Interesting article in the Oxford Dictionaries Blog on terms for left-handers:
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Sinister
Used to refer to something of, on, or towards the left-hand side of the body (and is Latin for left). It also gave rise to the rather uncomplimentary adjective sinistrous: left-handed, slow.
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Mollydooker
1940s Australian slang term for someone left-handed. Molly being a pet form of Mary, Dooker most likely comes from duke, a slang term for fists (especially raised for fighting).
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Katy-handed and Kay-nieved
From the English counties Cheshire and Lancashire, kay-nieved comes from the Danish keite, ‘left’, and the early Scandinavian nieve (a clenched hand or fist; the hand used to grip a sword or an oar).
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Southpaw
In baseball, a southpaw is a left-handed pitcher. This comes from the orientation of the diamond to the same points of the compass, causing the pitcher to have his left hand on the south side of his body. Also used for a left-handed boxer who leads with their right hand.
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Goofy footed
Surfing with your right foot forward instead of your left (also skateboarding).
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Cuddy wifter
From the North East of England, origin unknown. (also used in the East End of London and was allocated to LHC organiser Keith as his golf tour nickname!).
See the full article here:
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/08/what-katy-wrote-terms-for-left-handed-people-on-left-handers-day/
See our full article on Left Handed Language
I’ve been called cack handed all my life I’m a Bristol boy now 57. Cheers.
Me too: I’m 77.
In the UK ‘crack-handed’ is often used, derived from the assumption that the arse is wiped with the left hand.
Sorry, the word is ‘cack’ not ‘crack’, which is literally something else….
Interesting!
I want to discover a physician who specializes in the treatment of chronic tendonitis that some lefties (I’m one of them) experience because of how they position their arms to handwrite, that is, curling or hooking their left forearms and hands so they can see the words they are writing as they push their pens or pencils across the page. Perhaps my crab-claw style of writing is the result of years of writing on classroom desks designed for right-handers; their entire right arms were supported on standard desktops, whereas, we lefties had virtually no arm support on standard desks. Rarely could I find a left-handed desk, in high school or college. It’s true: Even in 2023, we lefties continually have to adjust to a right-handed world.
When I was in college, I would use two side-by-side seats in a lecture hall — one for sitting, on the right, and one for writing, on the left. I figured if they couldn’t provide left-handed seats I would make my own. We are right-brained, which is the creative side, so it made perfect sense to me.
When I was in 2nd grade, my teacher insisted that we all turn our papers to the left during penmanship lessons, which would have forced me to curl my left hand in an awkward position and write upside down, while dragging my hand and the sleeve of my shirt through the ink of previously written lines, making a mess of my writing, my hand and my shirt. My 7-year-old brain thought that was nuts and I stubbornly defied my teacher. I thought it worked better to turn my paper to the right, which made it possible for me to write easily in a comfortable position and to produce clean, easy to read writing. My teacher was not happy with me, but she allowed me to proceed, possibly because she couldn’t figure out how to deal with such a stubborn child. When report cards were issued, I got the highest mark for penmanship but the lowest mark for “follows directions.” I think what the teacher really wanted was for me to be right-handed. My brain doesn’t work that way, and I am grateful that my parents never tried to change me.
I often did the same thing here in the U.S. I taught middle schoolers for 25 years and the desk problem still exists.
See I always saw other lefties clawing accross the page and was baffled why they didnt just do what I did and turn the paper sideways – sure it raises some eyebrows as sometimes my paper is nearly upside down but my wrist thanks me
Being a Lefty — particularly in handwriting and fine motor- control tasks — has caused me to be partly ambidextrous, which spares me from the problems that plague some Lefties who have great difficulty in learning to do some things right-handed. I am a drummer, so my moderate degree of ambidexterity improves my technique. Like my fellow drummer left-handed Ringo Starr, I play a standard kit, i.e., one designed for right-handed drummers. Ringo jokingly calls this method of playing “left-handed right-hand drumming”. But hey, man, he and I (and a small number of our fellow lefty drummers) are proof that this way of playing can be accomplished.
I’m cross-lateral: left-handed and right eyed. I’m also (probably as a result of this) clumsy. I’m big (6’4”) which means I’m quite likely to knock things over.
Over the years I’ve developed some creeping-round techniques, but find I can’t use a standard wine glass withou knocking it over.
But I’ve broken lots of things….
And I’m a sax player…
I am a left handed
Great
I am left hand
Goofy footed…also Snowboarding…really any type of boarding that uses these terms.