Monday, August 2, 2010

TMI Tuesday....











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A Sir Paul McCartney from Lostachunkacashtoanamputee England asks..
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"Dear Mr. Knowitall...Not born an American, I don't know where the term 'Southpaw' comes from, could you please fill me in. And could you inform us Lefties of any interesting Left-Hand Trivia?
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Dear Paul...I thought you was dead? Maybe I'll talk about that next week. But getting back to your question...Of course I can!
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*In the late 1890's, most baseball parks were laid out with the pitcher facing West and the batter facing East (so the Sun wouldn't be in his eyes).. This meant that Left-Handed pitchers threw with the arm that faced South. This term was coined by Chicago sportswriter Charles Seymour.
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*Lefties on the average live 5-7 years less than Righties.
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*If you are left handed, you only make up 5-15% of the population.
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*If you are a female Southpaw you are even more unusual, there are roughly 50% more male lefties than females.
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*The artwork in ancient Egyption tombs depict most Egyptions as right handed. But their enemies as left handed. An undesireable trait back then!
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*Ancient Greeks NEVER crossed their left leg over the right! And a person's sex was determined by what side of the womb they were in. The 'lesser' sex woman, usually rested on the left side of the womb.
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*Roman custom dictated that you never enter a home with the right foot foreward. You turn your head to the right to sneeze. The Latin word for Left is sinister(evil or ominous)!! The word for Right is Dexter (skillful or adroit). Ambidexterous means Right with both hands!
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*Lefties are more likely to be on the extreme ends of intelligence. A higher proportion of mentally challenged people are lefties. But also A higher proportion of people with an IQ of 140 or higher are lefties
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*And of course we all know what happens in third world countries where people are wayyyy to poor for toilet tissue. Thats why we shake hands with the Right! Also in India, one should NEVER be seen eating with the left hand, for the same reasons I assume?
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*And on Judgement Day? God Saves with his Right Hand, and casts sinners out of Heaven with his Left. It MUST be true if it's in the Bible eh?
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Great Question Sir Paul! Not enough money after the divorce to buy a PC with Google??
Oh well, it's folks like you that keep me in demand.
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Enough of this Left-Handed Hogwash...Mr. Knowitall grows weary.
I bid you Adieu....

18 comments:

Brian Miller said...

nice. married to a southpaw...will keep and extra eye on her now...especially at the dinner table...lol.

thanks for always being such an exncouragement g!

Brian Miller said...

and in case someone was wondering yahtzee!

Me said...

My grandma was left-handed. The left was her dominant hand for everything except writing. When she was in school, the teacher actually tied her left hand behind her back and forced her to write with her right hand.
-C

PS - I love the word ambidexterous, how kind of you to toss it into a blog post. :)

Anonymous said...

Well Mr. Knowitall I never know where Southpaw came from. i for one am grateful. You da bomb!!! All typed with my right hand btw LOL

Serena said...

More info than I ever needed to know, I do declare. I'm glad I'm right-handed.:)

Maude Lynn said...

Nice bit of baseball trivia there. I didn't know that!

moondustwriter said...

ya know lefties are in their "right minds."

There are many cultures that still shun left handed people.
Glad I live in the US

Many of us became ambidexterous to survive in a right handed society.

Thanks G - I don't feel "left out"

P.S. Bri is such a show off

joanna said...

The stuff you learn on blogs, who needs Google when we have you, interesting trivia about southpaws, like the clever way you wrote about it.

I like moondustwriter comments, now so you know I am ambidextrous and do have an I.Q over 140..and definitely a right brained thinker.

cheers,
Joanny

joanna said...

and glad I was not first -- because I probably would have forgotten to yahtzee!

Joanny

Akum said...

Hendrix! That is one cool pic!

the walking man said...

IAll but one injury I have ever sustained has been to the left side of my body. I think the right side was holding a left handed rebellion.

Bubba said...

I'm right-handed but I play guitar lefty - and upside-down!

This post was alright, yet it wasn't all right.

lime said...

ah, i learned the bit about greeks and romans AND the origin of the term southpaw today. veddy interestink. i don't think you left out anything important. ;)

Akelamalu said...

Left handed people used to have their hand tied behind their backs and be forced to used their right hand in school - how barbaric was that??

petra michelle; Whose role is it anyway? said...

hahaha! Loved it! :))

Mona said...

My sister in law's ultrasound photo arrived in my mail and its a girl resting on the RIGHT side of the womb. Does that mean 'she' is no more a 'lesser' sex, Mr. Knowitall?

Jessie said...

i love Mona's comment! :-)

you are just one big melting pot of information. lol

warm smiles,

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

I am left handed at dinner table,
but I write using my right hand...
what can you do or say?
hard to sort people out...

nice images!