Bias against left-handed people
Encyclopedia
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
, conscious or not, against people who are left hand dominant. "For centuries, left-handers have suffered unfair discrimination in a world designed for right-handers
Handedness
Handedness is a human attribute defined by unequal distribution of fine motor skills between the left and right hands. An individual who is more dexterous with the right hand is called right-handed and one who is more skilled with the left is said to be left-handed...
." Approximately 8-15% of the world's population is left-handed. As a result, many common tools are designed for right-handed people, making them difficult or impossible for left-handed people to use, from simple objects such as pencil sharpener
Pencil sharpener
A pencil sharpener is a device for sharpening a pencil's writing point by shaving away its worn surface. Pencil sharpeners may be operated manually or by an electric motor.-History:...
s to dangerous machinery such as circular saw
Circular saw
The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...
s. However, as well as inconvenience, left-handed people have been considered unlucky or even malicious for their difference by the right-handed majority. As a result of this bias, left-handed people have been shunned in language and in some societies forced from childhood to convert to using their right hands.
Negative associations of language
Historically, the left side, and subsequently left-handedness, was considered negative. The word "left" itself derives from the Anglo-SaxonAnglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
word lyft, which means "weak". The Latin word sinistra originally meant "left" but took on meanings of "evil" or "unlucky" by the Classical Latin
Classical Latin
Classical Latin in simplest terms is the socio-linguistic register of the Latin language regarded by the enfranchised and empowered populations of the late Roman republic and the Roman empire as good Latin. Most writers during this time made use of it...
era, and this double meaning survives in European derivatives of Latin
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
, and in the English word "sinister". Alternatively, sinister comes from the Latin word sinus meaning "pocket": a traditional Roman toga
Toga
The toga, a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome, was a cloth of perhaps 20 ft in length which was wrapped around the body and was generally worn over a tunic. The toga was made of wool, and the tunic under it often was made of linen. After the 2nd century BC, the toga was a garment worn...
had only one pocket, located on the left side. The right hand has historically been associated with skill: the Latin word for right-handed is dexter, as in "dexterity", meaning manual skill. Even the word "ambidexterity
Ambidexterity
Ambidexterity is the state of being equally adept in the use of both left and right appendages . It is one of the most famous varieties of cross-dominance. People that are naturally ambidextrous are rare, with only one out of one hundred people being naturally ambidextrous...
" reflects the bias
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
. Its intended meaning is "skillful on both sides". However, since it keeps the Latin root dexter, which means "right", it ends up conveying the idea of being "right-handed at both sides". This bias is also apparent in the lesser-known antonym
Antonym
In lexical semantics, opposites are words that lie in an inherently incompatible binary relationship as in the opposite pairs male : female, long : short, up : down, and precede : follow. The notion of incompatibility here refers to the fact that one word in an opposite pair entails that it is not...
"ambisinistrous", which means "clumsy on both sides". In more technical contexts, "sinistral" may be used in place of "left-handed" and "sinistrality" in place of "left-handedness".
Meanings gradually developed from use of these terms in the ancient languages. In many modern European languages, including English, the word for the direction "right" also means "correct" or "proper", and also stands for authority and justice. In most Slavic languages the root prav is used in words carrying meanings of correctness or justice. In French, droit(e) (cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
to English direct) means both "right" and "straight", as well as "law" and the legal sense of "right", while gauche means "left" and is also a synonym of maladroit, literally "not right", meaning "clumsy". Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German have similar constructs. The Spanish term diestro and the Italian term destro mean both "right-handed" and "skillful". The contemporary Italian word sinistra has both meanings of sinister and left (the masculine adjective for sinister being sinistro), and maldestro means "clumsy". The Spanish siniestra has both, too, although the "left" meaning is less common and is usually expressed by izquierda, a Basque word that made its way into Portuguese as well. In some Spanish-speaking countries, to do something por izquierda means to engage in corrupt conduct or employ illegitimate means, whereas por derecha or a derechas means to do it the right (legitimate) way. In Portuguese, the most common word for left-handed person, canhoto, was once used to identify the devil, and canhestro, a related word, means "clumsy". In German, recht means "right" (direction) and "right" (correct), while the word link means "left" and that someone is back-stabbing or a liar.
In Irish, deas means "right side" and "nice". Ciotóg is the left hand and is related to ciotach meaning "awkward"; ciotógach (kyut-OH-goch) is the term for left-handed. In Welsh, the word chwith means "left", but can also mean "strange", "awkward", or "wrong". The Scots term for left-handedness is corrie fistit. The term can be used to convey clumsiness.
