<![CDATA[Comments on: The Left-handed Child]]> 2010-01-25 18:00:00 <![CDATA[By: zhenlijiang]]> 嗨嗨，你们差点忘掉了吗，印度人也是外国朋友吧。在‘左撇子’这个话题上来说，他们的社会肯定比中国的严重得多，对吧。

那我国日本呢？以前（到30年左右以前为止，我觉得。说实话，因为我从幼儿园到高中一直上国际学校，我不是亲眼看到过日本的学校怎样做），像中国一样，用左手的小朋友总是被逼改过来的。现在，能看到更多用左手的人。现在不算是稀罕的事。

啊，时间没有了。我还没说完这个话题哦。一会儿再见！

(rough translation)

Hey you guys aren't forgetting are you--? Our friends in India are "外国朋友" too! This left-handedness issue is surely much graver in their society than in China.

As for my country, Japan--in the past (which I would say is up to around 30 years ago. Actually, having attended international school from kindergarten through high school I don't have first-hand knowledge as to how exactly Japanese schools were dealing with this), like in China, left-handed kids would always be corrected into right-handedness. Today, we see many more lefties. It's no longer a rare sighting.

Oops, out of time now. But I'm not done talking about this yet. More later!

* apologies for my not-to-be-emulated Chinese.

]]> 嗨嗨，你们差点忘掉了吗，印度人也是外国朋友吧。在‘左撇子’这个话题上来说，他们的社会肯定比中国的严重得多，对吧。

那我国日本呢？以前（到30年左右以前为止，我觉得。说实话，因为我从幼儿园到高中一直上国际学校，我不是亲眼看到过日本的学校怎样做），像中国一样，用左手的小朋友总是被逼改过来的。现在，能看到更多用左手的人。现在不算是稀罕的事。

啊，时间没有了。我还没说完这个话题哦。一会儿再见！

(rough translation)

Hey you guys aren't forgetting are you--? Our friends in India are "外国朋友" too! This left-handedness issue is surely much graver in their society than in China.

As for my country, Japan--in the past (which I would say is up to around 30 years ago. Actually, having attended international school from kindergarten through high school I don't have first-hand knowledge as to how exactly Japanese schools were dealing with this), like in China, left-handed kids would always be corrected into right-handedness. Today, we see many more lefties. It's no longer a rare sighting.

Oops, out of time now. But I'm not done talking about this yet. More later!

* apologies for my not-to-be-emulated Chinese.

]]> <![CDATA[By: shanghaichanges]]> I actually read in a text book at school (ages ago) that people in China welcomed lefties and righties. Something about everyone should be treated equally.

Guess that textbook got it totally wrong.

]]> I actually read in a text book at school (ages ago) that people in China welcomed lefties and righties. Something about everyone should be treated equally.

Guess that textbook got it totally wrong.

]]> <![CDATA[By: zhenlijiang]]> "It's no longer a rare sight." I meant.

And I'm sorry, my tone here came off quite a bit more flip than I intended. I should have taken a little more time to write this than be so eager to grab the 沙发 ...

]]> "It's no longer a rare sight." I meant.

And I'm sorry, my tone here came off quite a bit more flip than I intended. I should have taken a little more time to write this than be so eager to grab the 沙发 ...

]]> <![CDATA[By: jennyzhu]]> I think many Chinese secretly envy lefties, because it's special and we think that makes them smarter. 

]]> I think many Chinese secretly envy lefties, because it's special and we think that makes them smarter. 

]]> <![CDATA[By: misterjess]]> My 二哥 is a leftie and it didn't make him any smarter, or more special.

]]> My 二哥 is a leftie and it didn't make him any smarter, or more special.

]]> <![CDATA[By: kanjihanzi]]> Interesting 'politically correct' lesson. No irony :-)

You say that 左撇子 is sort of slang. Doesn't the character 撇 also inherit some of the almost deragatory meanings from the right side component 敝 bì (shabby, worn out)? This seems to be a global prejudice and in at least western societies there was no doubt in the past: lefties were no good. OK now.

