# In what languages are "left and right" literally "wrong and right"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-are-left-and-right-literally-wrong-and-right/841536>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 9, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-are-left-and-right-literally-wrong-and-right/841536 "2019-10-09T15:02:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![InfraBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infrablue/32/6366_2.png) [@InfraBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InfraBlue)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-are-left-and-right-literally-wrong-and-right/841536/21 "2019-10-10T22:27:37Z")

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> [@cmkeller](#):
>
> > [@Ignotus](#):
> >
> > I don’t know Hebrew, but translations of Ecclesiastes 10.2 seem to imply that there is some connotation right/good and left/bad in the original text.
> 
> I do know Hebrew, and it’s right-wise and left-foolish, not directly correlated with good and evil.

I would think that “wise” is something with a connotation of “good,” whereas “foolish” is something with a connotation of “bad.”

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-are-left-and-right-literally-wrong-and-right/841536/22 "2019-10-11T03:20:23Z")

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I’d say that wisdom is considered a good thing and lack thereof a bad thing, but wise people can still be evil, and fools can be well-meaning, if not necessarily as good as they might be were they wise.

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**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-are-left-and-right-literally-wrong-and-right/841536/23 "2019-10-11T03:42:28Z")

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I think Romanian would make a good example of language where the words used to indicate handedness have moral connotations. The term right-handed also means straight (as opposed to crooked), just, or fair, whereas the word term left-handed is widely used to refer to someone lacking dexterity or smarts.

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**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-are-left-and-right-literally-wrong-and-right/841536/24 "2019-10-11T04:04:46Z")

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In Japanese you have a phrase similar to the English “things went left” to mean they went badly.

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**Author:** ![CeleTheRef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@CeleTheRef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CeleTheRef)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-are-left-and-right-literally-wrong-and-right/841536/25 "2019-10-11T13:00:18Z")

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In Italian _destra/sinistra_ can mean dexterous/sinister but are rarely used with those meanings.  
A left-handed person is called a _mancino_, a right-handed one a _destrorso_.  
The old terms dritta/mancina are obsolete synonims of right/left, surviving only in a few expressions like “_tiro mancino_” (left-handed shot) meaning a ruse, and “_a destra e a manca_” meaning “from all sides”, “all around”, “left and right”.

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