In Finnish, the word oikea means both "right" (okay, correct) and "right" (the opposite of left). In Swedish, vänster means "left". The term vänsterprassel means "infidelity", "adultery" and "cheating". From this term the verb vänstra (lit. "lefting") is derived.
In Hungarian, the word for right is jobb, which also means "better". The word for left is bal, which also means "bad". In Polish, the word prawo means: right as well as law, prawy means: lawful; the word lewy means: left (opposite of right), and colloquial "illegal" (opposite of legal). In Estonian, the word pahem stands for both "left" and "worse" and the word parem stands for both "right" and "better".
In Chinese culture, the adjective "left" (Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
: , Mandarin: zuǒ) sometimes means "improper" or "out of accord". For instance, the phrase "left path" stands for unorthodox or immoral means.
In Korean, the word for right is oreun (오른), to be compared to the word meaning morally proper, oreheun (옳은) which shares the same pronunciation.
In Hebrew, as well as in other ancient Semitic and Mesopotamian languages, the term "left" was a symbol of power or custody. The left hand symbolized the power to shame society, and was used as a metaphor for misfortune, natural evil
Natural evil
Natural evil, or surd evil, is a term generally used in discussions of the problem of evil and theodicy that refers to states of affairs which, considered in themselves, are to be avoided and not to be promoted, and for which no agent is morally responsible...
, or punishment from the gods. This metaphor survived ancient culture and was integrated into mainstream Christianity by early Catholic theologians, such as Ambrose of Milan, to modern Protestant theologians, such as Karl Barth
Karl Barth
Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...
, to attribute natural evil
Natural evil
Natural evil, or surd evil, is a term generally used in discussions of the problem of evil and theodicy that refers to states of affairs which, considered in themselves, are to be avoided and not to be promoted, and for which no agent is morally responsible...
to God in explaining God's omnipotence
Omnipotence
Omnipotence is unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence to only the deity of whichever faith is being addressed...
over the universe.
Expressions and colloquialisms
The left side is often associated with awkwardness and clumsiness. The Spanish expression "tener dos pies izquierdos", in English, the expression "to have two left feet", refers to clumsiness in the domains of football or dancing. A "left-handed compliment" is considered one that is unflattering or dismissive in meaning. The Polish expression "mieć dwie lewe ręce", Dutch "twee linkerhanden hebben", German "zwei linke Hände haben", the Bulgarian expression "dve levi ratse", French "avoir deux mains gauches", Hungarian kétbalkezes and Czech "Mít obě ruce levé" all mean "to have two left hands"—that one is clumsy or is a very poor handyman. The English equivalent of the phrase is "being all thumbs". Moreover, the German idiom "mit dem linken Fuß aufgestanden sein", the Spanish expression "levantarse con el pie izquierdo", the French expression "s'être levé du pied gauche"and the Hungarian expression "bal lábbal kel fel" (literally, to have gotten up with the left foot) mean to have a bad day and do everything wrong or unsuccessfully, related to the English expression "to get up on the wrong side of the bed". The Welsh phrase "tu chwith allan" (left side out) refers to an object being inside-out. In Russian, the use of the term nalyevo means "on the left", but can also connotate taking bribes or "sneaky" behavior. Balszerencse (lit. "left luck") is Hungarian for "bad luck".There are many colloquial terms used to refer to a left-handed person, e.g. "southpaw" or "goofy" (USA). Some are just slang or jargon words, while other references may be offensive or demeaning, either in context or in origin. In some parts of the English-speaking world, "cack-handed" is slang for left-handed, and is also used to mean clumsy. The origin of this term is disputed, but some suggest it is derived from the Latin cacare, in reference to the habit of performing ablutions
Washing
Washing is one way of cleaning, namely with water and often some kind of soap or detergent. Washing is an essential part of good hygiene and health....
with the left hand, leaving the right hand "clean". However, other sources suggest that it is derived from the Old Norse word keikr, meaning "bent backwards". Australians frequently use "cacky-handed". A less common Australian slang word for a left-handed individual is the term Molly-Dooker, whose origins cannot be ascertained for certain.
Negative associations in cultures
The negative associations and connotations of the use of the left hand among cultures are varied. In some areas, in order to preserve cleanliness where sanitation was an issue, the right hand, as the dominant hand of most individuals, was used for eating, handling food, and social interactions. The left hand would then be used for personal hygiene, specifically after urination and defecation. These rules were imposed on all, no matter their dominant hand. Through these practices, the left hand became known as the "unclean" hand. Currently, amongst Muslims and in some societies including NepalNepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and India it is still customary to use the left hand for cleaning oneself with water after defecating. The right hand is commonly known in contradistinction from the left, as the hand used for eating.
