Speaking of carnivals – I was watching a documentary on old-style American amusement parks (think wooden roller-coasters) and they said that European merry-go-rounds turn clockwise while American merry-go-rounds turn counter-clockwise. Know why?

Answer: on European merry-go-rounds, they wanted kids to mount the horses on the left, just like a real horse. Early American merry-go-rounds added the feature to grab for a brass ring and, since most people are right-handed, it made sense to turn the merry-go-round to the right.