Re: First report on Conm

En réponse à John Cowan <cowan@...>:

>
> More accurately: there is the fully right-handed majority, and then
> there is a continuum of various degrees of left-handedness, from
> people
> who do most but not all things with their right hands, through full
> ambidexterity, to obligatory sinistrals.  "All right-handed people are
> alike; all left-handed people are different."
>
Typical right-handed propaganda. It's completely untrue. First, there's no
right-handed majority. There's only a right-handed *plurality*. Second, you
can't treat fully right-handed people differently from the rest. There are
no "degrees of left-handedness", only "degrees of lateralisation", from the
left to the right. The 15% of fully left-handed people are as fully left-handed
as the 40% of right-handed people are fully right-handed. And in between, the
45% of ambidextruous people are just that, ambidextruous with more or less
inclination towards left or right. There's no "norm" like you seem to imply.
And I'm pretty sure if left-handed people hadn't been persecuted for centuries
the amount would be much more balanced.

In other words, "all right-handed people are alike; all left-handed people are
different" is nonsense. The left-handed people are as alike as the right-handed
people are alike. There's no right-handed "norm" from which left-handedness
would be a "deviation", more or less acute depending on the person. Hence my
wording: "lateralisation is a continuum".

>
> Bizarrely, Americans still *place* the fork on the left side and the
> knife and spoon on the right, but we hold the fork in the right hand,
> *except* when also using the knife, in which case we switch the fork
> to the left hand, cut with the knife, put both down, and then pick up
> the fork in the right hand to eat.  It is very gauche (or European)
> to eat with the fork in the left hand (pun intentional).
>
I find your way extremely clumsy (or gauche ;)) ).

>
> In any event, unless you are eating by yourself, it is awkward to eat in
> a
> way distinct from your neighbor at the table; you will be bumping
> elbows.
>
That's what happens when you put ten people on a table for six ;))) . Have
correctly sized tables and you won't have that problem ;)) .

>
> Umm, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work for females too.
>
Because it involves holding a body part that women usually lack ;))))) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

It takes a straight mind to create a twisted conlang.

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