See more. Yet here's a surprise â although the term is used in a boxing movie, its origin actually comes from the non-contact sport of baseball. The term actually refers to people who are left-handed, and it has been part and parcel of describing the trait since the 1800s. It is Filmore's caricature, resplendent with a black eye, who said, "Curse the old hoss wot a south paw he has given me! Rocky Balboa uses his left hand to punch Ivan Drago. 'Southpaw' stars actor Jake Gyllenhaal as a lightweight boxing champion. Southpaw is a boxing term that designates the stance where the boxer has his right hand and right foot forward, leading with right jabs and following with a left cross right hook. Are there any adverse effects to drinking tea? Southpaw is usually a stance for left-handed boxers. The term actually … Where Did 'Shirt and Shoes Required' Come From? To be left-handed. This is mainly based on The term "southpaw" has early origins in baseball too, where it referred to any left-handed player, but especially a left-handed pitcher. No one really knows for sure, and several theories have emerged over the years. Major League Baseball's official historian, John Thorn, has chronicled the term's move from boxing to baseball, and believes the terms "south" and "left" have both been associated with devilish forces, which would make a southpaw stance the starting point for a wicked throw. At that time, home plate in Chicago faced west, which meant that a left-handed pitcher released the ball on the south side of his body. Name for a person that fights typically with their left hand as their main striking hand. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. For decades, the southpaw origin story was a surprisingly logical one: In the days before lighting systems made night games possible, most ballparks were oriented so that the batter would be looking east out to the mound -- in order to avoid having to stare into the glare of the afternoon sun. Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article: Copyright © 2021 HowStuffWorks, a division of InfoSpace Holdings, LLC, a System1 Company. An 1848 political cartoon illustrates the use of "southpaw" as a term for someone striking a blow with their left hand, in this case a Democratic contender for president, Lewis Cass, uses a southpaw haymaker to knock out both his rival — Zachary Taylor — and Taylor's running mate, Millard Filmore. It's definitely not a lighthearted summer film, but it does pack on hell of a punch (again, pun intended). In Southpaw, Gyllenhaal's character, Billy "The Great" Hope is a left-handed boxer and that makes it pretty obvious why the movie has its title. It wouldn't be a summer movie going season without a good, down and dirty sports blockbuster to knockout (pun intended) all the comic book superheroes, fantasy adventures and lewd comedies. The implication seems to have been that anybody left-handed was a bit queer in at least one respect." Ballparks are often designed so that the batter is facing east to avoid the afternoon or evening sun shining in his eyes. There are claims that the term arose from the way ballparks in the 1800s were built — with home plate to the west, which meant that a left-handed player facing west would be pitching with his "south" paw. This was from Greek influence, reflecting the early Greek practice of facing north when observing omens. A popular theory holds that it comes from the onetime position of ballparks in relation to the sun. Traditionally, baseball parks -- in the days before night baseball games -- were laid out so the batter faced east. And there's the issue of orientation. Eventually, its usage spread to all left-handed people. American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. [36] Ballparks are often designed so that batters are facing east, so that the afternoon or evening sun does not shine in their eyes. Answer to: Where did the term 'southpaw' come from in boxing? "Southpaw" is a 2015 American sports drama film directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker and Rachel McAdams. Slang A left-handed person, especially a left-handed baseball pitcher. A southpaw is any left-handed person, but in particular a left-handed pitcher in baseball.. Niese, a southpaw who has allowed just five homers in 124 1/3 innings at Double A Binghamton, has a deceptive delivery and gets very good movement on his average fastball. Now I know it means a person who is left-handed, but never understood where it came from. After a fatal incident sends him on a rampant path of destruction, a champion boxer fights to get custody of his daughter and revive his professional career. The term southpaw developed from the fact that left-handed pitchers face south because Baseball diamonds are laid out with home plate to the west. The first usage is credited to Finley Peter Dunne. The film tells the fictional story a boxer who sets out to get his life back on track after losing his wife in an accident and his young daughter to protective services. Jul 14, 2020. Dunne was known for giving colorful play-by-play and when a left-handed pitcher came on the field, he described him as a "southpaw." 14 July 2020. This means that left-handed pitchers are throwing from the south side. An 1860 prize-fight in which two boxing opponents have a bare-knuckled battle, is summed up in a New York Herald report that David Woods, who is left-handed, in the ninth round "planted his 'south paw' under [his opponent's] chin, laying him out flat as a pancake.". The term has been traced back to 1885. So, I decided to find out. The usual story about southpaw is set out in a standard work on the game: The oft-repeated etymology of the term is that it derives from the “fact” that ballparks were laid out with home plate to the west, which meant that a left-handed pitcher faced the west and threw with his “southern” limb. However, there are several other accounts of the term "southpaw" being used to describe not only pitchers, but any player; an 1875 edition of a St. Louis newspaper that referred to a left-handed batter as a southpaw, a left-handed first baseman described as a southpaw in an 1858 edition of the New York Atlas, and so on. All rights reserved. | 2021 Bustle Digital Group. In the world of boxing, it is also referred to as "unorthodox stance" because the majority of the world is right handed and if you're a left-handed boxer, you're moving in an untraditional manner with everything working against you. It's likely, though, that at Chicago's West Side Park, which did have a home plate that faced west, sports writers popularized the term. The Latin word was used in augury in the sense of "unlucky, unfavorable" (omens, especially bird flights, seen on the left hand were regarded as portending misfortune), and thus sinister acquired a sense of "harmful, unfavorable, adverse." 