It usually really bothers me (not joking) when people use “sinister” when they actually mean “nefarious” or “odious” or whatever, because it perpetuates old superstition about left-handed people being evil even if does so unknowingly.
> “bulldozer” […] popped up in […] an Illinois court case to describe a manufacturing machine that had ripped off a worker’s left arm.
…but this time I guess I have to give it a pass :) Hug a lefty today!
But more seriously, there's a number of words like that, IIUC.
E.g. cretin, barbarian, slave, hysterical, lesbian. Probably other terms as well, I'm guessing.
I'm not sure it's worth getting too worked up about the original usages of those terms, if most people using them aren't making the connection.
Too many words have gauche secondary meanings: we can't sidestep every nuance or there'd be no words left. I love me some wry leftfield connotations. Although I think maladroit and dextrous can rightly be left out.
I've never heard this, and I doubt many others have. Feels like this level of word policing is digging up long forgotten previous uses which don't have any relevance today.
> “bulldozer” […] popped up in […] an Illinois court case to describe a manufacturing machine that had ripped off a worker’s left arm.
…but this time I guess I have to give it a pass :) Hug a lefty today!