In many religions, including Christianity, the right hand of God
Right Hand of God
The Right Hand of God or God's Right Hand may refer to the Hand of God often referred to in the Bible and common speech as a metaphor for the omnipotence of God and as a motif in art...
is the favored hand. For example, Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
sits at God's right side. God's left hand, however, is the hand of judgement
Divine Judgment
Divine judgment means the judgment of God or other supreme beings within a religion. The concept is prominent in Abrahamic religions, most significantly in the Last judgment.-Objective and subjective judgment:...
. The Archangel Gabriel is sometimes called "God's left hand", sits at God's left side, and is one of six angels of death
Angel of Death
Angel of Death may refer to:- Religion :Hebrew Bible* Destroying angel , the angel of Passover, the destroying angel of 2 Samuel 24Later Judaism* Michael , carries Adam to his grave in some texts* Gabriel - angel of death over kings...
. Those who fall from favor with God are sent to left, as described in Matthew 25: 32-33, in which sheep represent the righteous and goats represent the fallen: "And he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left." In 19th century Europe, homosexuals were referred to as "left-handed" whilst in Protestant nations, Roman Catholics were called "left-footers". Black magic
Black magic
Black magic is the type of magic that draws on assumed malevolent powers or is used with the intention to kill, steal, injure, cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences. As a term, "black magic" is normally used by those that do not approve of its...
is sometimes referred to as the "left-hand path", which is strongly associated with Satanism
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
.
Various innocuous activities and experiences become rude or even signs of bad luck when the left hand becomes involved. In some parts of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, it is considered bad luck to meet a left-handed person at the start of a journey. In Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, pointing and gesturing with the left hand is considered taboo. A person giving directions will put their left hand behind them and even physically strain to point with their right hand if necessary. In some Asian countries, holding eating utensils in the left hand is considered impolite.
Positive connotations
Among IncasInca civilization
The Andean civilizations made up a loose patchwork of different cultures that developed from the highlands of Colombia to the Atacama Desert. The Andean civilizations are mainly based on the cultures of Ancient Peru and some others such as Tiahuanaco. The Inca Empire was the last sovereign...
left-handers were called (and now are called among the indigenous peoples of the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
) lloq'e which has positive value. Peoples of the Andes consider left-handers to possess special spiritual abilities, including magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
and healing
Healing
Physiological healing is the restoration of damaged living tissue, organs and biological system to normal function. It is the process by which the cells in the body regenerate and repair to reduce the size of a damaged or necrotic area....
.
The Third Sapa Inca—Lloque Yupanqui
Lloque Yupanqui
Lloque Yupanqui was the third Sapa Inca of the Kingdom of Cuzco and a member of the Hurin dynasty. He was the son and successor of Sinchi Roca and the father of Mayta Cápac...
—was left-handed. His name, when translated from Quechua
Quechua languages
Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...
, means "the glorified lefthander." However, Lloque was also known as "The Unforgettable Left-Handed One" due to his reportedly horrifying ugliness.
In China, the formula "man left, woman right" expresses the traditional concept that the left is the yang
Yin and yang
In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang , which is often referred to in the West as "yin and yang", is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only...
direction and side of the body. The character for "left", , also depicts a left hand attending to its work. In contrast, the character for "right", (yòu), depicts a right hand in relation to the mouth, suggesting the act of eating.
In tantra Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, the left hand represents wisdom.
In early Roman times, the left side retained a positive connotation, as the Augures proceeded from the eastern side. The negative meaning was subsequently borrowed into Latin from Greek, and ever since in all Roman languages.
In Russian, "levsha" (lefty, lefthander) became a common noun for skilled craftsman, after the title character from "The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea
The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea
"The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea" , The Tale of the Crosseyed Lefthander from Tula and the Steal Flea or simply Levsha , sometimes called The Lefthander, Lefty, The Steel Flea or The Left-handed Craftsman is a well-known 1881 skaz by Nikolai Leskov...
" written in 1881 by Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was a Russian journalist, novelist and short story writer, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. Praised for his unique writing style and innovative experiments in form, held in high esteem by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky among others, Leskov is...
.
In the context of BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
and Leather culture, the left side is traditionally associated with dominance. Flagging on the left indicated one was the performer of an action rather than the recipient, and in The Story of O (an early piece of BDSM erotica) masters wore a symbolic ring on the left hand to show who they were.
