HISTORY'S BIAS

There are all sorts of bias in the world. Being lefthanded is probably one of the more subtle. Anyone who has noticed a lefthanded person probably knows that it really doesn't change anything but for superstitious people in earlier times lefthanded people were something different altogether.

Choose a topic of interest:

General bias

European

Middle Eastern

Asian & Australian

American

• The back side of fabric is considered the left side of the cloth.



• In 1900 2% of the population wrote lefthanded now that figure is around 12% due to parents and teacher allowing children to decide naturally.



• Household appliances are built with righthanders in mind. Power cords are placed away from right handed users not lefthanders.



• A left-handed compliment usually means a flattering but untrue statement



• A left-handed friendship is another way to say someone betrayed you.



• A lefthanded honeymoon is a adulterous liasion.



• If you see only with the left eye than you are seeing only what you want to see.



• An old superstition goes that if your big toe of your left foot itches then death is near.



• The left side of the body was once considered weaker and more evil, wearing a wedding ring on the left hand offers protection against temptation.



• Tarot cards have the Devil holding a sword in his left hand. The Devil is also someone who is known to baptize his followers with his left hand




• "SUBJECTS SHOULD NOT EAT WITH THEIR LEFT HANDS": Publisher Harcourt/Steck-Vaughn prepares students for life in a diverse democracy?
  
  June 13, 2003
  
  Word's gotten out that Harcourt/Steck-Vaughn forbids its textbook illustrators to draw or photograph left-handers (to appease the Muslim community, perhaps: Muslims traditionally abhor use of the left hand for anything but the less-savory acts of personal hygiene).
  
  The company denies this, and has responded to concerned inquirers as follows:
  
  "... We at Harcourt are sensitive to depicting all children in a positive light. We strongly feel that children need to see themselves in our publications. Therefore, we do not prohibit photographs depicting left-handed students. Thank you for your inquiry and for verifying our position. Nancy Mote, Product Manager"
  
  However ... Item #30 of Harcourt/Steck-Vaughn's official "guidelines" for illustrators (clipping attached) DOES forbid, in no uncertain terms, depiction of left-hand use for at least 1 action (eating). It specifically states (as you'll see in the attachment) that "subjects [of illustrations] should_not_eat with their left hands." (The original underlines "not.")
  
  
  
  It seems that (contrary to early reports) the firm actually doesn't explicitly ban left-handed writing (as researcher and lefty Diane Ravitch realized on more thoroughly examining the issue). Whether writing or eating, though, H/S-V's edict against allowing the "subjects" to do something left-handed contradicts their publicly presented claim that they allow students to "see themselves" in their books by depicting left-handed (as well as right-handed) children.





EUROPEAN




• In Denmark an old word for being left handed is 'kejthåndet' being 'kejtet' means you are very clumsy, or handicapped, 'hånd' is 'hand' so basically is means 'clumsy/handicapped handed'.



• In Europe, even up in the 20th century, some teachers still thought of lefthanded people as being handicapped, and forced them to write with their right hand. They gave then a piece of silver paper in their left hand, so that if they switched, the teacher would be able to hear it.



• Traditional English weddings have the bride on the left side of the groom which seems to come from the Bible where Eve was created from Adam's left rib. Some people believe because the rib was taken from the left side and Eve ate the forbidden fruit against the will of God a woman is considered evil or a symbol of sin.



• In ninetheenth century England left-handed safe crackers were considered the best among theives but they were also considered unlucky and more likely to get the theives caught.



• In Ireland there is a saying "the left hand of a dead man dipped in a milk pail causes cream."



• The Spanish has a saying "No sea zurdo" (Don't be left-handed) which has a deeper meaning of "Don't be stupid."



• In France 'passant l'utile a la gauche' (passing the weapon to the left) means to die. The French word gauche means clumsy, socially inept or incorrect which probably comes from the bad kings that were left handed.



• Manicini, an Italian surname and word for left whose connotation is maimed or crooked.



• Roman togas have pockets on the left side so the right hand was free to salute, shake hands or to show if a person is armed. When Julius Ceasar (a lefthander) was killed in the Senate the conspirators carried their daggers in those left handed pockets hence the superstition that if something is carried in the lefthand pocket it is considered to be use for an underhanded and sneaky.



• In the Middle Ages anything opposite the sun's motion in the sky (clockwise) is considered pertaining to witches and evil.



• Illegitimate sons of knights had a different coat of arms with the slash called a band sinister from left to right.



• An acccount of a French author in a book about witches said that two men confessed to using their lefthands to touch animals and the animals would die. This was considerd proof the two men were witches.



• Plato believed that the side a baby nursed on consistently decided hand preference.



• A "lefthanded whore" is a Roman term for masturbation in the 4th century.



• The Latin word for left is sinister but the conotation has come to mean corrupt, harmful, menacing or foreboding.




• In the sport of Polo you are only allowed to hit the ball on your rightside using your righthand.




MIDDLE EAST




• In the Moslem religion when you die you are given a book of your life if it is placed in your left hand you are damned.



• The Ayatollah Khomeini once claimed that the Shah of Iran was cursed. Apparently the Shah's son was left-handed.





ASIA & AUSTRALIAN




• In Japan, being moved to the left means you've been demoted.



• If a wife was found to be lefthanded that was grounds for divorce in ancient Japan.



• In a study of the Maori people in New Zealand, the left hand side was considered the female side which signified all evils, misery and death.



• The swastika is an Indian good luck symbol which had the hooks facing left to right. When Nazi Germany adopted the symbol the hooks were reversed and both versions are now considered evil and sinister.



• Australians have an interesting name for lefthanders: mollydookers. Literal meaning is girly-fisted which I take to mean a sissy. A loose translation (according to Andrew Rolfe) is "Ladies Fist".





AMERICAN




• Early Native Americans mothers would tie their babies left arms to make them righthanded.



• A lucky rabbit's foot is said to come from the left hind foot.