if you aren't sat in it...

If you were sat on the seat to travel and said move it forward it would be in the direction you're facing so to the back of the van.

As you weren't, you were creating space, forward would be to the front of the van.

At least that's what I'd think

I think moving those seats forwards would mean moving them the way that they faced. But I’m also visualising myself having this conversation at the rear door, and imagining moving the seats forwards towards me. If I was standing at the front of the van I’d be more confused. I also can’t imagine having this conversation without gesturing, so I’m sure it would be clear what I meant whether I said backwards or forwards!

If the seat is facing the back of the van, then moving it forwards would mean moving it in its forwards - ie towards the back of the van.

If I were sitting on the seat, and someone said to me, "lean forwards a minute" I would lean away from the back of the seat ie towards the back of the van, not lean backwards towards the front of the van.

This reminds me of a recurring discussion DH and I have about whether you turn the aircon up or down to make a room cooler. Ahhh, many a happy hotel argument on that

If you stood up and walked forwards, you would not head towards the windscreen. Ergo forwards is towards the back of the van.

By towards the back, I mean towards the middle, as that's where the seats were aiming for! Same direction though.

I think it depends on the context.

If the person who said to move it forwards was sitting in the driver's seat or standing behind the van then you could assume that forwards meant in the direction of travel ie towards the driver's seat. If the person who said move it forwards was sitting on the bench then forwards could be presumed to mean forwards for anyone on the bench ie away from the driver.

But it's very ambiguous, there's no clear right or wrong and both of you should have just checked what the other one meant.

How2Help - I think aircon up = turn the blower on stronger!

I think you need to start using phrases like 'decrease the temperature of the aircon' which will make you sound like robots but at least you won't have a holiday aircon row!

Why has no one said "LTB" yet?

Also, what large thing were you moving? A piano? An elephant? Piers Morgan's ego?