Forced conversion
Due to cultural and societal pressures, many left-handed children are encouraged or forced to write and perform other activities with their right hands. This conversion can cause multiple problems in the developing left-handed child, including learning disorders, dyslexiaDyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
, stuttering
Stuttering
Stuttering , also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds...
and other speech disorders. Shifts from left- to right-handed are more likely to be successful than right to left, though neither have a high success rate to begin with. Successful shifters are more likely to become ambihanded than unsuccessful ones. Conversions can be successful with consistent daily practice in a variety of manual activities, but though activity in the non-dominant left-hemisphere of the brain will increase during tasks, so too will activity in the dominant right-hemisphere. Consistent left-handers have no higher activity in these task centers than converted left-handers, so it may be inferred that "attempts to switch handedness by educational training far from weakening the functional expression of lefthandedness in higher-order motor areas of the (dominant) right hemisphere in fact enhance it."
Many Asian countries encourage or force their children to become right-handed due to cultural perceptions of bad luck associated with the left hand. In India and Indonesia, it is considered rude to eat with the left hand. In a 2007 study in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, 59.3% of children studied had been forced to convert from left-handedness to right-handedness. The study took into account economic status of the children's families and found that children whose parents had less education were more likely to be forced to convert. Even among children whose parents had higher levels of education, the conversion rate was 45.7%. Among naturally left-handed Japanese senior high school students, only 0.7% and 1.7% of individuals used their left hand for writing and eating, respectively, though young Japanese are more likely to convert to using chopsticks right-handed than forks or spoons (29.3% to 4.6%). The proportion of females subjected to forced conversion is significantly higher compared to males (95.1% to 81.0%).
Western countries also attempt to convert left-handed children due to cultural, societal and religious biases. Schools tend to urge children to use their right hands, sometimes against the wishes of the child's parents. In America until corporal punishment
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
was outlawed in schools it was not uncommon for students to be physically punished for writing with their left hands: "I was educated in the USA in Catholic school in the 60's. My left hand was beaten until it was swollen, so I would use my right right [sic] hand" ... "I had a teacher who would smack my left hand with a yardstick every time she caught me writing with my left hand" ... "My fourth grade teacher [...] would force me to use my right hand to perform all of my school work. If she caught me using my left hand, I was hit in the head with a dictionary. It turned out that she believed left handers were connected with Satan."
Less-developed countries have strong bias against left-hand preference. Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
ans cite their views that "the left hand is less skilled and less powerful than the right one" as main reasons for forcing left-handers to convert. Among students, teachers and parents, 75% said the left hand should not be used to perform habitual activities, and 87.6% of these believed left-handers should be forced to switch dominant hands. Parents and close relatives are most responsible for impressing these beliefs upon their children.
Accessibility of implements and skills
Common tools and devices
Right-handed tools can be difficult or uncomfortable to use for people who are left-handed. For example, (right-handed) scissors are arranged so that the line being cut along can be seen by a right-handed user, but is obscured to a left-handed user. Furthermore, the handles are often molded in a way that is difficult for a left-hander to hold, and extensive use in such cases can lead to varying levels of discomfort. So-called "ambidexterous" scissors will mold the handles to be the same shape, but will not reverse the position of the blades. Most importantly, the scissoring or shearing action - how the blades work together (how they are attached at the pivot) - operates correctly for a right-hander, but a left-hander will tend to force the blades apart rather than shearing the target substance. Left-handed scissorsScissors
Scissors are hand-operated cutting instruments. They consist of a pair of metal blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting various thin materials, such as paper, cardboard, metal foil, thin...
require inverting both the handles and the blades if the left-handed user is to fully see the progress of the cut. Right-handed scissors place the thumb's blade on the left side, while left-handed scissors have this on the right side. This ensures the left hand's motion draws the blades together while cutting, ensuring a cleaner cut.
Input devices for computers can present obstacles for the left-handed when optimized for the right. Some computer set-ups have the mouse
Mouse (computing)
In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...
placed on the right side of the keyboard and unable to be repositioned to the left. The mouse itself is also sometimes shaped to fit the right hand better. The functions of mouse buttons, even on mice shaped to fit both hands, are defaulted for right-hand use. On two-button mice, the left button—under the index finger of a right-handed person—is the primary button, and the right button performs secondary functions. The on-screen pointers themselves are also configured for right-handed people. Most operating systems allow a user to reverse the functionality of mouse buttons to accommodate left-handed use, but left-handed cursors need to be specially downloaded. Trackball
Trackball
A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down mouse with an exposed protruding ball. The user rolls the ball with the thumb, fingers, or the palm of the hand to move a cursor...
s and trackpads are often shaped for right-handed use. Even with the ability to change the functionality of buttons, these devices may be difficult for left-handed use.
