Latitude and longitude

[pne]

Am I the only one who always gets those two confused? (Also in German: Länge und Breite. I can never remember off the top of my head which is which.)

My workaround is this: there's a set phrase "in these latitudes" / "in diesen Breiten" which refers e.g. to where certain plants grow or animals live, so I know that latitude/Breite has to refer to how far north or south of the equator you are (since that influences temperature and climate), and so longitude/Länge has to be how far east or west of the Prime Meridian you are.

So my latitude is about 53° N and my longitude about 10° E.

How do you guys remember the difference?

Comments

[schnurble]

Exactly the same way - if there wasn't the Phrase 'in unseren Breiten', I could never tell Länge and Breite apart :o)

[slowfox]

latitude = lateral
longitude is long, and all longitudes are the same lenth, whereas latitudes are different lengths, given that they're a set of concentric circles, when viewed from one's loft perch atop the North (or South) pole.

[afuna]

Hmm, I make a vertical gesture when I say "longitude", and a horizontal one when I say "latitude". May not work for anyone else ;-)

[alsatia]

I don't have a way to remember it, because I've never gotten the two confused.

I'd be grateful if I could find a way to remember that the cortex is not at the core of a hair though.

[azurelunatic]

Laaaatitude is flaaaaat.