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| Monroe leaning left... (Public Domain) |
What do Marilyn Monroe and Anglina Jolie have in common?
Nope, not that.
Nor that.
It turns out that they’re both left-handed. In other words, they’re in that minority (approximately 10 percent) of people
with left-hand dominance.
Although it didn’t
seem to do either one of them much harm, there are those who would argue the point.
Culturally, left-
handed people have been discriminated against for centuries.
Wikipedia explains that long before toilet tissue was prevalent, the left hand was what people cleansed with. The favored right hand was reserved for eating and social interactions.
The left hand was therefore looked upon as “unclean.” It is not surprising that religious literature also reflected this bias.
For example, in Matthew’s Gospel the chosen sheep are sent to the right, and the rejected goats to the left. In Bible-based artwork, Satan is often depicted as being left-handed.
The English word “sinister” (meaning “evil”) originated with the Latin word “sinister” (meaning “left side”). The English word “right” (meaning “correct”) is rooted in the notion that the right side is the more upstanding (“righteous”) one.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_against_left-handed_people
Copyright January 1, 2014 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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