Originally Posted by Wondergirl
In Latin, the word for "left" is "sinister" (from that comes bad, evil). The word for "right" is "dexter" (from that comes dexterous, skillful).
From that comes expressions like, "His right hand doesn't know what his left hand is doing". Thieves would steal with their left and transfer to their right. Cleaning oneself after using the bathroom would be done with the left hand; eating would be done with the right. (In Europe, in order to cut meat, one puts one's fork in the left hand to steady the meat while the knife in the right hand does the cutting. Then the fork stays in the left hand to eat a chunk of meat. The right then puts down the knife across the top of the plate and takes back the fork for further eating. That's probably why some of you have the idea of eating with one's left hand.)
There are many allusions to handedness (left vs. right, bad vs. good) in literature.
Throughout history, left has gotten a bad rap. Right is good.
When I was in school and printing, and later cursive, was being taught, if a student tried to write with his or her left hand, the teacher slapped it with a ruler. We all had to use our right hand with no argument. (This was in public school. Parochial school students had the same experience. Thank goodness I was a righty....)