Thursday, February 21, 2013
And on My "Left"...
My son David has a blog in which he posts sporadically; I was just admiring again an entry about his (and others') difficulties in being left-handed.
And it's true that left-handedness is not an honored state within language itself.
From the French, we have "gauche" and "adroit," the former meaning both "left" and socially inept or graceless, the latter to be literally "to the right," and "therefore" to show "skill, cleverness, or resourcefulness."
Would you believe "left" itself comes from Old English lyft-, "weak, useless," and "right" from Old English riht, "just, correct, straight."
I hesitate to mention the Latin-sourced "dexterous" from dexter, "on the right side" and "sinister" (same in Latin), "on the left side," the positives and negatives being quite clear.
Empathize further, and interestingly, with David here.
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Really, my dear David is a leftie? Would you believe, Don, that I am also a leftie. Well, a left-handed person! As a youngster, Montessor seemed challenged by my "handicap". Left handed scissors, desks for righties, and everything backwards. Arrgh. Being a leftie was the bane of my existence.
ReplyDeleteThen came my mother's encouragements (I think that's what they were) of lefties being artistic, complex, creative, etc. In high school, I was told that as a leftie, Geometry would come to me with ease. I received a high mark of "D" like David! I guess God passed over me when it came to the ease of Geometry.
I still am challenged by the right handed world. But, I have adapted. When handed documents to sign, I turn the document to an odd angle to create a perfect signature, all the while the other person stares...what the hell is she doing? I've hardly considered myself useless or weak, as the english definition might suggest.
HOWEVER, as a right minded, right thinking, hard core RIGHT REPUBLICAN, I enjoy my left-handedness, as well as my LEFT friends! Hugs to David!!!!!