Raise your southpaw because today is International Lefthanders Day!
Celebrated every year on August 13, it was started by Dean R Campbell in 1976.
Campbell was a left-handed American soldier who also founded the Lefthanders International Inc.
It celebrates the uniqueness of leftie life, but also brings attention to the disadvantages left-handers experience everyday.
Confronting the 'right hand bias'
Left-handedness is now commonplace in the west, but southpaws still make up the minority.
Between seven and 10 per cent of the world is left-handed.
(For the sake of transparency, the author of this article is herself a proud left-hander! *waves with left-hand*)
Because the majority of the world is right-handed, there exists an inherent 'right hand bias'.
This means that most machines, services and systems are built for maximum efficiency when used by a right-handed person.
School desks, whiteboards, kitchen tools, scissors, power saws, even door handles may preference right-handed uses!
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In some cultures, the left hand is used for personal hygiene while the right hand is for eating and social interaction.
As a result, the left hand became known as the "unclean hand".
Using the "unclean hand" for anything in polite society is therefore an enormous afront. And this, unfortunately, is something I (Emma) had occasion to learn at the worst possible time.
While travelling in Turkey, I sat down to a meal with a family I had just met.
The first course was a wonderful soup dish. Naturally, I picked up the spoon in my left-hand and heartly set to it. To the horror of my hosts indeed.
About three mouthfulls in, I became aware of the gasping, pearl-clutching, wide-eyed reactions of those around the dinner table. I had severely, severly insulted them!
But it was phenomenal soup!
History of left-handedness
Historically, left-handedness has been treated with suspicion.
It was not until the 20th Century that western countries began to outlaw the practice of forcing children to re-orient their handedness.
Until then, it was common place in classrooms for left-handed students to have their dominant hand restrained while they were forced to prefer the right hand.
Left-handed superstitions
In some areas of the world, the left-hand has been associated with black magic is called "the left-hand path", making the handedness closely tied to Satanic practices.
Scottish superstition states that it is unlucky to meet a left-handed person at the start of a journey.
So you probably don't want to travel through the moors with me (Emma) by your side. Sorry! I know you were looking forward to that.
Language of lefties
In almost all languages, the word for 'left' (as in handedness) denotes something unfavourable or evil.
Anglo-Saxon languages, from which the English has stemmed, used the word interchangeably to mean 'left' and 'weak'.
Sanskrit's 'waama' literally translates to 'wicked'.
Polish uses the word 'prawo' for 'right' and 'law', and 'prawy' for 'left' and 'illegal' (or, the opposite of right and law!)
Similarly, the Vietnamese say 'phai' for right, which means 'correct'. And they say 'trai' for left, which means 'incorrect'.
In Chinese culture, the left side is synonymous with impropriety. So, to say someone is "on the left path" means they are immoral.
Koreans use the word 'oreun' to mean morally improper.
Russians say 'levyi' which means 'strange' or 'counterfeit'.
Czechs refer to 'left business', which means trickery, scheming or suspicious actions.
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The French call it being 'gauche', which is to say 'awkward'. Or, it's 'maladroit', which means 'clumsy'.
So too do the Germans, who say 'links' which means underhanded, questionable or clumsy.
The Dutch say 'link' to mean shifty or risky. A 'linkerd' is a 'crafty devil', and to 'look over your left' at someone is to regard them as insignificant.
Hungarians say 'bal' which means 'bad', while the Estonians say 'pahem' which means 'worse'.
Turks say 'sag' for right, which means 'alive', while 'sol' for left means 'die'. Which is sort of what I wanted to do that day when I ate the soup with my wrong hand!
Scandinavian languages use the word for 'left' interchangeably with the words for 'incorrect' or 'done badly'.
The Swedes take it a step further, using the same word for 'infidelity', 'adultery' and 'cheating'. The Norwegians literally translate 'keivhendt' as 'wrong-handed'.
Latin-stemming languages continue to evoke 'sinstrality', which is where we derive the word 'sinister'.
So that means in Spanish, Portugeuse, Italian and other similar languages, to be left-handed is to be sinister!
The Portugueuse even use the word 'canhoto' for a left-handed person, which is a literal name of The Devil!
Semitic languages, including Hebrew, see the left-hand as a symbol of shame. It is used as metaphor for misfortune.
Unfortunately, it was this interpretation of the word that survived antiquity and was adopted by early Catholic theologians (led in part by Ambrose of Milan) to justify the prosecution of left-handed people.
They believed left-handedness to be a sign of natural evil and emnity with God. It's a wild leap given the Bible actually doesn't say anything to suggest the left-hand might be evil.
In fact, quite the opposite...
The thriving left-hand
It's not all bad for southpaws though. There are places and times when left-handed people have been regarded positively too!
The ancient Incas believed left-handers had special magic abilities. They were considered healers.
In Buddhist tantra, the left-hand has come to represent wisdom.
And, perhaps my favourite story of them all: In the Old Testament book of Judges, there sits a story of a specially picked group of 700 elite soldiers.
What made them so special? They were all chosen because they were left-handed.
Why? Because their handedness threw the enemy off-guard when they clashed in hand-to-hand combat. The Israelites literally had the *upper hand* because of their squad of 700 lefties!
And if you've ever played tennis against a leftie, you'll know it to be true. That backhand will throw you *right* off.
The Biblical book also tells the story of Ehud, son of Gera, who delivered Israel from 18 years of oppression under the Moabite kings.
He evaded surveillance and managed to sneak a knife through the king's patrol. He then tricked King Eglon and killed him.
How did he do all this? Well, he was left-handed. He concealed his knife on the left side, and the king's guard simply didn't check there!
And that epic story alone is plenty of reason to high five a left-hander today!