There was this young lion who had become king of the jungle due to the recent passing of his father and feeling thusly empowered began to tour his kingdom. Head held high, chest puffed, out he pawed along the jungle floor, when off in the distance, drinking at a water hole was a large water buffalo, a bull. Our lion instinctively switched into hunting mode and silently crept from tree to tree, stalking the drinking bull. So quietly he crept that the bull was unaware until POUNCE! the lion leapt on the bull and ate him up in a one giant swallow. Wow! The lion felt GREAT now. Walking up on top a small hill, he tilted back his head and let out a powerful roar to signify his power and dominion. Below in the jungle thicket, a nearby hunter hearing the roar rapidly swings his rifle to his shoulder and WAMMO! kills the lion. Moral of the story? Don’t open your mouth if you’re full of bull.
Left-handed people have been lingually discriminated for some time. Let’s take a short journey and see what we can uncover.
First, the word right means not only “the opposite side of left”, but also “correct.” To be saved, for example, we must find ourselves on the right hand of God (note the usage of both meanings.)
Then we have the word “ambidextrous” which is from Latin ambi- on both sides and Latin dexter, right-handed. Thus, to be ambidextrous means to have two right hands.
Focusing on Latin dexter, we derive “dexterous”, which means skillful or adroit. Left-handed people aren’t so handy.
First, in French, left is “gauche”, which means “the opposite side of right” as well as lacking social polish or tactless or awkward. What about Latin? Well, left in Latin is sinister (with all the English word’s connotations) and means “on the left” as well as unlucky. Hence, in English, to describe as gauche means to attribute backwardness to something.
Famous left-handers include:
Benjamin Franklin
Lewis Carroll
Michelangelo
M.C. Escher
Albert Einstein
Bill Gates