1 hour ago, Hinomura said:If I bid five and you bid one, the difference is four. If I bid one and you bid five, the difference is four. I'm not seeing any reason why those two situations wouldn't both trigger the penalty.
Subtraction is not commutative like addition is. "Difference between the bid on your honor dial and that of your opponent" means "Your honor bid - your opponent's honor bid = Penalty." If you bid 5 and she bids 1, the result is 4. If you bid 1 and she bids 5, the result is -4.
Though I'll admit, I don't know if the LCG rulebook specifies otherwise.