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#169532 08/13/07 04:00 PM
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Jackie Offline OP
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Especially for you, AnnaS! I saw the notice on the MSN home page. I won't put any links, due to ads. If anyone wants any further info., just go to the above-mentioned page, Google, etc.
There is an official home page for this day, but it is apparently suspended due to billing problems. (!) This, from holiday insights, was the most fun one I found (on Google):

Left Handers Day

When: Always on August 13th


If you are a Leftie, Then Left Handers Day is just for you!

Left Handers, also commonly referred to as Southpaws, are the brunt of more than their share of jokes all year long. How do I know? Yup, you guessed it! It ain't easy being a leftie. But those of us who are, would have it no other way. Lefties are proud of it.

The world is built for right handers. Examples are everywhere. For example:

In school, have you ever seen a left handed desk? They don't exist.
Many left handed items cost more.
Novelty coffee mugs are made with the picture or text for a right handed pick-up.
Scissors for for right handers. Only a lefty would understand this.
The computer mouse you are using as you read this is designed for right handers.
Did you Know? Right handed people operate in the left side of the brain. Left handed people use the right side. Therefore, only left handed people are in their right mind.

Left Hander's certainly earned the right to have a day dedicated to them. And, August 13th is that day. So take a minute to appreciate your left handed friends and loved ones. Don't forget to send them a Left Handed Day Ecard to show your respect.

Remember today and every day: "Lefties have rights!"


Left Handed Facts and Trivia:

Sinistrophobia is the fear of left-handedness.
While many people are left handed, very few are 100% left handed. For example, many Left handers golf and bat right handed. On the other hand, there is a high percentage of righties who are 100% right-handed.
Lefties are also called "southpaws". The term was coined in baseball to describe a left handed pitcher.
Tuesdays are Lefties luck day.
Only about 10% of the population is left handed.
During the 1600's people, thought left handers were witches and warlocks.
International Left Hander's Day was first celebrated on August 13, 1976. It was started by Lefthander's International.
They say everyone was born right handed, and only the greatest overcome it. (he,he,he)
It is believed that all polar bears are left handed. Also see Polar Bear Day.
There is a rumor that octopuses have but one right hand. Scientists are diligently studying this issue.
Think about it: Everyone is a Left Hander in Left Hand, West Virginia.


Lefthander's Slogan: "Everyone is born right-handed. Only the greatest overcome it". ...Brilliant Author unknown

Jackie #169536 08/13/07 05:16 PM
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Jackie #169541 08/13/07 10:01 PM
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Originally Posted By: Jackie
Especially for you, AnnaS!


Left Handed Facts and Trivia:

While many people are left handed, very few are 100% left handed.


I'm not AnnaS (I think), but it is nice to know that I am one of the few within the few, as it were.

Jackie #169542 08/13/07 10:44 PM
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Quote:


The computer mouse you are using as you read this is designed for right handers.


Huh? The computer mouse I'm using as I write this is symmetrical.
And it happens I have the right button set as the primary button.

I ain't left-handed.

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Jackie #169549 08/14/07 08:10 PM
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They ARE witches and warlocks!


ÅΓª╥┐↕§
Aramis #169556 08/15/07 04:38 PM
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Really, AnnaStrophic and sjmaxq witch and warlock? No... could this explain the stickiness of this board? Dark powers on the prowl? (ò_ó)

[ Warlock may come from the hypothetical (unattested) Old English waer-loga, "oath-breaker", or it may come from the (fully-attested) Old Norse Vard-lokkur, "caller of spirits".

Generally when looking at the origins of the words "warlock" and "witch"(along with others), the Anglo-Saxon and Old English often need to be traced to the Nordic languages. This makes sense when it is realised that the Celts of Central Europe originated from the northern tribes, before their culture mixed with that of the Mediterranean lands and the aboriginal races of what is now Britain. It is well-known that due to difficult access of the remote northern areas (i.e., for the Romans), the Nordic/Saxon cultures retained a greater degree of purity within their customs and language, so this may also be a contributing factor .]

"caller of spirits". (see parallel thread : Dry )


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the Celts of Central Europe originated from the northern tribes, before their culture mixed with that of the Mediterranean lands and the aboriginal races of what is now Britain. It is well-known that due to difficult access of the remote northern areas (i.e., for the Romans), the Nordic/Saxon cultures retained a greater degree of purity within their customs and language, so this may also be a contributing factor
Hey, thanks for that--I can never remember who did what, or came from where, over there. I think my mind simply lumped them all under the title "invaders", and decided that anything beyond that doesn't really matter.

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This makes sense when it is realised that the Celts of Central Europe originated from the northern tribes, before their culture mixed with that of the Mediterranean lands and the aboriginal races of what is now Britain. It is well-known that due to difficult access of the remote northern areas (i.e., for the Romans), the Nordic/Saxon cultures retained a greater degree of purity within their customs and language, so this may also be a contributing factor.

Hmm, Germanic poses a problem as a branch within IE languages. Fully a third of its vocabulary is not traceable to PIE or the other IE languages. This may be because they preserved this word hoard, but it may also be because they absorbed some locally spoken non-IE languages. Professor Theo Vennemann has suggested that Proto-Germanic may have been a creole spoken which developed when Old European (his cover term for aboriginal, non-IE languages in Europe) and IE collided. Not sure I'd go that far, I find it hard to believe that pre-IE Europe was unified in language.

I've never seen a reference to a northern origin for the Celts. I thought they came in off the Asian steppes with the other IEs. You might want to look at some of the recent scholarship on the "problem of the Celts". See The Celts: A Short Introduction, The Ancient Celts, or Iron Age Britain, all three by Barry Cunliffe, Atlantic Celts by Simon James, or Celts: Origins, Myths, Inventions by John Collis. (James and Collis are amongst the so-called Celtoskeptics, of which see Professor Patrick Sims-Williams' "Celtomania and Celtoscepticism." Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 36 (1998): 1-36.)


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Alas, I can't trace back where I got that fragment from. I followed a vague Internet path.

The book on language I'm now reading gives the Celts as turning up in central Europe round 1000 b.Chr. as a rather small but succesfull group that spreads all over Europe till they cover from The Middle East to the utmost West point of Ireland. No mentioning of Nordics here either.
So I suppose they came just like Jackie and you thought with the IE hordes, settled in the Rhine, Rhône, Danube area, became many and started moving around all over Europe. (for a little while).

Yes, invaders of many kinds they were. Franken, Friezen, Saksen, Batavieren, Kanninefaten.
(and a few warlocks too )

Last edited by BranShea; 08/16/07 08:55 PM.
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