My Sinister Grandpa

When I was learnin' the fine art of penmanship as a child, I distinctly remember having an odd conversation with my grandfather.

You see, I was learning the then-challenging concept of how to hold a pencil (resting on my middle finger, supported by the web between thumb and forefinger) in my right hand -- of course. I noticed that my grandpa held a pencil quit similar to the way you would hold a knife if you were about to kill an ex-lover. This stabbing-style of holding a writing utensil did not in turn produce quality handwriting -- instead, his penmanship was on par with that of Michael J. Fox during one of his "spells".

Grandpa explained that he was born left-handed, but it was drilled out of him in elementary school. The teacher would swat him when he tried to write southpaw-style. The reason for this was two-fold. Firstly, back then they only manufactured desks for right-handed people. It was mostly a right-handed world, so the teacher believed that being left-handed would severely set Grandpa back.

Secondly, even in the early twentieth century, it was still believed that left-handed was on par with being evil. In the bible the sinners are always on the left hand of God, whereas good 'ole Jesus sat on his right hand.

But where does this come from? In Latin, the word for left is 'sinistral'... which is where we get the word 'sinister' from. Poor Grandpa was a victim of short-sighted etymology.

It's not just in the English language where right means both the opposite of left and correct. In German "recht" carries the same double-edged sword of meaning. The same goes for French, Slavic languages, and many other tongues.

Things are no-doubt better now for lefties. Sure, they more or less have the same rights -- err, I mean privileges as right-handed folk. But I can't help but wonder: How many lefties have been denied equality over the centuries?