While European-style kitchen knives
Kitchen knife
A kitchen knife is any knife that is intended to be used in food preparation. While much of this work can be accomplished with a few general-purpose knives – notably a large chef's knife, a tough cleaver, and a small paring knife – there are also many specialized knives that are designed for...
are symmetrical, Japanese kitchen knives
Japanese kitchen knives
There are a number of different types of Japanese kitchen knives. The most commonly used types in the Japanese kitchen are the deba bocho , the santoku hocho , the nakiri bocho and usuba hocho , and the tako hiki and yanagi ba .-Types of Japanese kitchen knives:There are...
have the cutting edge ground asymmetrically, with ratios ranging from 70-30 for the average chef's knife, to 90-10 for professional sushi
Sushi
is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...
chef knives; left-handed models are rare, and usually must be specially ordered or custom made. On the other hand, the majority of "flat ground" general-purpose knives typically have the cutting edge on the right, as with a left-handed knife, for aesthetic reasons rather than practical.
One of the few cameras ever produced for left-handers was the half-frame Yashica
Yashica
Yashica was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras.-History:The company began in December, 1949 in Nagano, Japan, when the Yashima Seiki Company was founded with an initial investment of $566. Its eight employees originally manufactured components for electric clocks...
Samurai. Cameras predominantly have the hand grip, shutter release, film wind lever and commonly used selection buttons, switches and dials controlled by the right hand. Lens controls (where present) tend to be accessible by either hand. When a left-handed person uses a right-handed camera the hand control can be less steady and hence produce camera shake leading to poorer pictures at low shutter speeds.
Other items which could prove to be inconvenient for left-handers include train-station turnstile
Turnstile
A turnstile, also called a baffle gate, is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. It can also be made so as to enforce one-way traffic of people, and in addition, it can restrict passage only to people who insert a coin, a ticket, a pass, or similar...
s, can opener
Can opener
A can opener is a device used to open metal cans. Although preservation of food using tin cans had been practiced since at least 1772 in the Netherlands, the first can openers were patented only in 1855 in England and in 1858 in the United States. Those openers were basically variations of a...
s, potato peeler
Peeler
A peeler is a metal blade attached to a wooden, metal or plastic handle that is used to remove the outer skin or peel thus peeling certain vegetables, frequently potatoes, and fruits such as apples, pears, et cetera.There are three main varieties, the Lancashire design involving the blade as an...
s, corkscrew
Corkscrew
A corkscrew is a kitchen tool for drawing stopping corks from wine bottles. Generally, a corkscrew consists of a pointed metallic helix attached to a handle. The user grips the handle and screws the metal point into the cork, until the helix is firmly embedded, then a vertical pull on the...
s, ruler
Ruler
A ruler, sometimes called a rule or line gauge, is an instrument used in geometry, technical drawing, printing and engineering/building to measure distances and/or to rule straight lines...
s, computer keyboard
Keyboard (computing)
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
s, watch
Watch
A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...
es, chequebooks, spiral notebook
Notebook
A notebook is a book or binder composed of pages of notes, often ruled, made out of paper, used for purposes including recording notes or memoranda, writing, drawing, and scrapbooking....
s, fishing reel
Fishing reel
A fishing reel is a "cylindrical device attached to a fishing rod used in winding the line". Modern fishing reels usually have fittings which make it easier to retrieve the line and deploy it for better accuracy or distance. Fishing reels are traditionally used in the recreational sport of angling...
s, boomerang
Boomerang
A boomerang is a flying tool with a curved shape used as a weapon or for sport.-Description:A boomerang is usually thought of as a wooden device, although historically boomerang-like devices have also been made from bones. Modern boomerangs used for sport are often made from carbon fibre-reinforced...
s, measuring cup
Measuring cup
A measuring cup is a kitchen utensil used primarily to measure the volume of liquid or bulk solid cooking ingredients such as flour and sugar, especially for volumes from about 50 mL upwards. The cup will usually have a scale marked in cups and fractions of a cup, and often with fluid measure...
s and pencil sharpener
Pencil sharpener
A pencil sharpener is a device for sharpening a pencil's writing point by shaving away its worn surface. Pencil sharpeners may be operated manually or by an electric motor.-History:...
s.
Musical instruments and sporting equipment
Left-handed adaptations have even bridged the world of music. Left-handed guitars are manufactured as an alternative to using a flipped around right-handed guitar. There have even been inverted pianos where the deepest notes correspond to the rightmost keys instead of the leftmost. Inverted trumpetTrumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s are made, too. Although the trumpet's valves are normally designed to be operated with the right hand, the prevailing belief is that left-handed trumpeters are not at a significant disadvantage. The French horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, for example, is played with the left hand, yet most horn players are right-handed.