敝 + two hands (弊 bì) has almost nothing positive to say: fraud, abuse, malpractice. A really EVIL character! :-) OTH the traditional character 'money' (currency) uses the same component in 幣 (Simplified as 币).OTH'2, isn't 'money' quite frequently an abused entity to ;-)

PS They got it wrong: it's the mirror stroke to 撇 (called?) - i.e the one slooping down to the right in 人，木 etc. - that's the really EVIL one and ought to be tainted with 敝 or worse, impossible to get correct and good-looking.

]]> Interesting 'politically correct' lesson. No irony :-)

You say that 左撇子 is sort of slang. Doesn't the character 撇 also inherit some of the almost deragatory meanings from the right side component 敝 bì (shabby, worn out)? This seems to be a global prejudice and in at least western societies there was no doubt in the past: lefties were no good. OK now.

敝 + two hands (弊 bì) has almost nothing positive to say: fraud, abuse, malpractice. A really EVIL character! :-) OTH the traditional character 'money' (currency) uses the same component in 幣 (Simplified as 币).OTH'2, isn't 'money' quite frequently an abused entity to ;-)

PS They got it wrong: it's the mirror stroke to 撇 (called?) - i.e the one slooping down to the right in 人，木 etc. - that's the really EVIL one and ought to be tainted with 敝 or worse, impossible to get correct and good-looking.

]]> <![CDATA[By: btc10]]> so if 撇/pie3 means down-leftward stoke, then how should we say the downward stroke that goes toward the right side?

]]> so if 撇/pie3 means down-leftward stoke, then how should we say the downward stroke that goes toward the right side?

]]> <![CDATA[By: simonpettersson]]> There are a couple of different names. Zhé (磔), Nà (捺), Pō (波) or even Jīndāo (金刀).

Check out this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Principles_of_Yong

]]> There are a couple of different names. Zhé (磔), Nà (捺), Pō (波) or even Jīndāo (金刀).

Check out this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Principles_of_Yong

]]> <![CDATA[By: kanjihanzi]]> Came to think about it:

sinister Look up sinister at Dictionary.com
1411, "prompted by malice or ill-will," from O.Fr. sinistre "contrary, unfavorable, to the left," from L. sinister "left, on the left side" (opposite of dexter), perhaps from base *sen- and meaning prop. "the slower or weaker hand" (etc. etc.)
]]> Came to think about it:

sinister Look up sinister at Dictionary.com
1411, "prompted by malice or ill-will," from O.Fr. sinistre "contrary, unfavorable, to the left," from L. sinister "left, on the left side" (opposite of dexter), perhaps from base *sen- and meaning prop. "the slower or weaker hand" (etc. etc.)
]]> <![CDATA[By: btc10]]> Hi Simonpetterson,

Thanks a lot!! :)

]]> Hi Simonpetterson,

Thanks a lot!! :)

]]> <![CDATA[By: excuter]]> my mum is/ was a left handed person and in school she had to write with the right hand. Now she can´t write with her left hand but she writes in normal writing speed and without problems so it doesn´t matter. These days you get sissors and all the other stuff for left handed without problems...

My brother doesn´t have any problems because of being left handed and I think in the future people might even never hear that there was a time being left handed caused problems...

]]> my mum is/ was a left handed person and in school she had to write with the right hand. Now she can´t write with her left hand but she writes in normal writing speed and without problems so it doesn´t matter. These days you get sissors and all the other stuff for left handed without problems...

My brother doesn´t have any problems because of being left handed and I think in the future people might even never hear that there was a time being left handed caused problems...

]]> <![CDATA[By: go_manly]]> Just wondering, did your mum go to a christian school?

]]> Just wondering, did your mum go to a christian school?

