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When Left is Right

How many of you reading this are left-handed?

Since this article is aimed at creatives, I’m guessing that the figure may be as high as 30%. Various studies put the number of left-handed people at between 10 and 14% of the population, but research suggests that a disproportionate amount of them work in the creative industries. As a left-handed writer my interest was piqued and I felt compelled to do a little research into the subject. Be prepared for a sinister tale!

To be left-handed simply means to show a preference for using the left hand over the right; it is also possible to be left-footed and even left-eyed (as a quick test, with both eyes open, line-up the tip of a finger, at arm’s length, with a distant object. Now close each eye in turn. The eye that results in the object remaining aligned to the finger is dominant). Interestingly, it actually means that the right hemisphere of the brain is dominant.

Throughout history we lefties have had a pretty bad press; for example we have long suffered linguistic prejudice: the Latin for left is sinister (the Latin for right is dexter, so to be ambidextrous actually means to be right-handed on both sides). When the word moved into French it acquired its modern meaning of sinister (as in ominous) whilst the word for left became gauche which can also mean uncultured or awkward. In Hebrew, a right-handed person is referred to as yemani, whilst a left-handed person is eetair yad yemino or not right-handed. In Irish the word for left-handed is ciotach, which also means ‘a strange person’ and in Welsh it is chwith, again meaning strange. The divergence continued as right came to mean good, thus the Dutch word for right (hand side), recht, also means straight or privilege while link or left also means stupid or awkward. In most Slavic languages the root prav means not only right but also correct. It is of some comfort that the Greek word for left, aristera, is the root of the modern word aristocracy.

In fact this provides an interesting link to the origin of the concept of left and right wing politics; apparently this stems from the pre-revolutionary French parliament where the pro-monarchy nobility sat on the right of the king whilst the subversive capitalists (how times change!) sat on his left. Thus ‘right-wing politics’ became that of the establishment and ‘left-wing politics’ that of those seeking change. Of course, by this definition, any party that is not in power is left-wing and any that is in power automatically becomes right-wing – a situation that is plainly evident to this day.

So deep rooted is this right-handed bias that many diverse societies have interpreted left-handedness as related to evil. In Renaissance art it can be seen that the vast majority of ‘good’ characters (nobility, saints, etc) are represented as being right-handed, whilst the ‘bad’ (devils, etc) are left-handed. The most noticeable exception to this is in the work of Leonardo da Vinci who, it is believed, was himself left-handed. In some parts of Africa left-handed children had their left hand deliberately mutilated to prevent them using it, whilst in Inuit society left-handed people were considered to be sorcerers.

Intolerance of left-handed people crystallised in Roman society; the handshake appears to have originated in ancient Rome as a way of ensuring that neither party was holding a weapon hidden in their toga (incidentally, togas had only one pocket, on the left-hand side, called a sinus – the original root of sinister), whilst left-handed legionaries were forced to hold a sword in their right-hand because the Roman army relied on conformity of action to devastate their more individualistic adversaries.

It seems that, historically, prejudice against the left-handed has been based on this lack of conformity – in Maoist China being left-handed was considered a subversive act. And before we think that we are beyond such things, it is worth considering the fact that whilst up to 14% of 15-24 year olds in England are left-handed, only 3% of 55-64 year olds are – the clear inference being that those of the older group were actively discouraged from using their left-hand. Indeed, the 2004 report ‘Inclusive Design in Practice: Developing a New British Standard’ (http://www.designfor21st.org/proceedings/proceedings/project_hhrc_coleman_bs.html) still lists the left-handed as a potentially excluded group.

Happily, left-handedness is now also linked to creativity. There is strong scientific evidence to show that left-handed children are more adept at overcoming obstacles and creating solutions – and, ironically, this is very probably because they are born into a world designed for the right-handed. The left-handed child learns from birth to fight against the tide and to deal with being ‘different’ and, in fact, it is perhaps this same impetus that separates the creative from the mainstream – a difference in outlook where non-conformity is accepted and difference is embraced as an opportunity to learn and a stimulus to create. In fact, creativity itself is a subversive act – an attempt to change the status quo.

Perhaps, when it comes to creativity, left is really right.

About the author: Dara O'Brien runs Better Start Here, a one-stop shop for all your business writing needs including copywriting, editing, web copy, proofreading and brand design.

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