A left-handed individual may be known as a southpaw, particularly in a sports context. It is widely accepted that the term originated in the United States, in the game of baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
. Ballparks are often designed so that batters are facing east, so that the afternoon or evening sun does not shine in their eyes. This means that left-handed pitchers are throwing with their south-side arm. The Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
lists a non-baseball citation for "south paw", meaning a punch with the left hand, as early as 1848, just three years after the first organized baseball game, with the note "(orig. U.S., in Baseball)." A left-handed advantage in sports can be significant and even decisive, but this advantage usually results from a left-handed competitor's unshared familiarity with opposite-handed opponents. Baseball is an exception since batters, pitchers, and fielders in certain scenarios are physically advantaged or disadvantaged by their handedness.
In baseball, due to the direction in which curveball
Curveball
The curveball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball causing it to dive in a downward path as it approaches the plate. Its close relatives are the slider and the slurve. The "curve" of the ball varies from pitcher to...
s and slider
Slider
In baseball, a slider is a pitch that breaks laterally and down, with a speed between that of a curveball and that of a fastball....
s break, it is generally accepted that the pitcher has an advantage when his handedness is the same as the batter's, and the batter has an advantage when they are opposite. For this reason, many baseball teams include a left-handed specialist
Left-handed specialist
In baseball, a left-handed specialist is a left-handed relief pitcher who specializes in pitching to left-handed batters, or to switch-hitters who bat poorly right-handed...
pitcher, who is brought into the game specifically to pitch to dangerous left-handed batters in crucial situations. A left-handed first baseman uses a more fluid motion to tag out a baserunner returning to first base during a pickoff attempt by the pitcher and has less difficulty avoiding baserunners while presenting their mitt as a target for other fielders to throw to. A fielder's handedness is either a physical advantage or hindrance for similar reasons throughout the infield positions, and left-handedness is not always the more desirable dexterousness.
Left-handed bowlers
Bowler (ten-pin)
A bowler is someone participating in the sport of bowling, either as an amateur or professional. In American ten-pin bowling, a bowler is most commonly a member of a team of three to six people...
are usually at an advantage during ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling is a competitive sport in which a player rolls a bowling ball down a wooden or synthetic lane with the objective of scoring points by knocking down as many pins as possible.-Summary:The lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels Ten-pin bowling (commonly just...
competition when hooking the ball into the pins from the left side of the lane. As there are fewer left-handed players, the lane's left side is not used as much, and thus the applied oil pattern does not change as quickly as it does for right-handed bowlers.
In boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, someone who boxes left-handed is frequently referred to as southpaw. The term is also used to refer to a stance in which the boxer places the right foot in front of the left, so it is possible for a right-handed boxer to box with a southpaw stance. Most boxers, southpaw or otherwise, tend to train with sparring partners who adopt an orthodox stance which gives southpaws an advantage. Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel "Manny" Dapidran Pacquiao, PLH is a Filipino professional boxer and politician. He is the first eight-division world champion; having won six world titles, as well as the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes. He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the...
is an example of a southpaw (although he writes with his right hand). In the popular boxing film series Rocky
Rocky
Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, the main character Rocky Balboa is a southpaw. Southpaw is also a term in professional wrestling, often giving them the advantage.
Fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
weapons feature left- and right-handed grips, and a left-handed fencer's stance is opposite that of a right-handed opponent. Though commonly asserted that left-handed fencers have an advantage over right-handed opponents because the line of defence favors their sword arm, this assertion describes both fencers in a mixed-handed duel, so neither competitor has a unique physical advantage. Thus the left-hander's advantage in fencing stems mostly from a right-hander's unfamiliarity with a left-handed stance (interestingly, this puts left-handers at a distinct disadvantage when they fight one another as many left-handers are generally more familiar with fighting a right-handed stance).
The game of golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
is most commonly played right-handed, and left-handed players typically must provide their own special golf club
Golf club (equipment)
A golf club is used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a clubhead. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety of shots; Hybrids that combine design elements of woods and...
s. The game can be played with both hands, provided the player has both left- and right-handed clubs, giving an advantage over one-handed players. Professional golfer Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson
Philip Alfred Mickelson is an American professional golfer. He has won four major championships and a total of 39 events on the PGA Tour. He has reached a career high world ranking of 2nd in multiple years. He is nicknamed "Lefty" for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed...
plays left-handed though he is naturally right-handed.
In tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, southpaws hold the racket in their left hand. Because of this, their grip of the handle is supposedly adjusted in a slightly different style from right-handed players. Some world champion left-handed tennis players include Jimmy Connors
Jimmy Connors
James Scott "Jimmy" Connors is an American former world no. 1 tennis player....
