Sayings where the word "left" does not fit

Might is left-handed Wait for Mr Left to come along The divine left of Kings
His heart is in the left place He's not in his left mind It will all come left in the end
Sayings where the word "right" does not fit
Right in the lurch He was right at the post The right luggage office
Nothing but cold right-overs A right-handed compliment A man with two right feet


Positive references to left-handed
"Out of left field" (a baseball expression?) means unexpected and often novel, but it isn't definitely positive

"The only positive use of "left" I know of is that "aristocrat" has the Greek word for "left" in its root, but then Greece was the birthplace of democracy – they may not have meant "aristocrat" to be complimentary either."

Unfortunately, even this 'positive' is flawed: -

"Aristocrat is from aristo- meaning "best" and krat- meaning "rule". Aristeros does mean left, but it's not the root here."

More on this from Catherine at UCLA...

I was intrigued by your claim in this month's LHC Newsletter that "aristocracy" has a root meaning "left", but I am not sure you are right. "Aristos" means "best" (the superlative of "agathos" meaning "good") and "kratia" is "rule, mastery", and I think you may have confused "aristos" with "aristeros", which means "left"; but, interestingly, "aristeros" is a euphemism (the Greeks were fond of these—thus the Furies were called "the kindly ones", "Eumenides"). Since something on the left (e.g. a portent) was unlucky (!), one didn't refer to it as such, but as "aristeros"—that is, using a fake comparative of "aristos": roughly, "bester". "Euônumos" meaning "of good name, honoured, fortunate" was also used. So I'm afraid the ancient Greeks were as leftist as everyone else seems to be.

Have you heard anything about the Russian writer Leskov and his The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea? You can find some information in English following this wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levsha

What I can add to this is that Leskov was a lefty himself. In that time when he wrote his story about the Levsha (Lefty) the word "levsha" (Rus. left-handed, lefty) was used in reference to a bad, unskillful and poor craftsman and one of the implications of the tale was that even a bad Russian craftsman was better that an English one.

But, lefty Leskov played some kind of a trick with the word "levsha" because very soon after the tale had been published and read, the word "levsha" changed its meaning absolutely radically!!!! Ever since then, it has meant a skillful, artful, experienced, trustful craftsman. Nowadays a lot of workshops are called Levsha (Lefty) to attract more customers/clients because it means that very professional guys work there! :)
So, at least we have some positive meaning of the word "lefty" thanks to Nikolai Leskov.

Left-Handed

Left-Handed Language

A lot of language around the world and throughout history has been very detrimental to left-handers, whether it is the names we are called or the words that are used to mean "left-handed".

Left Handers do not do any better in foreign languages, as we show below. This is mainly based on personal communications from people who live in the countries concered and we cannot guarantee it is correct! If you have any more examples or any comments or corrections

