#1197 Sinister Gauche

Right after Lindsey Vonn won her first gold medal in the Winter Olympics I read an interesting news item that said, “Lindsey Vonn shrugged off a shin injury to deliver the gold...”
She shrugged off a shin injury? She must be really flexible.
But that got me thinking about body parts and how, unconsciously and linguistically, most cultures are against left-handed people. And how the leftists have burned it deep into our language.
One thing that set me off in this direction was when a friend was trying to remember what the French called the Left Bank. I said I thought it was Rive Gauche. Funny, that happened to be the right answer.
Unfortunately, Gauche also means other things. It means awkward or awry, as well as left. Gauche came from “gaucher” which means to tramp, reel, or walk clumsily. Thanks Frenchies.
And worse, according to the etymology dictionary, the English word “left” derives from the Old English and Germanic roots “loof,” meaning weak. “loof” derives from the word “lyft” which means weak, foolish, lameness, or paralysis.
Okay, I get it, when right-handed people have a stroke, the semi-paralyzed ones have to use their left hand, often badly. But really, what about us born lefties? We’re hardly stumbling around with one side in a permanent state of clumsy.
The bad meanings go all the way back to the Latins, who handed us this bias. Their word for “Right” was “Dexter,” from which we get the words dexterous and dexterity. But for “Left” it was “Sinister,” from which we get the word sinister, as in evil. Thank you Romans.
Funny, I believe Nero actually played the violin right-handed...
The English picked up on this too. In Heraldry, when they do those coats of arms deals, the indication “bend sinister” means illegitimacy.
So lefties aren’t just evil. They’re evil bastards.
You have to go even further back to the Greeks to get some relief. Their word for left is “aristeros,” which means “the better one,”
On the other hand, the dexterous Romans conquered them. And stole all their gods.
One of which, the Greek Atlas, shrugged...with both shoulders.
America, ya gotta love it.