, Guillermo Vilas
Guillermo Vilas
Guillermo Apolinario Vilas is a retired and former World No. 2 professional tennis player from Argentina. He was the second Latin-American to win a Grand Slam tournament.-Career:...
, John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
, Martina Navratilova, Marcelo Ríos
Marcelo Ríos
Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Chile. Nicknamed El Chino and El zurdo de Vitacura , he became the first Latin American player to reach the top position on the Association of Tennis Professionals singles rankings in 1998. He held the World No...
, Goran Ivanišević
Goran Ivaniševic
Goran Ivanišević is a retired Croatian professional tennis player. He is best remembered for being the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998. Ivanišević is famous...
and Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. , he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals...
.
Weapons and machinery
The vast majority of firearmFirearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s are designed for right-handed shooters, with the operating handle, magazine release, and/or safety mechanisms set up for manipulation by the right hand, and fired cartridge cases ejected to the right. Also, scopes and sights may be mounted in such a way as to require the shooter to place the rifle against the right shoulder. A left-handed shooter must either purchase a left-handed or ambidextrous firearm (which are manufactured in smaller numbers and are generally more expensive and/or harder to obtain), shoot a right-handed gun left-handed (which presents certain difficulties, such as the controls being improperly located for the left hand or hot shell cases being ejected towards the shooter's body, especially the eyes or down the collar or right sleeve), or learn to shoot right-handed (which may be less comfortable or "natural"). A related issue is ocular dominance
Ocular dominance
Ocular dominance, sometimes called eye dominance or eyedness, is the tendency to prefer visual input from one eye to the other. It is somewhat analogous to the laterality of right or left handedness; however, the side of the dominant eye and the dominant hand do not always match...
, due to which left-handed people may wish to shoot right-handed, and vice versa.
Some modern firearms are ambidextrous (e.g. the FN P90
FN P90
The FN P90 is a selective fire personal defense weapon designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. The P90's name is taken from 1990, the year it was introduced...
and Heckler & Koch P7), or can be converted between right- and left-handed operation (e.g. the Heckler & Koch G36
Heckler & Koch G36
The Heckler & Koch G36 is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle, designed in the early 1990s by Heckler & Koch in Germany as a replacement for the 7.62mm G3 battle rifle. It was accepted into service with the Bundeswehr in 1997, replacing the G3...
and Steyr AUG
Steyr AUG
The AUG is an Austrian bullpup 5.56mm assault rifle, designed in the early 1970s by Steyr Mannlicher GmbH & Co KG . The AUG was adopted by the Austrian Army as the StG 77 in 1977, where it replaced the 7.62mm StG 58 automatic rifle...
). Bullpup
Bullpup
Bullpups are firearm configurations in which the action is located behind the trigger group and alongside the shooter's face, so there is no wasted space for the buttstock as in conventional designs. This permits a shorter firearm length for the same barrel length for improved maneuverability, and...
rifles are particularly problematic for left-handers unless they can be reconfigured, since empty shells would be ejected straight into the shooter's face and cheek potentially causing injury. The British LA-85 Assault Rifle
SA80
The SA80 is a British family of 5.56mm small arms. It is a selective fire, gas-operated assault rifle. SA80 prototypes were trialled in 1976 and production was completed in 1994....
must be fired right-handed, placing left-handed soldiers at a disadvantage. In contrast, the Steyr AUG
Steyr AUG
The AUG is an Austrian bullpup 5.56mm assault rifle, designed in the early 1970s by Steyr Mannlicher GmbH & Co KG . The AUG was adopted by the Austrian Army as the StG 77 in 1977, where it replaced the 7.62mm StG 58 automatic rifle...
is of a modular design and the ejection port and extractor can be switched/replaced to suit the handedness of the soldier operating it. The M-16
M16 rifle
The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
and its variants have a fixed ejection port, but being a conventional (i.e. not bullpup) design the ejection port is forward of the operator and hence able to be fired either-handed. Circa 1980, with the introduction of the M16A2 version, a case deflector was incorporated adjacent to the ejector port to direct discarded shells in a more forward direction, making the rifle even more left hand operator friendly. The deflector is not always effective, however, as the ejected shell still stands a chance of hitting the left-handed shooter's cheek, especially in windy conditions.
Lever action and pump action firearms present fewer difficulties for left-handers than bolt action weapons do. Many weapons with adjustable sights allow for left-handed use, but for a right eye dominant shooter it is necessary to adjust. In fact, most weapons adjust well enough that a weapon will not eject shells into a left-hander's eye.
