When I was able to write my first few words, before I went to school, I did so with my left hand. I must have been five years old at the most; there was no kindergarten (yes, this is a German word, but so soon after the end of WW II my neighborhood didn’t have one), and when I started first grade in April of 1952 I wasn’t six yet. My grandfather saw me scribble on some paper, and he bellowed: “They won’t let you go to school unless you use your right hand”. My grandfather was a scary dude who I never liked; not that I was scared of him, I just stayed away from him as much as possible, which wasn’t difficult. But not be able to go to school? That sounded crazy!
So, I trained myself to write with my right hand, and that’s how I write ever since. But I still do lots of things with my left hand: threading a needle, grating carrots, brushing my hair, and – wiping my butt. I thought maybe this was something I had picked up in India where it’s revolting to touch food with your left hand which always is used for the aforementioned activity, but no – I asked my daughter, she uses her right hand. It’s not a normal question for a casual survey, but I guess people generally use their dominant hand.
Of course I had no idea that I was lefthanded when I was a kid. I had no idea why it was awkward for me to throw a ball for example; I used my right hand imitating the other kids but it felt clumsy and wrong. But when I was older and had a better understanding of what was going on, I noticed the benefits: when the right hand would get tired doing many repetitive movements, beating egg whites for meringue for example (when I was vegetarian), I could simply switch to my left hand and continue at the same speed. Very convenient!
Which got me thinking: WHY were lefthanded kids forced to write with their right hand? This doesn’t happen all that much any more, one reason why the proportion of lefthanded people has gone up. But in the past, cultural bias considered lefthandedness bad and evil. According to Wikipedia: left-handed people have been subjected to deliberate discrimination and discouragement. In certain societies, they may be considered unlucky or even malicious by the right-handed majority.
Again, why would this be? At first, I blamed religion; in Christianity, Christ sits on the right side of God, and the right hand of God is the favored hand. And consider this:
“...during the Spanish Inquisition, the Catholic Church would condemn — and occasionally execute — those who used their left hand. Across the Atlantic during the time of the Salem Witch Trials, use of the left hand could lead to one’s burning at the stake.”1
However, other religions have a similar bias, and many languages have expressions which favor “right” and discredit “left”. From the Latin word dexter, meaning right, the English language adopted dexterity and dextrous, both related to competence and skill. The Latin word for left however, sinister, led to English sinister – an adjective related to darkness, foreboding, evil. It’s the same in French where droit means right, but also straight, honest, the law. French gauche means left as well as ungainly, awkward, clumsy. Spanish, Italian, German, and other European languages have similar constructs.
All this still doesn’t explain the WHY. My guess is that it simply has to do with majority versus minority: about 10% of the population is lefthanded, which means that it is NOT the norm. Right is normal. People generally prefer normal, something that fits in and doesn’t rock the boat. Being different meant being threatening, like an obstacle; folks don’t like it because it makes them feel insecure, not in control. Similar to trans people, drag-queens, or redheads.
There is one exception to the almost ubiquitous prejudice against lefthandedness that I found (and I’m sure there are others): the ancient Celts connected the left side with the feminine, female, the source of life. As such, it was sacred and worshipped, not maligned.
Of course, I had to find out as well why progressives are assigned the left side of the political spectrum, and conservatives are on the right. From what I could gather, this goes back to the French Revolution: in 1789, the National Assembly which was formed soon after the revolution had started, seated the supporters of the king to the right of the president. Those were noble-men and high-ranking religious leaders. On the left were the supporters of the revolution: more radical, those wanting change, the commoners, low-ranking clergy. Because the French kept this seating pattern in the following assemblies and legislatures, the terms “left” and “right” soon were used in newspapers and became categories for political identities. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia adopted the same terminology and contributed to its popularity which in the 1920s spread to the United States as well.
Again, the right side conforms more to traditional values, to the status quo, and also more to what benefits an individual instead of the wellbeing of all of society. And the left stands for that which is less conform, different.
Somehow I’ve always favored the left side. On hikes or during walks I’d pick the left whenever the path would split. Also, I’ve always liked odd numbers, in particular prime numbers. With one exception I like the number twelve, probably because of its association with a clock face, a complete circle. Would I have different tastes and predilections, if I wasn’t born lefthanded? I have no idea.
There’s also a left- or right-footedness, and an eye-dominance or ocular preference. The Wikipedia page about footedness deals mainly with sports such as soccer, football, and BMX – something I had no idea even existed, much less what it is about (it refers to bicycle or bike motocross). Mostly useless to me. I first noticed I must be rightfooted when I was using a spade in my garden: that’s the foot I’d use for digging. And it used to be fairly easy to find out one’s eye-preference, when cameras still had a view finder. Now, when one looks at one’s smartphone to take pictures, both eyes are involved and you have no idea which eye is dominant.
Do you want to know which eye you prefer? Here is a test:
“The Porta test. The observer extends one arm, then with both eyes open aligns the thumb or index finger with a distant object. The observer then alternates closing the eyes or slowly draws the thumb/finger back to the head to determine which eye is viewing the object (i.e. the dominant eye).”2
And don’t forget how relative “left” and “right” are: if you turn around 180 degrees, everything is the opposite…
