Quote:
Originally Posted by lilac_jive
Well the left hand used to be considered evil. Hence our jokes on sinister (Latin for "left" is sinistra, and gauche- french for left). I think it all harkens back to the days before toilet paper where you wiped yourself with the left hand. Nobody would want to shake that. But I could be wrong.
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No, it has nothing to do with that.
The idea that the left was "unlucky" goes back to Roman times, when the practice of "augury" was used to determine how favourable (or otherwise) the "omens" were before any official state occasion. Augury was based on watching the flight of birds. A bird seen on the augur's right side was considered favourable, one seen on the left side was unfavourable. That's why the Latin for "left hand" - "sinistra" - became the English word "sinister", with its meaning of unlucky or ill-omened.
On a somewhat-related note, the modern word "inauguration" comes directly from the Roman practice of an augur taking the omens at the start of any official occasion.