# why left and right as terms in politics?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-left-and-right-as-terms-in-politics/265563>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 22, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-left-and-right-as-terms-in-politics/265563 "2004-09-22T21:39:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-left-and-right-as-terms-in-politics/265563/1 "2004-09-22T21:39:41Z")

</div>

I think that some point in French history there were political groups on the left and right of some hall or chamber, but that’s all I recall. Can anybody help me out on this? Was it France, when, what groups and what chamber? Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-left-and-right-as-terms-in-politics/265563/2 "2004-09-22T22:27:46Z")

</div>

> [@drhess](#):
>
> I think that some point in French history there were political groups on the left and right of some hall or chamber, but that’s all I recall. Can anybody help me out on this? Was it France, when, what groups and what chamber? Thanks.

Wikipedia offers [this explanation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics) . For more background on this, start [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_revolution#History).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-left-and-right-as-terms-in-politics/265563/3 "2004-09-22T23:05:20Z")

</div>

Factoid not mentioned on Wikipedia (I got this from the book Lefties: Former Title, Sinister People ) is that the original arrangement was chosen as a reference to hand preference. Since everybody knows (or at least at the time they knew) that right handed people were the more rational, well-adjusted, and honest ones while lefties were, well, sinister people, it was only natural that the King would want his supporters on the right. The origin of the phrase “right hand man” also comes from this period.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-left-and-right-as-terms-in-politics/265563/4 "2004-09-26T23:33:36Z")

</div>

According to [this link](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=r&p=15), _right hand_ and _right hand man_ were found in English in the 16th and 17th centuries, while right as a political term via translation from the French doesn’t enter English until a good 5-30 years after the 1789 revolution.