"Bob Chilcoat" wrote
I suspect that it comes from the days of sailing ships. All of your course
decisions are based on the direction of the wind. Tacking, running,
reaching, etc. are all referred to the current wind direction. I'm not
sure I fully understand why FROM was chosen as the convention, but when
you're sailing, you tend to keep the wind in your face unless you're
running.


I'd go back even further in time. Even before the age of ships, the
direction the wind comes FROM was the most interesting, as looking in that
direction could tell how the weather will change (well, fronts are
different, but they are a later invention). Later, when man learned to build
boats, looking INTO the wind was (and is) the best way to see how hard it
blows at sea, i.e. is it safe to leave the shore. It's easy to imagine that
the wind god is in that direction - better keep attention to him!

Just my $0.02 ;-)