Sinister

In 8th grade, I was offered some foreign languages to study: French, Spanish, German and Latin.  I knew that Latin was older and somewhat different from the other choices.  On a whim, I chose Latin.  Turned out to be a choice with several important consequences.  At the time, Baltimore offered 14 public high schools but only one where I could get credit for having already completed a year of Latin.  That high school was an hour's public transport away, was all-male even though it was public. 

For a long time, I was the only right-handed person in my home family of four. My mother and step-father were natural lefties and a fall changed my sister into a lefty.  I was aware when I learned that "sinister" was Latin for "left" and "dexter" was Latin for "right" that I was learning about anti-left-handedness.  I attributed some of that bias to teachers trying to teach what I call "printing" and handwriting to kids.  I have heard of punishment for those students who try to learn using their left hands.  Later, I learned that toilet customes sometimes promote left hand for wiping and right hand for eating.