]]> <![CDATA[By: fulankelin]]> 4 of the 5 current and most recent past U.S. presidents are/were left-handed. The exception was George W. Bush and he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

]]> 4 of the 5 current and most recent past U.S. presidents are/were left-handed. The exception was George W. Bush and he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

]]> <![CDATA[By: BEBC]]>

I was a lefty originally, but was made to write as a right-hander at school. I don't think that this was because of prejudice against lefties, but because we wrote with ink, and a lefty finds it more difficult to write without smudging ink (maybe). Now I am right-handed at everything, except the way I hold a rifle and hold a bow to fire an arrow. Strange. Must be because they never taught me to 'correct' the way I played with toys.

]]>

I was a lefty originally, but was made to write as a right-hander at school. I don't think that this was because of prejudice against lefties, but because we wrote with ink, and a lefty finds it more difficult to write without smudging ink (maybe). Now I am right-handed at everything, except the way I hold a rifle and hold a bow to fire an arrow. Strange. Must be because they never taught me to 'correct' the way I played with toys.

]]> <![CDATA[By: raffael]]> 大家好，我有一个问题:逼和强迫的意思和用法一样吗?

谢谢！

]]> 大家好，我有一个问题:逼和强迫的意思和用法一样吗?

谢谢！

]]> <![CDATA[By: cqwuxioalong]]> 你逼我扁你的哦！

你强迫我扁你的哦！80%一样吧

]]> 你逼我扁你的哦！

你强迫我扁你的哦！80%一样吧

]]> <![CDATA[By: zhenlijiang]]> To elaborate re India, as far as I know you have no option of raising your kids left-handed, that\'s the rule in the society there. If Baby appears to be a natural lefty mom and dad don\'t discuss what to do, they simply correct him to use the right hand. I\'m left-handed. When I met a group of Indian people (in Japan) with whom I would be working and sharing meals for two weeks, I guess within a couple of hours they had noticed I was writing and using chopsticks with the left hand. Nobody said anything though, until finally the following day they could no longer bear it and one of them, obviously very 不好意思 at calling attention to a personal matter and a terrible flaw, had to ask me, \"Are you ... left-handed?\". I said yes. Then, \"Is that ... normal?\" So I explained that many more of us are right-handed, but that it isn\'t particularly rare these days. I felt bad at making them uncomfortable, not that they seemed offended, just not at all used to left-handedness. I did everything I possibly could with my right hand for the following two weeks, esp. accepting objects handed to me, handing objects to them, tasting the sweets and snacks they had brought and wanted to share with me, eating things that didn\'t require use of chopsticks.
Anyway, India is one Asian country in which the society accepts left-handedness far less than most, far less than even China.

]]> To elaborate re India, as far as I know you have no option of raising your kids left-handed, that\'s the rule in the society there. If Baby appears to be a natural lefty mom and dad don\'t discuss what to do, they simply correct him to use the right hand. I\'m left-handed. When I met a group of Indian people (in Japan) with whom I would be working and sharing meals for two weeks, I guess within a couple of hours they had noticed I was writing and using chopsticks with the left hand. Nobody said anything though, until finally the following day they could no longer bear it and one of them, obviously very 不好意思 at calling attention to a personal matter and a terrible flaw, had to ask me, \"Are you ... left-handed?\". I said yes. Then, \"Is that ... normal?\" So I explained that many more of us are right-handed, but that it isn\'t particularly rare these days. I felt bad at making them uncomfortable, not that they seemed offended, just not at all used to left-handedness. I did everything I possibly could with my right hand for the following two weeks, esp. accepting objects handed to me, handing objects to them, tasting the sweets and snacks they had brought and wanted to share with me, eating things that didn\'t require use of chopsticks.
Anyway, India is one Asian country in which the society accepts left-handedness far less than most, far less than even China.

]]> <![CDATA[By: jennyzhu]]> 逼 and 强迫 are essentially the same. But 逼is more casual and colloquial, 强迫 is more formal. They can be used interchangeablly in most cases.

]]> 逼 and 强迫 are essentially the same. But 逼is more casual and colloquial, 强迫 is more formal. They can be used interchangeablly in most cases.

