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LEFT-HANDED LANGUAGE
Left-handers have been linguistically abused for centuries! There are
hundreds of (mainly abusive) terms for left-handers.
There are a lot of
sayings where "right" is good and "left" is bad e.g., "being in your right
mind", "the divine right of kings", it will be all right in the end" as
against being "left out", having "two left-feet", "a left-handed
compliment" (one that is not really meant!). |
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Even
the word for "left-handed" in many languages is very negative:
| LANGUAGE
|
TRANSLATION FOR
LEFT-HANDED |
MEANING
|
| Greek
|
Skaios
|
Ill-omened, awkward |
| Italian
|
Mancini
|
Crooked,
maimed |
| Spanish
|
Zurdo
|
Reverse
- No Ser Zurdo = Clever |
| French
|
Gauche
|
Awkward,
clumsy |
| Dutch |
Linkshandig |
To "have two
left hands" means to be clumsy. |
| German
|
Links,
Linkisch |
Awkward
|
| Norwegian |
Kjevhendt |
Crooked-handed (also
advised to us as keivhent, left-hander) |
| Swedish |
vänsterhänd
|
|
| Australia |
Mollie Dooker |
Something to do with
having fists like a girl |
| Portuguese |
canhoto |
|
| Latin
|
Sinister
Dexter |
On the
left-hand side
On the right hand side (dextrous) |
Being Left-Handed |
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