Left-handers are called southpaws, but righties aren’t commonly known as northpaws. That’s because being right-handed is the default, and the more colorful terms are applied to the exception, not the rule, such as the Australian term for a southpaw, mollydooker. The word northpaw has found its way into some dictionaries, but it’s not common. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Southpaw vs. Northpaw”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello.
Hi, who’s this?
This is Nelda.
Hi, welcome to the show.
Hi, Nelda.
Thank you.
Well, I have a question.
I have a sister who’s left-handed, and I got to thinking about her being left-handed.
And I know they’re called southpaws, and I wondered why right-handed people are not called northpaws.
The word northpaw does exist, but it’s sort of a jokey opposition to southpaw.
The word southpaw has been around since, what, the mid-1800s, and northpaw came along a few decades later.
But you don’t really see it that much, and I think that’s because right-handed people, righties, like you’re right-handed, right, Grant?
Yes.
Yeah.
We righties are the default.
Right.
So we usually don’t have special terms for the ordinary people.
We have special terms for the outliers and the exceptional ones.
Do we have an eastpaw and a westpaw?
The strange four-handed person?
No.
Not that I know of, no.
But we do have several terms for left-handers, right?
We have southpaw in Australia.
It’s Molly Duker.
But usually you’ll find throughout language, and not just in English but other languages,
It’s the exceptional people or the exceptional traits that get this special linguistic treatment.
Yeah.
Either that or we just chase them out of the village.
Well, when I asked my sister this question, she said they’re not called north paw, they’re called wrong paw.
Oh, I see.
So she’s a left-handed activist, is she?
-huh.
I guess she is.
Except for righty and right-hander.
Yeah, I don’t know any of this.
I don’t know of a single term for right-handed people that’s kind of exciting or even slang fun.
Really, not at all.
Yeah.
And, you know, if you talk about dexterity or dexterous, that comes from the Latin for right.
I mean, it’s a positive term, and the Latin word for left gave us the word sinister.
Right, the idea that if you’re left-handed, there must be something weird or unusual about you.
I don’t think you were actually burned at the stake or anything.
No.
Eyebrows were raised.
I’ll have to tell her she’s sinister then.
Yeah, I think you should.
See what she says.
All right, thanks for calling, Nilda.
Bye-bye.
You know, we didn’t talk about the fact that the word southpaw got reinforced by baseball
Because of the idea that you would put batters facing east.
That’s the way they would arrange the diamonds
So that they wouldn’t be looking into the afternoon sun when they were playing.
And so if the pitcher is on the mound and the batter is facing east,
Then a left-handed pitcher would be a southpaw.
Right, and left-handed pitchers are harder to hit if you’re used to right-handed pitchers.
Exactly.
Oh, interesting.
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