proof

[clive]

What is the proper name for the study of left handedness. I am sure it starts with the letters cud and I am pretty sure that this is where the Geordie saying cuddy whiffter comes from. Can anybody confirm to me that cuddy whiffter is a Geordie saying. I know it is, I just need proof.

[Kit]

So far Internet searches have not found proof that it is a Geordie saying. A cuddy is either a small horse or St Cuthbert, but no sign of it being attached to a whiffter, whifter, wiffter or wifter. Apparently the Economist reported 88 different names for left-handedness found by researchers looking into English dialects in the 1950s, "cuddy-wifter" being one of them (http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/lefty_languag
e.html, also http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/
pa/cm199798/cmhansrd/vo980722/debtext/80722-15.htm). No idea what the study of lefthandedness is called, although a quick tour through my Chambers' has failed to throw up anything beginning with "cud" even remotely relevant.

[sft42]

As far as i know it's called sinisterism form the latin for left sinest. The opposite to this is dexter (latin for right) this can be seen in modern usage of the types of words (dexterous and sinister) and where our bias towards lefthandedness stems from

[Quizmonster]

'Sinistrology' is probably the best bet, though it is what one might call an 'illegitimate' word. (Actually, the correct word there is not 'illegitimate' but another word meaning the same thing beginning with 'b'! However, Answerbank doesn't allow one to write that word.) The point is that sinistrology is of mixed 'parentage', being part Latin and part Greek rather than all Greek, which most studies/ologies are. I've seen this 'cuddy whifter' question here before, so it occurs to me to ask whether you have considered writing to the English Department at the University of Newcastle. If anyone knows the answer to that query, it's likely to be someone there.

[jfortytwo]

wasteoftimeisum (from a left hander)