Ok. I gamely swallowed dexterous as yesterday's WAD. As a proud southpaw, I figured I could take a little perpetuation of the old myths and stereotypes that have served to hold us back. Then today I awake to ambisinister.* This is carrying things too far! Anu, how gauche! pmf®
Lefties of the world, unite! er... who else is left-handed out there?
I'm left-handed, but my right hand is forced to operate a mouse, change gear while driving, bow my cello, strum my guitar, use right-handed scissors etc. So am I still left-handed? Only barely.
BY, what's to prevent you from stringing your cello the other way (if it would help) and bowing with your left hand? I believe I've seen a cellist do just that.
But, as with most string instruments, the fretting hand requires at least as much agility as the other one. So why is the standard method of playing considered right-handed?
If the strings on a cello were reversed, because the tension on the strings is different, and some of the internal structures are not symmetrical, the tone of the instrument might be degraded. Also the nut at the top of the keyboard is asymetrical, and would have to be changed.
On restringing a stringed instrument. If what Dr. Bill says is true (as I'm sure it is) about the structure of a cello, I would worry more about warping or even cracking the instrument than degrading the tone. If a piano is left untuned for a very long period, you can't get it back into tune at one retuning because you will put too much tension on structures which have adapted themselves to new conditions and aren't flexible enough to take the pressure of the strings at the correct tension. It has to be done in small increments over months and it may be impossible to ever get it back in tune. My mother was greatly put out when I declined to take her piano when she moved into a retirement community; it hadn't been tuned for 20 years and would have been a white elephant to me.
Faldage writes: the fretting hand requires at least as much agility as the other one.
True, but the right hand requires more strength. It's kind of like the knife and fork business: once you learn it one way it doesn't make much difference - nonetheless, stringed instruments are always bowed, plucked or strummed with the right hand, indicating that favouritism by early players and/or craftsmen.
BYB suggests: stringing the cello the other way
Then I'll have to become a soloist, because I'm going to look pretty silly in the second row of the orchestra with my left arm going up against dozens of right arms. To be blunt though, I wouldn't be able to play. I know McCartney was one of the first to string his guitar round the left-handed way. Since then many have followed in his footsteps (e.g. Kurt Cobain). As far as I know, celli (or cellos) are made completely symmetrically, which means there wouldn't be a problem with stringing one round the other way. So long as you have a fresh instrument the tone should be okay.
Max demands: Get yourself a pair of left-handed scissors, BY.
You know I should, but then again, I never have/find those utensils when I needs them. One that's worth buying is a left-handed potato peeler. I must say, I have noticed a positive increase in the amount of bi-handed kitchen instruments lately - so things seem to be getting a little better. [clicking 'Continue' with my right index finger]
etymology: f. L. amb(i)- both + læv-us left + -ous.] As it were, left-handed on both sides; the opposite of ambidexter. rare 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 191 Againe, some are+Ambilevous or left handed on both sides. 1879 Syd. Soc. Lex., Ambilævous, Having left hands only; that is, clumsy.
ed. note: pay no attention to the odd spelling.
as to having two(2) words, we have no one to blame except those old Latins:
[f. L. amb(i)- both + sinister left + -ous.] = ambilævous. 1863 W. P. Lennox Biog. Remin. I. 63 In wedlock, he [Prince of Wales]+was certainly more than ambi-sinistrous.
ed. note: if it comes to a vote, wouldn't the latter win hands down from that citation?!
I am interested in left handed tools as a part of the interest of making thing for the users and not viceversa. So , if you buy left handed scissors as a gift for a left handed friend, you are in fact adding in your culture and society a small seed of tolerance and respect for people as they are - and not as they "should" be.
And I would like to do this for my friends , but I have no idea about where to find them. Can anyone help me ?
Then, of course, there's the expression two left hands meaning clumsy...shouldn't a left-hander say "I've got two right hands?
BY says bi-handed
Us USn's are more apt to use one of those phrases from baseball, switch-hitter, for this. Which also brings us to the term (and big YART) southpaw which is entitled to a token appearance on this thread.
Fret discussions have me down right now, as I injured my fret hand at work and am unable to play the guitar properly...and it may not be temporary. I may have to relearn to play McCartney style...left-handed! Guess that'd be a chore after all these years...
There is a "symbiotic" reason for strings to be thicker for lower tunings. A thicker string provides more surface area and therefore more raw sound (presence) as needed for a listener to hear tones as the same "volume" (even thought they are not). A thicker string also povides the necessary physics to compensate for the different tension that would be required to apply to strings to achieve different notes... usually more tension for a higher note... yet a thinner string requires less tension to achieve that note... so the tension across strings/bridges are (theoretically) equal. As for reality...well...
