southpaw
noun

- a person who uses their left hand to do most things, especially a pitcher in the sport of baseball or boxing

- a boxer whose strongest hand is their left

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

—
WORD ORIGIN

Late 19th century — the two nost common origin theories are:

In baseball, the pitcher's mound is usually positioned to the north, so a left-handed pitcher would have their throwing arm to the south. This placement could have led to the term "southpaw" to describe a left-handed pitcher.

In boxing, fighters face each other, so a left-handed fighter's right hand would be on the south side, making them a "southpaw”.

—
POOR SOUTHPAWS

Have sympathy for left-handers living in a right-handed world:

- Left-handed individuals often struggle with using right-handed scissors, as they are designed for right-handed users.

- Left-handed people often find it uncomfortable to write in spiral-bound notebooks because their hand rests on the spiral.

- Left-handed writers may experience ink smudging on paper because their hand moves across what they've just written.

- Wristwatch crowns and adjustments are on the right side, making them hard for lefties to manipulate.

- Most manual can openers require operation with the right hand. Lefties have to contort their grip to use them.

- Cooking utensils like potato peelers or cheese graters are made to be used right-handed.

- Classroom desks are usually configured so lefties bump elbows with right-handed students when writing.

- Musical instruments like guitars are designed for right-handed players. Lefties either play a flipped instrument or learn with their non-dominant hand.

—
SYNONYMS

lefty, left-hander, left-handed person (individual), left-hand dominant person, port-sider, SOUTHPAW, south paw, south-coaster, sinistral

—
SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“I never realized how inconvenient many everyday tools and instruments are for SOUTHPAWS.”

—
Every month, we spend evening and weekend hours researching and writing your daily OWAD. It remains FREE, AD-free, and ALIVE thanks to voluntary donations from appreciative readers. If you aren’t already, please also consider supporting us - even the equivalent of a single cup of coffee a month will help us cover mailing, site hosting, and maintenance costs. Just head over to our secure DonorBox page:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-5-3

or bank transfer to Paul Smith
IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40
Please use your email-address as ‘Verwendungszweck’

Thanks so much,

Paul Smith
(OWAD-Founder)