First off, I think the real reason we read left to right is that we write that way. That changes the question a bit. Looking at how left-handed people are forced to contort when they write, I had always assumed that we read from left to right because for right-handers, it’s far easier to see what you’re writing in relation to what’s already written. Also if you’re using a pen/pencil/stylus, you don’t brush your hand over what’s already written, thus you avoid smudging it. Obviously pens and pencils are much newer than written language, and I don’t know what the earliest writers used, but even if you imagine using a hammer and chisel or a stick in the dirt, it seems easier to see what you’re doing when you go left to right. Sorry lefties, that’s my theory.
So according to this theory, the Hebrews, Arabs and fair nunbers of Asian people are left-handed, thus accounting for them writing (and reading) right-to-left? Hell, some of them even write top-to-bottom and right-to-left at the same time!
Welcome to the SDMB, rblocher.
A link to the column you’re commenting on is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, being sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: Is there a physical reason we read from left to right? - The Straight Dope
Yes, storyguide3, that’s exactly what I meant.
Then you’re wrong. There is no evidence to connect right-to-left writing and left-handedness.
However, it isn’t that simple. A study of the writing instruments in use when L-R became fixed allows for dominant right-handedness alone to still remain a factor, because different instruments are held in different ways.
Off the top of my head, I believe most RtL scripts are traditionally written with a brush.
It’s quite possible that most languages that are written right to left started with a different system of writing. For those languages that had a choice after the invention of ink-based systems where the instrument was held in-line with the writing, they definitely would choose left to right writing, but how many such writing systems are there that fit that category? The real reason (for me) that “everyone” writes left to right is that Europeans do, and they’re the ones who went on to colonize most of the rest of the world - where the incidence of writing preference appears to be somewhat random if not leaning towards the opposite direction.
Regarding the sample boustrophedon text provided in the column, I have to say the alternating lines of text are especially tricky, given that not only is the letter order reversed, but the character direction as well - the characters are mirror images. Talk about something designed to give dyslexics a headache.
While I can parse out the words, especially with a little effort, it is not nearly as easy as scanning the words in a consistent order. Sure, I could probably get used to it. I can also read upside down to a fair degree. But that doesn’t mean I want to. And it certainly would make handwriting more challenging. Not only to you have to learn all the letters in small and capitals forwards, but also versions of each backwards. And then add in print vs cursive. Yeah.
I thought Chinese went top to bottom? If so, does it really matter from a writing/hand-in-the-way issue whether successive columns are LtR or RtL? It’s Japanese, isn’t it, that’s RtL?
I suppose the answer could also be, if the group or person that first created an ethnic group’s writing had been lefthanded, then the result might be left-handed writing (that just doesn’t sound right… I mean good?) strictly from tradition.
if direction was arbitrary until a certain point, and the group was small that “called the shots”, then one man’s influence would count for a lot. If at the time they first started to write the scriptures, the high preist of the temple or the chief instrutor of scribes decided “this is how to write it” then ta-da! One jewish guy sets the torah handedness for millenia to come.
Reminds me of the story about the government map office. A friend who started working there found all the maps for the province were done in shades of yellow, orange, and red and brown. Turns out the boss of the department was blue-green colour blind.
The trouble with this concept is that, with the obvious exception of the Cyrillic alphabet, most alphabets were not the result of anyone man or group of men. They were things which evolved over millenia of writing by the speakers of a given language. So unless left-handedness is a dominant trait in those areas, handedness is not the explanation for RtL over LtR horizontal writing.
I would venture to say that the direction of writing for most ethnic groups was already established before that group started using pen/pencil and paper. Incision in stone, impression in clay, etc. usually pre-date paper writing. For those cultures which adopted another writing method and alphabet, the direction will have had more to do with the cultural reasons for the adoption. For example, the Scandanavians eventually adopted Latin letters and writing, not, I expect, because it was easy to write it right-handed, but because that’s what most of Europe used already.
Yeah I don’t think I’d really have a problem with it if the “backwards” lines still used “forwards” letters, but those mirror letters just throw me off. Mainly because of letters that are direct mirrors of other letters, “b” and “d” being most notable.
I would envision a right-hander hammering with the right hand holding the chisel angled to the right in the left hand. Moving right to left would seem pretty natural. And the stone dust would fly away from your already-written text.
The ink-smearing problem seems to be pretty overwhelming for people writing with pens and resting their hand on the paper. (I recently saw a period copy of the Magna Carta and was amazed at how small and fine the letters were; the writer would really have needed to steady his hand on the paper and be able to see the text clearly.) I think a R2L culture would be pretty motivated to switch to L2R after adopting pen and ink. Makes me think of the left-handed Leonardo da Vinci using mirror writing in his notes - he probably did it to keep from smearing his ink.
I think Chinese was traditionally written with a brush with the hand not touching the paper, so there would not be the ink-smear problem. I’d like to hear from Chinese writers: Which way do you write when using a pen? I’d also like to hear from (right-handed) Arabic and Hebrew writers: What are your cultures’ traditional writing tools and how do you handle writing R2L with pen and ink?
I remember reading that cuneiform was mostly written on palm-held clay tablets, continuously twisting both the tablet and the reed around to get the differently angled wedges. It seems like there would not have been any strongly preferred direction of writing.
On an unrelated note, are old answers frequently updated without this fact being acknowledged in the text? It was a bit jarring to read an off-hand reference to Linux software in an article from 1976.
Speaking of writing from left to right, I believe that practice was started by the Sumerians, who did it so they wouldn’t smear the still-wet clay tablets as they were scribing.
Not so sure of why right-to-left writing became popular in China. The individual characters themselves are approximately written left to right, top to bottom in terms of stroke order (with a few exceptions).
Well, we mainly use keyboards.
But, for the last who-knows how many centuries/milenias, the bible was copied again and again using a feather and ink:
Yes. All the time, actually. Columns are often updated to make them relevant to today’s readers, and occasionally whenever Cecil says something that would be completely out of character for him now. Oh, and factual errors are sometimes addressed in this manner, but if they are even remotely significant, Cecil is usually good about letting us know he messed up.
Yeah, that was tricky, but once I got used to it I immediately noticed how comfortable it was to be able to continue from the same position rather than snapping my eyes back to the left-hand margin at the end of each line. I think those ancient Greeks were on to something. 
So you don’t use pens and pencils nowadays, and we probably don’t know how the ancient scribes held their quills - but how about somewhen in between? How did right-handed Hebrew or Arabic writters take notes in class in the 1960’s? Did they twist their hands around like a left-handed English writer would do?
Someone taking notes in Hebrew in the 1960s would have used cursive Hebrew, not the Square Letters that have been used for formal Hebrew writing for the last 2000 years or so. (Older Hebrew looked rather like Archaic Greek.)
Torah scrolls are still written by hand.
A fortuitous find from the pages of Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature, by Marcus Du Sautoy.