Righties and lefties in Potterverse

[o_caipora]

No: HPFGUIDX 83719

"alshainofthenorth" wrote:
> When Pettigrew
> is chained to Remus and Ron, his left arm is chained to Remus' right
> and his right arm to Ron's left. Yet Remus keeps him covered with 
> his wand, which might suggest that his wand hand is the left one. 

A classic use of handedness/handcuffs is O. Henry's "Hearts and 
Hands" (under 900 words): 
http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/1019/

> (In some twisted
> way it makes sense that the percentage of lefties would be higher
> among Dark creatures -- using the left hand was seen as the mark of
> the Devil.)

Rowling knows Portuguese and uses Latin; "sinister" comes from the 
Latin for "left", obsolete but understandable in Portuguese.

There's a use of this in Heinlein's "Podkayne of Mars"; Podkayne is 
dancing with a rich Venusian of Brazilian descent, "Dexter Cunha 
III". She asks about his name, and he answers, "By the time my 
parents discovered I was left-handed, it was too late to name 
me 'Sinister'."

 - Caipora