In countries that drive on the (left) opposite side of the raod as USn's do (on the right) are the operation pedals arranged opposite as well... making then from right to left... clutch-brake-gas? Are all cars alike. Where's our Ruby?
Us USn's are more apt to use one of those phrases from baseball, switch-hitter, for this.
Hmmmm. These days, if somebody tells me that someone is a switch-hitter, and we are not speaking of baseball, I'm likely to understand that the person is bi, but having nothing to do with manual dexterity.
"There is a "symbiotic" reason for strings to be thicker for lower tunings. A thicker string provides more surface area and therefore more raw sound (presence) as needed for a listener to hear tones as the same "volume" (even thought they are not). A thicker string also povides the necessary physics to compensate for the different tension that would be required to apply to strings to achieve different notes... usually more tension for a higher note... yet a thinner string requires less tension to achieve that note... so the tension across strings/bridges are (theoretically) equal. As for reality...well."..
Dear musick: with fear and trembling consciousness of my ignorance of music, may I observe that it is not only the diameter of the low pitched strings that is important. The lower pitched strings are usually wound with fine metal wire to increase their mass per unit length. The diameter is only one factor in determing pitch.
I thought there might be an etymological connection between "left" and "levo", but my dictionary does not confirm this.I think a better dictionary might. eft1 7left8 adj. 5ME (Kentish) var. of lift < OE lyft, weak, akin to EFris luf, weak6 1 a) designating or of that side of ones body which is toward the west when one faces north, the side of the less-used hand in most people b) designating or of the corresponding side of anything c) closer to the left side of a person directly before and facing the thing mentioned or understood !the top left drawer of a desk" 2 of the side or bank of a river on the left of a person facing downstream 3 of the political left; liberal or radical
It is also interesting that in science matters, I have never seen "sinister" used, always "levo"
musick asks: In countries that drive on the (left) opposite side of the raod as USn's do (on the right) are the operation pedals arranged opposite as well... making then from right to left... clutch-brake-gas? Are all cars alike?
I'm likely to understand the person as bi, but having nothing to do with manual dexterity
Right you are, Sparteye! That is, of course, the foremost connotation, nowadays. I just didn't think it's mention fit the thread. However, without some sort of, ahem, "manual dexterity" it would all be pretty irrelevant and boring, wouldn't it?
>I thought there might be an etymological connection between "left" and "levo", but my dictionary does not confirm this.I think a better dictionary might.
as quoted above f. L. amb(i)- both + læv-us left + -ous.]
so when ya gonna pop for that better dictionary, bill?
Not to forget the T-shirt with the slogan "Lefties have Rights Too".
Most Computer Mice, are symettrical, and even some of the fancy ones are sold in left hand versions. The buttons can be logically swapped if you so desire. Getting the scroll bars on the left of screens is more difficult, but with the new scrolling wheels on mice, that is not so much a problem.
Some left-handed guitarists have been known to play a right-handed guitar in a left-handed fashion (can't remember the famous example), but it gives a whole new sound from the direction of strike and some chord finguring differences.
But there is definitely an anti-lefty bias in words like sinister, cack-handed, and the like. Another minefield to avoid (if you have a feisty lefty sister-in-law like I have)
AnnaS; I too have had that link bookmarked for some time. Fascinating information on how the sides for driving were chosen.
My brother-in-law has a 1928 Crossley, the Gentelman's Sports model in which the only sporting thing about it is that the back of the bench front seat folds down to make a double bed. A magnificent vehicle, but requires great care in driving because the pedals are not in the standard configuration of A-B-C but (I think) A-C-B.
And on the left-right etymology, it's quite simple (with apologies to lefties); the right hand is the one you write with and the left is the one left over.
yeahbut. Where d'you find the left-handed potatoes?
ROFL! mav, you slay me.... _________________________
and in regard to the mouse issue, i've always found it quite convenient to use my right hand; mousing certainly doesn't require any tremendous amount of agility, so this 'inconvenience' actually frees up my *good hand for writing and other tasks.
How did "handedness" evolve? What natural-selection advantage is there to having one hand more agile that the other -- and why is it typically the right hand?
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is firmly in cheek
kitchen instruments lately - so things seem to be getting a little better. [clicking 'Continue' with my right index finger]
I may have to relearn to play McCartney style...left-handed!
Guess that'd be a chore after all these years...