6 7 8 There’s a Study on That: The Stone Age Had Just as Many Lefties, Information about the device's operating system, Information about other identifiers assigned to the device, The IP address from which the device accesses a client's website or mobile application, Information about the user's activity on that device, including web pages and mobile apps visited or used, Information about the geographic location of the device when it accesses a website or mobile application. "The generally accepted origins of the term is from baseball. A left-handed individual may be known as a southpaw, particularly in a sports context. Southpaw starring Jake Gyllenhaal is here to fulfill that need and, in a manner of speaking, cleanse our cinematic palette with a grounded story about a down-on-his-luck boxer who recently lost his wife and needs to redeem himself in the ring in order to gain custody and respect from his daughter. It is widely accepted that the term originated in the United States, in the game of baseball. One of the most interesting—run by a righthander, surprisingly—is Anything Left-Handed, Ltd. in London’s West End. In the case of the character of Billy, it's a dead-on metaphor for outside of the ring as well. With Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence, Forest Whitaker. Does anyone know how the term Southpaw was coined to describe a left-handed pitcher? Of course one usually hears it in the context of baseball, and that is where the term originated. Over the weekend, I heard the term “Southpaw” used. The time has come again to follow a twisty path of word connections across continents and centuries. The term Pommy for a British person is commonly used in Australian English and New Zealand English, and is often shortened to Pom. The term "southpaw" has early origins in baseball too, where it referred to any left-handed player, but especially a left-handed pitcher. Perhaps the earliest recorded usage of the word "southpaw" appears in an 1813 letter to the editor in The Tickler, a satirical Philadelphia-based newspaper, but it soon became inexorably linked with boxing — although there are differing opinions as to its origins. howstuffworks.com - by Dave Roos. FREE BEGINNER'S GARDEN GUIDE! Their left hand is always their power hand too. The “paw” referred to his hand. Answer:The word was coined in the late 19th century by Finley Peter Dunne, a Chicago sportswriter. It is widely accepted that the term originated in the United States, in the game of baseball. Not all big league stadiums faced the west. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. The "American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language" cites the conventional wisdom that the word "southpaw" originated "from the practice in baseball of arranging the diamond with the batter facing east to avoid the afternoon sun." Supposedly, late 19th-century ballparks were laid out so that the pitcher looked in a westerly direction … Left Handers do not do any better in foreign languages, as weshow below. If you’re wondering where the dollar sign ($) came from, you’re in good company. Though many claim that the term originated due to the orientation of baseball playing fields in order to keep the sun out of the players' eyes and the resulting alignment of a left-handed pitcher's throwing arm causing the pitcher to have his left hand on the south side of his body, the term h… — Joe Sheehan, Sports Illustrated, 4 Aug. 2008 A specious theory regarding southpaw ties its origin to the layout of baseball … The term southpaw is definitely an American term for a left-handed person. "How Did Lefties Become Known as 'Southpaws'?" Laurie L. Dove The origin of this term is uncertain. A left-handed individual may be known as a southpaw, particularly in a sports context. In the early days of baseball, the baseball diamonds were laid out with the corner at home plate pointing west. This thought translated to action, and as author Melissa Roth writes , for centuries “fathers-to-be went so far as to tie off one testicle in an attempt to choose the sex of their offspring.” Chicago Daily News sports reporter Finley Peter Dunne coined the term when covering the then-named Chicago White Stockings games. The term "southpaw" can be traced back to the 1880s when Chicago Daily News sports reporter Finley Peter Dunne coined the term when covering the then-named Chicago White Stockings games. Answer: This term was coined in 1891 to describe a left-handed baseball player, especially a pitcher. American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. I'm curious to know the origin. Since the ballpark faced east and west, home plate was west and a left-hander would pitch from the south with his "paw." There are claims that the term arose from the way ballparks in the 1800s were built — with home plate to the west, which meant that a left-handed player facing west would be pitching with his "south" paw. With the Jake Gyllenhaal film “Southpaw” opening, Ben Zimmer looks at the origins of the word southpaw to describe a left-handed athlete. While the term southpaw officially applies to any left-handed person, you probably hear it most often in baseball, where left-handedness can really impact a player’s game (for better or worse). You ever walk into a store or restaurant and seen the sign "No shirt, No shoes, No service" on the door? Turns out, we have baseball and boxing to thank for associating southpaw with left-handedness. But through all the intense boxing scenes, emotional acting, father-daughter issues and various shots of Gyllenhaal's bloody mug screaming into the camera, there is one question that many of you may have: what does "southpaw" mean? ", The association with boxing becomes even stronger as the 1800s progress. Their left hand will be out further than their right. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website. If you're not familiar with the term "southpaw," trying to conjure its meaning might send your imagination all over the place. A number of fake etymologies have sprung up, mostly along the lines that POM is an acronym for "Prisoner of Mother England" or somesuch, referring to the fact that the earliest Australian settlers were convicts, … Ian Blair Hamilton, Byron Bay . Thus, the term "southpaw" was born.The term just stuck, and now it's spread among all sports and birthed a movie named after it in which Jake Gyllenhaal is bloody, angry, shirtless, and fully ripped beyond recognition â which was a role that was originally written for Eminem, who happens to be a southpaw himself (look for the clues in 8 Mile! By: Laurie L. Dove Gyllenhaal trained for the role with the movie's director Antoine Fuqua, who engaged in … Southpaw definition, a person who is left-handed. Simply put, the term means that you're left-handed. We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. Q From Mark Roome: A mollydooker is an Australian expression for a left-handed person. )Nonetheless, all of us who aren't southpaws will just have to deal with the fact that there will never be a movie called Northpaw... but that doesn't make us any less special. Creation myths of the time dictated that males were conceived when the father’s “seed” came from the right testicle, and that a female child would be born should the seed come from the left. If you're not familiar with the term "southpaw," trying to conjure its meaning might send your imagination all over the place. 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