What's up with the so-called "right-wing" and "left-wing"?

In the USA House of Representatives and Senate, the seating is grouped according to which party you represent. Literally, you sit on one side of the center aisle or the other. Which is why you sometimes hear a phrase in USA government, "Where you stand depends on where you sit."

The guys on the left of the main aisle are democrats = liberal, pro-labor, pro-civil rights, strong on regulations that favor the people over businesses. In USA terms, they are the left wing.

The guys on the right side of the aisle are republicans = conservative, pro-business, pro-strong law, favor businesses over people. In USA terms, they are the right wing.

Actually, I ask this question all the time (in real life, not on yahoo-answers). I work a Firefighter Schedule which means I work 10 (24 hour) shifts a month, that leaves me 20 days with my son (now 3). I consider myself a dad, not a "babysitter". My wife is a nurse, works most of the days I'm off (so we don't need childcare, or a real babysitter). She tells me all the time about other nurses who need childcare even though the baby's dad is at home... OMG! When they do "watch" the baby, they call because the baby is crying, or needs something... our neighbor's are the same. She is a stay at home mom, the other day, she was going to go out somewhere (2 kids) and leave the kids with dad, but then he said he "just watched them" (last week, for an hour) and couldn't watch them alone for that long (this was going to be 4 hours). So... I guess I can't really answer the question, it is something I just don't understand. Of course, I've seen a few Mom's who aren't much better... Good luck with finding a "babysitter".

Right wing/left wing is just a term for the parties that are currently in power, the Republicans and the Democrats. Both believe in freedom, both love their country, and both have crazy loons that either want to hug trees, kill everyone, or just destroy America. Lots of crazies out there that claim to be on either side when in fact, they are out so far that neither party will claim them

Right wing is conservatism, and left wing is liberalism. The terms date to the French Revolution when people representing the working class/peasantry sat to the left of the president and those representing the aristocracy sat to the right in the Estates General.

The Democrats always sat at the left of the aisle at meetings, and the Republicans sat on the right side. Hence the terms.

Using the term "right-wing" I think helps confuse conservatives about the fact that their ideological mission is to conserve the political status quo.

right wing means you are a conservative republican

left wing means you are a liberal democrat

extreme left=extreme liberal

extreme right=extreme conservative

parties have come to mean little. As already stated by another the more important thing to many is the ideology of conservatism or liberalism.

What??

I don't think you have any idea what right-wing and left-wing mean.

It takes two wings for the eagle to soar.