A Conversation for Ask h2g2

When did the left hand become evil?

Post 1

U14993989

When did the left hand become evil as in "sinister"? (Or is this a misunderstanding on my part?)

Similarly what parts of the human body, if any, are considered "good" and what parts are considered "bad"?


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 2

Lanzababy - Guide Editor

Perhaps you could search the Guide for some answers SA? A625501


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 3

Superfrenchie


I have no idea, but it is an interesting question, and I hope someone learned can help. smiley - book


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 4

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

I don't think all left hands are evil, Stone Aart. My left hand is quite a work of art smiley - wow. When my right hand gets tired of clicking on the mouse, my left hand takes over and does the clicking every bit as well as the right. smiley - winkeye


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 5

bobstafford

Sinister in itself is simply the Latin for left, dexter being the right.

So the question is when or how did sinister become associated with evil.

Left handed people have being different have been regarded as odd, and different some how this was translated into a sign of wickedness or whichcraft. Even to relatively recently parents would attempt to cure left handed children by binding the left arm.
Schools also attempted to cure the left hander in writing classes.

In the last 80 years or so this has faded and become more accepted in Europe but the superstition still persists.


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 6

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

Left-handed pitchers and batters are sometimes quite talented in baseball. There have been a few great left-handed artists. Sometimes the left hand comes to prominence because the right hand has been lost. Ravel wrote a piano concerto for the left hand.


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 7

bobstafford

When did left handers become evil, in my opinion it was acslow sperad of the superstition, sometime between 500 and 1100AD.


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 8

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

Were there any great left-handed barbarian chieftains during that period? Attila the Hun, perhaps? If the biggest bad guy in the war is left-handed, that could hurt the lefty's cause.


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 9

ITIWBS

...I've got a left handed aunt, a dyslexial nephew, and I'm ambidextrous myself...

Handedness is not restricted to human beings.

Once I was working with a litter of four chihuawolves pups, chihuahua/timber wolf crosses.*

Two of them if chained to a post would run round and round it clockwise until they slammed up against the post and stand there straining at it.

One of them did the same in reverse, counter clockwise.

The fourth would run till he slammed up against the post, then reverse himself and repeat the process, never seeming to tire of the exercise.

Two right handed dogs, one southpaw, one ambidextrous.




*About intermediate between the parent breeds in dimensions, coat like a timber wolf, temperament more like a chihuahua, main fault, excessively affectionate.


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 10

Dea.. - call me Mrs B!

Never mind being lefthanded being evil - I'm boggled at the physical mating of a chihuahua with a timber wolf. Ouch either way!


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 11

Pink Paisley

I believe that Muslim men are not allowed to touch their genitals with their right hand - that is a job reserved for the left.

I will leave it to someone else in the community to ask the next obvious question about this.

PP.


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 12

ITIWBS

Traditional Muslims are not allowed to eat from the communal dish except with their right hand, the left being reserved for anything unclean.

Serious issues of practical hygiene in an often waterless climate.

Their prohibition on swine has a similar root.

Swine foul the waterhole.

It was for more reasons than simple wariness that Gideon when putting together his legendary band selected only candidates who dipped their water with their right hand.




The chihuawolves had a little veterinary assistance and their damme was the timber wolf.


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 13

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

"Never mind being lefthanded being evil - I'm boggled at the physical mating of a chihuahua with a timber wolf. Ouch either way!" [Dea]

Family reunions must be interesting! smiley - bigeyes


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 14

~ jwf ~ scribblo ergo sum

smiley - bigeyes
Gauche.
smiley - jester
~jwf~


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 15

ITIWBS

Stipulated, out here in the desert, chihuahuas are often referred to affectionately as 'coyote bait'.


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 16

~ jwf ~ scribblo ergo sum

smiley - erm
I wonder if the prejudice isn't as simple as a pre-mammalian
evolutionary reflex - our tendency to find safety in numbers
hiding inside the flock, herd or school.

It's the old "us vs them" - exclusion of those not conforming to
some norm (in a maths sense of statistical normality) since left-
handedness occurs quite naturally in about one third of the population.

This smaller part has to face the mob-mentality dominations of a
two thirds majority. Oh yes, the tyranny of democracy, when there's
more of us than there are of them so we'll dictate proper etiquette,
protocols and laws for we are in the right, we are the adroit. They
are gauche and sinister.

Lefties beware and bow down before the might of the right.
smiley - zen
~jwf~


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 17

ITIWBS

Good points, jwf, though handedness is rooted in neurology, social outlook is rooted in conventionalism.




A link:

http:/www.mi.sanu.ac.rc/vismath/proceedings/trivedi.htm


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 18

ITIWBS

Good points, jwf, though handedness is rooted in neurology, social outlook is rooted in conventionalism.




http://www.mi.sanu.ac.rc/vismath/proceedings/trivedi.htm


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 19

ITIWBS

smiley - online2long, too smiley - sleepy to sort out the 'textmess'*/broken link problem right now.

That link worked okay in Chrome but apparently won't in Firefox.


When did the left hand become evil?

Post 20

You can call me TC

(Haven't read the entire thread yet.., so at the risk of re-iterating what my learned friends have said, here are my smiley - 2cents)

I would have thought the question should be "when did the left hand stop being evil"? It was always thought of as evil, dirty, "the wrong hand", sign of secret societies, etc etc. Certainly in Islam it has a bad press, and the word "sinister" coming from the Latin would suggest that the Romans weren't too keen on southpaws either. Possibly in more ancient cultures, left-handers were attributed with strange powers, or considered evil.

It's only in recent times that we have lost these associations with the left hand, and simply treat it as, at worst, a mild anomaly, at best, quite normal and not even worth mentioning.

(OK - so before hitting "Post" I did go back and read the thread.)


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