Pawism

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pando

235 posts

Master Geek

#17700 7-Dec-2007 15:50

Okay

While discussing certain isms in the workplace I couldn't find a word to describe discrimination against left or right handed people - usually lefties. I use my mouse left handed at work and feel discriminated against enough that it needs a word

For lack of a better word I give you:

Pawism (n)
Pawist (adj)

Leads to:

Pawsecutor ( n ) someone who persecutes based on (left)-handedness
Pawsecution
Pawsecuted

PS: It's Friday and it's 10 to beer o'clock

pando

235 posts

Master Geek

#98767 7-Dec-2007 15:54

Hmmm, would make pawacite == pro pawist

grant_k

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#98777 7-Dec-2007 16:36

As a "forcefully converted" leftie, my sympathies

MrPink: Hmmm, would make pawacite == pro pawist

How about: Pawaphile == Pro Pawist and Pawaphobe == Anti Pawist

kinsten

240 posts

Master Geek

#98783 7-Dec-2007 16:51

Where on earth did you get PAW from? Like the Paw from an animal?
Besdies a Pawaphobe would probably run in terror or break out in a cold sweat from seeing a pawaphile?

(right handed through and through, does this make me a Pawsecutor?)

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Wob

310 posts

Ultimate Geek

NBN Co

#98882 8-Dec-2007 11:33

I had always thought that left handed people were known as sinister, so I looked it up:

Main Entry:: sin·is·ter
Pronunciation:: \ˈsi-nəs-tər, archaic sə-ˈnis-\
Function:: adjective
Etymology:: Middle English sinistre, from Anglo-French senestre on the left, from Latin sinistr-,; sinister on the left side, unlucky, inauspicious
Date:: 15th century

It definitely refers to "being from the left", but I think I prefer pawism. When I plugged pawism into the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, the first two options were; possum and p*ssy http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/pawism

The definition of paw was good though:

Main Entry:

¹paw
Pronunciation:: \ˈpȯ\
Function:: noun
Etymology:: Middle English, from Anglo-French powe, poe
Date:: 14th century

1: the foot of a quadruped (as a lion or dog) that has claws; broadly : the foot of an animal
2: a human hand especially when large or clumsy

Definition 2 fits in with your theory MrPink.

Now based in Perth WA.

grant_k

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#98884 8-Dec-2007 11:43

kinsten: Where on earth did you get PAW from? Like the Paw from an animal?

Haven't you ever heard the term: Southpaw ?

It means a left-handed pitcher in baseball as Wikipedia says here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southpaw_%28mascot%29

I'm guessing that is where MrPink got the "Paw" idea from. It's certainly a familiar term to me -- being left-handed -- and I suspect to many others

freitasm

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#98890 8-Dec-2007 13:06

It is certainly funny to find new words here that only appear once on Google results... Let's see in some years from now if they hit the mainstream?

pando

235 posts

Master Geek

#99207 10-Dec-2007 11:20

Yip, got southpaw from an american baseball fan colleague that sits in the 'lefties' camp. I took sinister into account but the pawism kind of fitted on several levels, besides, sinicism is kind of already taken as far as homonymy goes.

@MF damn that google, now only if it could add it to the english dictionary

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mobygeek

307 posts

Ultimate Geek

#99507 11-Dec-2007 21:10

Pawsecution. Very appropriate, having looked at NetLingo's Top 50 Internet Acronyms Every Parent Should Know. I am quite into PAWsecution. Just ask the 15yo.