Begin forwarded message:
From: "Panza, Robin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon Nov 10, 2003 09:46:18 US/Eastern To: "'Tamara P. Duvall'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: Right? Left? Accident prone (VERY LONG AGAIN)
There *is* such a thing as being a klutz. Some people are. But there are
some beautifully illustrative examples of how lefties get labelled klutz in
"The Left-Hander Syndrome" by Stanley Coren.
a) He (a rightie) was at extended-family dinner as a child, crowded in
just to the left of the extended-family's only southpaw. They bumped elbows
and the cousin spilled his soup.
"His sister Eleanor immediately barked, 'Stephen, you are so clumsy.
You are always doing things like that!'
"Merely amazed, I asked, 'Why did you do that? Why didn't you use
your *regular* hand?'
"Two things were happening at that moment in my life. First, I was
learning that some people had a different "regular" hand, and it wasn't
their right hand. Second, I was being exposed to my first bit of negative
propaganda about left-handers as my Aunt Sylvia buzzed around trying to
clean Steve up, while muttering, 'Stephen, you really have to be more
careful. You certainly are the sloppiest child I've ever seen.'
"From across the table my Aunt Frieda advised, 'You really ought to
teach him to eat with his right hand. He is intelligent enough to do that,
isn't he?'
"The conversation continued for a while, as the family discussed
whether Steve was simply an uncoordinated and awkward child, whether he was
using his laft-handedness as a means of 'getting attention,' or whether he
was simply being stubborn and intractable by not using his right hand."
Nobody suggested the author was even partly to blame--it was all the
cousin's fault because he was such a clumsy, sloppy kid. The kid's labelled
a klutz from the start, and each incident, whether his fault in part or at
all, adds to the reputation of being a klutz. Similar incidents between
righthanders aren't noticed or are accepted as being part of life, but
everyone notices *and remembers* the mistakes of somebody labelled
mistake-prone.
b) The same book talks about former-President Gerald Ford and his
reputation for clumsiness. That was all the rage in the news media. But
Coren points out that the man had been an excellent athelete and was still
in fine physical condition when in office. However, presidential protocol
is designed for right-handers, and he was (the first, I think) leftie. The
placement of Secret Service agents and support staff, the placement of
visiting dignitaries for photo-ops, and so forth, is appropriate to
righthanders' tendency to turn clockwise [there--we're back to that!
lefties are much less biased to turning clockwise, according to Coren].
Ford kept turning the wrong way, getting tangled in his support staff and
bumping into people. Coren believes this alone cost him the Presidency next
election! He was seen as "clumsy," which people associate with "stupid,"
and became "unworthy of respect." Reagan's (our next left-handed President)
staff learned from Ford's troubles, and were carefully schooled in how to
behave left-handedly in his presence.
Coren maintains that lefties aren't more clumsy, they're just coping with a
badly-designed (i.e., designed for righties) world. Tools are right-handed,
office equipment is right-handed, floor plans are right-handed, standardized
behavior is right-handed. This is all wrong-handed for a southpaw. So many
things that don't even have any reason to be handed become so by decoration.
My parents' good silver has right-handed butter knives. Butter knives don't
have to be handed, but theirs have a curve to the handle that makes them
work badly in the left hand. I was given a sheath knife, again not a handed
tool, but there were lumps on the handle that fit between the fingers of a
right hand but stabbed into my left palm. Even knife blades are handed!
They don't come to a symmetrical edge, but one side is flat and the other
side beveled. For a rightie, this helps keept the blade against the meat
(or whatever), guiding the blade through. For a leftie, this guides the
blade away from the meat, making wedge-shaped pieces and prematurely ending
the cut. That's why southpaws have trouble slicing. Many computer mice are
so molded to the right hand that they're very difficult to use with the
left, and some companies *do not* make left-handed ones. Generally, any
modification that makes something more efficient for a right-hander makes it
more difficult for a left-hander, and so we are seen as klutzes. We can't
slice bread or butter it, we can't use a computer, we can't do anything
"right"! And it's not a coincidence that the opposite of "wrong" and the
opposite of "left" are the same word. Those are not synonyms, they're the
same word!
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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