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Bias against left-handed people is discrimination, conscious or not, against people who are left-hand dominant. Approximately 10% of the world's population is left-handed. Yet many common tools are designed solely for use by right-handed people, making them difficult, painful, or unsafe for left-handed people to use. These range from simple objects such as scissors to dangerous machinery such as power saws.〔 Beyond such neglect, however, left-handed people have frequently been subjected to deliberate discrimination and disparagement. In many societies, they are considered unlucky or even malicious by the right-handed majority. Many languages use references to left-handedness to convey awkwardness, dishonesty, stupidity, or other undesirable qualities. Even in relatively "modern" societies, left-handed people historically have been—and in some places still are—forced from childhood to use their right hands for tasks which they would naturally perform with the left, such as eating and writing.〔 ==Disparaging associations in language== Historically, the left side, and subsequently left-handedness, was considered negative. The word "left" itself derives from the Anglo-Saxon word ''lyft'', "weak". In Ancient Greek both words meaning "left" were euphemisms: the word (ἀριστερός ), ''aristerós'' (the standard word in Modern Greek as well) is derived from ἂριστος, ''áristos'', "best", and the word (εὺώνυμος ), ''euōnymos'', "of good name", is another euphemism used in lieu of "ill-named". The Latin adjective ''sinister/sinistra/sinistrum'' originally meant "left" but took on meanings of "evil" or "unlucky" by the Classical Latin era, and this double meaning survives in European derivatives of Latin, and in the English word "sinister". Alternatively, ''sinister'' comes from the Latin word ''sinus'' meaning "pocket": a traditional Roman toga had only one pocket, located on the left side. The right hand has historically been associated with skill: the Latin word for right-handed is ''dexter'', as in "dexterity", meaning manual skill. Even the word "ambidexterity" reflects the bias. Its intended meaning is "skillful on both sides". However, since it keeps the Latin root ''dexter'', which means "right", it ends up conveying the idea of being "right-handed on both sides". This bias is also apparent in the lesser-known antonym "ambisinistrous", which means "left-handed (clumsy ) on both sides".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Ambisinistrous )〕 In more technical contexts, "sinistral" may be used in place of "left-handed" and "sinistrality" in place of "left-handedness".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Sinistral )〕 In both Ancient Greek and Roman religion, auspices (usually the flight paths of birds, as observed by a bird-diviner, or ''augur'') were thought to be unfavorable if appearing on the diviner's left-hand side and favorable if on the right: an ancient custom mentioned in Homer's Iliad and of apparently Middle Eastern origin (as attested in the Amarna correspondence, in which a king of Alashiya, i.e. Cyprus, requests an eagle-diviner from the Pharaoh of Egypt). Meanings gradually developed from use of these terms in the ancient languages. In many modern European languages, including English, the word for the direction "right" also means "correct" or "proper", and also stands for authority and justice. In Sanskrit, the word "वाम" (waama) stands for both "left" and "wicked." In most Slavic languages the root ''prav'' (right) is used in words carrying meanings of correctness or justice. In colloquial Russian the word ''левый (levyĭ)'' "left" means unofficial, counterfeit, strange. In Polish, the word ''prawo'' means "right" as well as "law", ''prawy'' means: lawful; the word ''lewy'' means "left" (opposite of right), and colloquially "illegal" (opposite of legal). In French, ''droit(e)'' (cognate to English ''direct'') means both "right" and "straight", as well as "law" and the legal sense of "right", while ''gauche'' means "left" and is also a synonym of ''maladroit'', literally "not right", meaning "clumsy". Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German have similar constructs. The Spanish term ''diestro'' and the Italian term ''destro'' mean both "right-handed" and "skillful". The contemporary Italian word ''sinistra'' has both meanings of sinister and left (the masculine adjective for sinister being ''sinistro''), and ''maldestro'' means "clumsy". The Spanish ''siniestra'' has both, too, although the "left" meaning is less common and is usually expressed by ''izquierda'', a Basque word that made its way into Portuguese as well. In some Spanish-speaking countries, to do something ''por izquierda'' means to engage in corrupt conduct or employ illegitimate means, whereas ''por derecha'' or ''a derechas'' means to do it the right (legitimate) way. Also, in Spanish, to tell someone "Eres tan zurdo" means that they are being clumsy, though the literal meaning is "You're so lefty." In Portuguese, the most common word for left-handed person, ''canhoto'', was once used to identify the devil, and ''canhestro'', a related word, means "clumsy". In Romanian ''drept/dreaptă'' (coming from Latin ''directus'') means both "right" and "straight". The word for "left" is ''stâng/stângă'' coming from Latin ''stancus'' (= ''stanticus'') meaning "tired". In German, ''recht'' means "right" in both the adjectival sense (correct) and the nominal (legal entitlement). The word for "left" is ''links'', and is closely related to both ''link'' (underhand, questionable), and ''linkisch'' (clumsy). 〔''Die Deutsche Sprache'', "link" (Berlin: Duden 2013).〕 The Dutch words for "left" (''links, linker'') and "right" (''recht, rechts, rechter'') have much the same meanings and connotations as in English. The adjective ''link'' means "cunning, shifty" or "risky". A ''linkerd'' is a "crafty devil". To look at someone over the left shoulder (''iemand over de linkerschouder aanzien'') is to regard him or her as insignificant.〔W. Martin and G. A. J. Tops, eds., ''Van Dale groot woordenboek Nederlands-Engels'', 2d ed., (Utrecht, Antwerp: Van Dale, 1991).〕 In Irish, ''deas'' means "right side" and "nice". ''Ciotóg'' is the left hand and is related to ''ciotach'' meaning "awkward"; ''ciotógach'' (kyut-OH-goch) is the term for left-handed. In Welsh, the word ''chwith'' means "left", but can also mean "strange", "awkward", or "wrong". The Scots term for left-handedness is ''corrie fistit''. The term can be used to convey clumsiness. In Finnish, the word ''oikea'' means both "right" (okay, correct) and "right" (the opposite of left). In Swedish, ''att göra något med vänsterhanden'' (literally "to do something with your left hand") means "to do something badly". In Swedish, ''vänster'' means "left". The term ''vänsterprassel'' means "infidelity", "adultery" and "cheating". From this term the verb ''vänstra'' (lit. "lefting") is derived. In Hungarian, the word for right is ''jobb'', which also means "better". The word for left is ''bal'', which also means "bad". In Estonian, the word ''pahem'' stands for both "left" and "worse" and the word ''parem'' stands for both "right" and "better". In Turkish, the word for right is ''sağ'', which means "alive". The word for left is ''sol'', which means "discolor", "die", "ill". In Chinese culture, the adjective "left" (Chinese character: , Mandarin: ''zuǒ'') sometimes means "improper" or "out of accord". For instance, the phrase "left path" (, ''zuǒdao'') stands for unorthodox or immoral means. In Korean, the word for right is ''oreun'' (오른), to be compared to the word meaning morally proper, ''orheun'' (옳은) which shares the same pronunciation. In Hebrew, as well as in other ancient Semitic and Mesopotamian languages, the term "left" was a symbol of power or custody. There were also examples of left-handed assassins in the Old Testament, (Ehud killing the Moabite king.) The left hand symbolized the power to shame society, and was used as a metaphor for misfortune, natural evil, or punishment from the gods. This metaphor survived ancient culture and was integrated into mainstream Christianity by early Catholic theologians, such as Ambrose of Milan, to modern Protestant theologians, such as Karl Barth, to attribute natural evil to God in explaining God's omnipotence over the universe. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bias against left-handed people」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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