Re:Why does current flow the opposite way from the electrons?
by gravescale on Friday June 21, 2024 @11:34PM
(#40756033)
It comes from the Latin "laevus".
Funnily enough, although "sinister" came to mean "the bad side", it may have come from Proto-Indo-European for the "favourable side".
Re:Why does current flow the opposite way from the electrons?
by gerdesj on Sunday June 23, 2024 @07:48PM
(#40771579)
In politics in the UK, there is a left and right side of the "house". Currently the Conservatives are the right and Labour are the left. Neither party existed when the UK Parliament was initially created.
I wonder whether the old Latin (right == good/left == dodgy) thing has been perpetrated here or it it is coincidental.
I also wonder whether old Latin speakers really had a snag with sinister ie left handers or is that a modern affectation.
Re:Why does current flow the opposite way from the electrons?
by ChainOfFools on Saturday June 22, 2024 @01:52AM
(#40756648)
Knowing that ambidextrous thus means "both right (hands)" makes me marvel at how such a brazenly politically incorrect figure of speech has for so long remained undetected by the cultural police thanks to a linguistic camoflauge that mimics medical-sounding jargon.
Where does levor... come from for left? Perhaps a newer Latin "left" than I was taught?