Power tools, machinery and other potentially dangerous equipment is typically manufactured with the right-handed user in mind. Common problems faced by left-handed operators include the inability to keep materials steady, and difficulty reaching the on/off switch, especially in emergency situations. Table saw
Table saw
A table saw or sawbench is a woodworking tool consisting of a circular saw blade, mounted on an arbor, that is driven by an electric motor...
s, whose blades protrude from the top of a table and pose the risk of losing fingers or hands, have their cutting area on the right side. This makes it difficult for a left-handed operator to guide the material being cut, as it must be pushed to the right side to align with the fence to avoid kickback. On bandsaws, the blade teeth are on the left side of the blade, necessitating the material being cut to be pushed from the left side of the machine. However, at this angle, the casing of the machine containing the rest of the blade is on the operator's left side, making it extremely difficult to guide the wood with their left hand. This can be countered by using a blade with teeth on both sides.
Handheld circular saw
Circular saw
The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...
s are made almost exclusively for right-handers, with the motor and grip on the right side. If held in the left hand, it is impossible for the operator to see what they are cutting. Tool manufacturer Porter-Cable
Porter-Cable
Porter-Cable is an American company that manufactures power tools. The company is known for introducing a number of noteworthy power tools, such as the first portable belt sander, helical-drive circular saw, and portable band saw. It is a subsidiary of Stanley Black & Decker.- History :Porter-Cable...
produces a left-handed circular saw that can be purchased relatively inexpensively.
Handwriting and written language
Left-handed people who speak Arabic, PersianPersian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, Hebrew or any other right-to-left script do not have the same difficulties with writing. The right-to-left nature of these languages prevents left-handers from running their hand on the ink as happens with left-to-right languages. Because writing when moving one's hand away from its side of the body can cause smudging if the outward side of the hand is allowed to drag across the writing, it is considered easier to write the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
with the right hand than with the left. Furthermore, it is considered more difficult to write legible Chinese characters
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
with the left hand than it is to write Latin letters, though difficulty is subjective and depends on the person in question.
Left-to-right alphabets can be written smudge-free and in proper "forward slant" with the left hand if the paper is turned 1/4 turn clockwise (90 degrees to the right), and the left hand is drawn toward the body on forward strokes, and left to right on upward strokes (as expressed in directionality of the text). It is also possible to do calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
in this posture with the left hand, but using right-handed pen nibs. Otherwise, left-handed pen nibs are required in order to get the thick-to-thin stroke shapes correct for most "fonts", and the left-handed calligrapher is very likely to smudge the text. Left-handed pen nibs are not generally easy to find, and strokes may have to be done backwards from traditional right-handed calligraphic work rules to avoid nib jamming and splatter. Left-handed people have an advantage in learning 19th-century copperplate
Copperplate script
Copperplate, or English round hand, is a style of calligraphic writing, using a sharp pointed nib instead of the flat nib used in most calligraphic writing. Its name comes from the fact that the copybooks from which students learned it were printed from etched copper plates...
hands, which control line-width by pressure on the point.
Schools
As the majority of students in public schools are right-handed, most commonly-used implements are designed for the right-handed, from pencil sharpenerPencil sharpener
A pencil sharpener is a device for sharpening a pencil's writing point by shaving away its worn surface. Pencil sharpeners may be operated manually or by an electric motor.-History:...
s to scissors to desks. The consequences to left-handed students can be as varied as decreased academic performance or physical ailments.
In many classroom
Classroom
A classroom is a room in which teaching or learning activities can take place. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, including public and private schools, corporations, and religious and humanitarian organizations...
s and lecture hall
Lecture hall
A lecture hall is a large room used for instruction, typically at a college or university. Unlike a traditional classroom with a capacity from one to four dozen, the capacity of lecture halls is typically measured in the hundreds...
s, desks are designed so that the writing surface is attached to the chair instead of separate from it. In this design, the desk is attached on the right side, offering an armrest for right-handed people to use while writing. In some of these desks, the writing surface does not extend fully to the left, necessitating a left-handed user to turn their body in order to write properly, sometimes causing back, neck and shoulder problems. This contorted posture may also cause the student to be accused of cheating. In some cases, however, large lecture halls will use left-handed desks on the left-most row of each section so that left-handed people can comfortably write without bumping against a neighbor.
This right-bias is reflected in standardized test
Standardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a...
s as well. Multiple-choice tests tend to put the question on the left side of the page and the answers on the right side. If the answers must be filled in in a separate booklet, it can be awkward and uncomfortable for a left-handed student to line up the booklet with the answers. The time it takes to find a comfortable, convenient position cuts into test-taking time, resulting in rushed answers and unchecked work.