User Comments - likewater
likewater
Posted on: Turn Right, Turn Left
October 17, 2009, 02:02 PMThis was probably the most useful lesson for me to date. Thanks again.
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Posted on: The Left-handed Child
January 30, 2010, 05:37 PMI am myself left-handed and often receive the "you must be creative" comment.
Being a left-handed individual, you are often curious as to why in many cultures, being left-handed is looked down upon.
In many Muslim and Middle-Eastern cultures, people ate almost exclusively with their hands in olden times.
This meant, out of subconscious habit, if you were right-handed, you used your left hand for "toilet paper".
So during a meal, anyone caught eating from the "public dish" using their left-hand was looked down upon, because the right hand is the "food hand" and the left hand is commonly refered to as the "bathroom hand" or the "toilet paper" hand. Imagine sitting down for a meal and watching a guy crab a piece of bread with the same hand you use for toilet paper! No wonder!
With that said, eating with a well-scrubbed left hand was still seen as eating with an "unwashed" or "dirty" hand. Given that Indian food is still in large eating with the hands and bread (roti) is often used to "spoon" the food into the mouth, I'm sure why this stigma still holds strong. I am sure this is also a possible reason for this stigma in China. Arab, African and Chinese cultures share more similarities than differences, believe it or not.
That's the reason for left-hand stigma!