Language	Words for "Left-Handed"	Meanings
Australia	Mollie Dooker	Something to do with having fists like a girl
Belarus	Liewsha	Meaning:Sneaky or Mistrustful
Bulgarian		In Bulgarian we have three words describing a left-handed person - Левичар (Levichar), Левогер (Levoger) and Левак (Levak). The last one is considered very offensive. We also have a term called лефтерен (lefteren), which describes something that's not working properly or isn't strong enough. As you can see, the word is derived from English left.
Chinese		In Chinese, the word left is sometimes associated with the "dark side". There is a phrase that associated the evil with the word left "Zuo". IF I am not wrong, in Cantonese, the word left also means hindering. But this will require the native Cantonese speaking people to verify.
Danish	Venstre-håndet Kejthåndet Avethåndet	neutral, "using the left hand" to be "kejtet" means to be clumsy, awkward (dialect): "avet" means clumsy, wrong
Dutch	Linkshandig	Lefthanded Another meaning of the dutch word "Links" but only in the dialect "Brabants" (from Noord-Brabant, a province of the Netherlands) is "inside-out", especially used for clothing. Like in: "Je hebt je shirt links aan" (you are wearing your T-shirt inside-out)
Finnish	Vasenkätinen Vasuri	Left-handed "Lefty"
French	Gauche	Awkward, clumsy
German	Links, Linkisch	Awkward
Greek	Skaios	Ill-omened, awkward Comment received - there's no word like that in greek... the word is aristeros, coming from aristos, meaning someone who succeeds.
Hindi	Ulta Haanth	The left hand in Hindi is called "Ulta Haanth", which literally translates to the opposite, wrong, bad hand. So much has this permeated that most lefties don't realise what they're saying, and wind up using the phrase themselves
Hungarian		Hungarian language is quite straightforward: Right - "Jobb" (also a synonym for better) comes from the word "Jo" which means good Left - "Bal" (also a synonym for bad, or used grammatically negative meaning to positive word, for example: Balszerencse - "Left" Luck = disaster Baleset - "Left" event = accident etc....you get the point
Indonesia	Kidal	means lefty. It is interesting cause in my culture, kidal or lefty also means impolite
Irish	Ciotóg Citog Cloot	In the Gaelic language, pronounced 'kitt-ogue' (as in 'rogue'). Also means "the strange one". The term is also used by Irish people speaking in English - it would be frequently used in sports commentary and there is a a tv production company called Ciotog Films. Left or Stupid is the Irish name for left handers, especially completely left handed people. It's slightly negative, meaning awkward...I cant work with you. some of my Irish relatives call me caggy mufty [not sure about the spelling!]. 'Citeog’ is the Irish expression for a leftie. Nobody knows where it first started but its generally an endearing term and not at all offensive ciotógach = Gaelic (Irish) for left-handed
Italian	Mancini	Crooked, maimed Italian for left side is "sinistra"; a like term for sinister.
Japanese		I've been learning Japanese; the Japanese for left-handed is "hidari kiki" which as far as I can gather has no negative connotations. Hidari-kiki has no negative connotations, and 'southpaw', from the American Baseball term is also often used. An obsolete term, 'gitcho' is no longer used, on the assumption that it was derogatory since there was no equivalent term for right-handed. However, the possible origin of the term itself shows no particular bias - the word 'gitcho' is the name of the stick used in a Heian era stick and ball game, and 'hidari-gitcho' is simply the word used for hitting the ball with the stick in the left hand.
Korean	Oen	right - Oreun(in Korean). It means right, correct (it is like English 'right'). Also, Oreunson(right hand) is often replaced 'Bareunson', its mean is perpectly same 'right'. It is very interesting. left - oen(it sounds like 'when') It means 'wrong', 'bad' in old Korean. It is used in Korean proberb sometimes
Latin	Sinister Dexter	On the left-hand side On the right hand side (dextrous)
Malaysia		In Malaysia, our local language Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language) term left-handedness as Kidal. ("ki" as in KEY and "dal" as in "DAHL" like Roald Dahl)
Mexico	Chueco	Literally, "chueco" means twisted or non-straight.
Northern Ireland		I'm from a small town in Northern Ireland where a lot of our dialect is Ulster-Scotch. Every time I went to write, or do anything with my left hand I was called "KITTER FISTED" or "AWKWARD ANNIE"! In fact, I'm only 29 but went to seconday school with a lefty who had the 'devil beat out of him'and was forced to use his right hand. Oh the ignorance of it all....!!
Norwegian	Kjevhendt	Crooked-handed (also advised to us as keivhent, left-hander) In Norwegian it's more common (and correct)to say "venstrehendt" instead of keivhendt (kjevhendt) "Venstrehendt" simply means left handed as opposed to "høyrehendt" which means "righthanded".
Philippines	Kaliwete	Unfortunately, it also has another negative meaning like the other languages. When someone is a "kaliwete," or mentioned to be "nangangaliwete" (present tense verb form), it can mean that a person is a two-timer or is being unfaithful.
Polish		In polish language lefthanded mean leworęczny( correct) also people use words as: mańkut, śmaja, lewus.Last pharses are offensive for lefthanders. Leworeczcy or mankut in Polish,Meaning:illegal
Portuguese	canhoto	Portuguese "canhoto" meaning; lacking ability or physical co-ordination; clumsy; badly done or made "Canhoto" is a popular name for the Devil here in Portugal and there are many superstitions and even popular festivities in which Canhoto appears as the Devil himself, in rituals such as "queimar o Canhoto" ("burning the Canhoto"), in some regions, a kind of Halloween. Also, when speaking of a potentially terrible event or a bad omen it is a Portuguese traditional gesture to knock three times on wood with the right hand and say "Diabo sejas cego, surdo e mudo! Lagarto, lagarto, lagarto sejas canhoto!" which translates roughly into "Devil be blind, deaf and mute! Lizard, lizard, lizard be left-handed!". This is probably so because by cursing the Devil to be left-handed it will prevent him from doing harm so efficiently, as is a popular misconception to believe left-handed to be awkward and clumsy. There is also another popular saying - "Figas Canhoto!" (usually accompanied by the gesture of hooking the right forefinger over the (right) thumb which is traditionally used to ward off evil, jinxes, the Devil), "Figas" being the plural name of said gesture and Canhoto the Devil himself. In Portugal we also have the word "Esquerdino" which indicates "someone who habitually uses the left hand", which is better accepted because "canhoto" is a derogatory definition, but is best used on a daily basis.
Romanian	Stângaci	which means "left-hander" as well as "unskillful"
Russian		in russian LEVSHA.it is meaning not trustworthy.in Ortodoxy church left side is a women`s side In Russia classmates often say about lefthanders: "Левша-кривая душа".It means, lefthander has a wry soul ;) Liefshá,liewshá and lifshá are lefties in Russian and meaning:not trustworthy and sneaky.The variant:na lievo,meaning:sneaky
Scotland		I'm Scottish and up here left handed people are called corrie-fisted. It comes from the Gaelic cearr meaning left, or wrong hand. There are also some local dialect versions, such as caurrie-haundit and corrie dukit.
Serbian		In Serbian we both write and read it the same-LEVORUK if it's a male or LEVORUKA if it's female.And that literaly means LEFT HAND!
Spanish	Zurdo Siniestro Chueco	Reverse - No Ser Zurdo = Clever. Not usually used in an insulting way. In Argentina, the "zurdos" are seen as quite intelligent people In spanish right handers are called "diestro" (which means= able), and siniestro means creapy, freak Twisted
Swahili		left is kushoto, or weak
Swedish	vänsterhänt	left-handed. According to my etymological dictionary the word "vänster" ("left") originally meant "the favourable [side]", and is related to the word "vän" ("friend"). So, maybe you should add a list of languages where the word "left" actually is a positive one! :-)
Turkish	Solak	Left handed, also means Obstinate person (or animal), Clumsy, Out of balance, Not functional
Ukrainian	Lifshá	Meaning:Sneaky or Mistrustful
Wales		When I was young in Wales I was often referred to as being "llaw bwt" i.e. stump handed. Not very flattering, but as I didn't speak Welsh at the time it didn't really mean anything to me! Also the Welsh for LEFT is CHWITH, and if something is O'I CHWITH it is wrong, or out of place