]]> <![CDATA[By: nuaa_er]]> ha,interesting,it seems u don\'t like George W.Bush.

]]> ha,interesting,it seems u don\'t like George W.Bush.

]]> <![CDATA[By: nuaa_er]]> haha,smudging ink ,it is a sensible.

]]> haha,smudging ink ,it is a sensible.

]]> <![CDATA[By: nuaa_er]]> chinese people don\'t have prejudice on lefties anymore nowadays.On the contrary,patents believe that lefties are samrter than righties.

]]> chinese people don\'t have prejudice on lefties anymore nowadays.On the contrary,patents believe that lefties are samrter than righties.

]]> <![CDATA[By: dashcalls]]> Hi zhenlijiang, I am from India - many of my friends are left-handed and I do not recollect anyone picking up on them in school! In fact, most Indians are quite clear about left-handedness being innate and left-handed people are treated normally. Schools encourage parents to not force their child to use the right hand. Now, when it comes to eating habits, the tradition in India is to use the right hand only - which is why some Indians find the concept of eating with the left hand (or even both hands) out of place. But again nowadays everything is accepted :-)

]]> Hi zhenlijiang, I am from India - many of my friends are left-handed and I do not recollect anyone picking up on them in school! In fact, most Indians are quite clear about left-handedness being innate and left-handed people are treated normally. Schools encourage parents to not force their child to use the right hand. Now, when it comes to eating habits, the tradition in India is to use the right hand only - which is why some Indians find the concept of eating with the left hand (or even both hands) out of place. But again nowadays everything is accepted :-)

]]> <![CDATA[By: zhenlijiang]]> Thanks for explaining that dashcalls! The experience I described is only from 5 years ago (and also my impression was supported by books I've read), but I guess you can't let a couple of dozen people fully represent a diverse population of over 1 billion.

]]> Thanks for explaining that dashcalls! The experience I described is only from 5 years ago (and also my impression was supported by books I've read), but I guess you can't let a couple of dozen people fully represent a diverse population of over 1 billion.

]]> <![CDATA[By: fulankelin]]> nuaa_er

Yes, "isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer" has to do with intelligence - or really lack of it.

]]> nuaa_er

Yes, "isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer" has to do with intelligence - or really lack of it.

]]> <![CDATA[By: yangyafeng1026]]> i agree with jennyzhu,i am a chinese man,is jennyzhu a chinese people?

]]> i agree with jennyzhu,i am a chinese man,is jennyzhu a chinese people?

]]> <![CDATA[By: taipeitingbudong]]> Isn't it that in India the left is used for toilet duties, hence not eating with the left hand? But otherwise left-handedness is fine?

]]> Isn't it that in India the left is used for toilet duties, hence not eating with the left hand? But otherwise left-handedness is fine?

]]> <![CDATA[By: zokich]]> I also heard that version about having the left hand reserved for toilet duties... what is the truth?

is the left hand for toilet duties only a thing of the past in india?

我也听说过那个在 toilet 用手的version

]]> I also heard that version about having the left hand reserved for toilet duties... what is the truth?

is the left hand for toilet duties only a thing of the past in india?

我也听说过那个在 toilet 用手的version

]]> <![CDATA[By: majeczka1]]> funny thing about the scissors, I'm left handed and I've never even heard of the special scissors and other stuff for lefties. I survived without all this stuff without any problems, which means, we don't need that.

I did struggle keeping my notebooks free from ink smudges, though.......

And having lived in China for a couple of years, I must say that people do notice us, and many do say that we're supposed to be smarter....

Well, I haven't noticed that about myself.... :/

:P

]]> funny thing about the scissors, I'm left handed and I've never even heard of the special scissors and other stuff for lefties. I survived without all this stuff without any problems, which means, we don't need that.

I did struggle keeping my notebooks free from ink smudges, though.......

And having lived in China for a couple of years, I must say that people do notice us, and many do say that we're supposed to be smarter....

Well, I haven't noticed that about myself.... :/

:P

]]>