"Don't shit where you eat"

[Beverly Flanigan]

Yes, I'd switch hands if I'm thinking fast enough, but if I slip it
wouldn't (presumably) be offensive to (non-Muslim) Americans.  In fact, I
may deliberately use my left hand as a sign of friendship, as opposed to
the formality of the right hand shake.  But since we have 5 or 6 Muslim
grad students every year, I try to be extra careful when greeting them.

Beverly

At 04:05 PM 7/7/2007, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: "Don't shit where you eat"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Ii agree with what you say WRT to Muslim custom. I read about it in a
>book, about fifty years ago. ;-) But wouldn't that also be true of
>Americans? Wouldn't you switch hands or put down what you were
>holding, in order to be able to shake hands with another American with
>your right hand? Or maybe I'm being hypersensitive.
>
>White guy offers right hand to black guy:
>
>"Happy New Year!"
>
>Black guy extends right hand.
>
>White guy withdraws right hand and offers left hand:
>
>"Oops! I'm sorry! I use my *left* hand to shake with niggers."
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 7/6/07, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at ohio.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: "Don't shit where you eat"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 04:46 PM 7/6/2007, you wrote:
> > >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >-----------------------
> > >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >Poster:       Barbara Need <nee1 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU>
> > >Subject:      Re: "Don't shit where you eat"
> > >-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
> > >
> > >At 23:11 -0400 03/7/07, sagehen wrote:
> > > >  >Sorry for the crude title.
> > > >>
> > > >>Has anyone searched to find out what the earliest version of this must
> > > >>have been?  I would doubt that it was that phrasing.
> > > >>
> > > >>Anyone suggest what the original sentiment might have been?
> > > >>
> > > >>Sam Clements
> > > >  ~~~~~~~~~~
> > > >I remember reading about the Essenes or some similar group
> --  associated
> > > >with the Dead Sea Scrolls, perhaps? -- that had strictures
> concerning the
> > > >roles of the two hands: the one that went into the communal pot at
> mealtime
> > > >would never be the one that wiped one's bottom.   Whether the left
> was the
> > > >"clean" and the right the "unclean" I don't remember, but I believe the
> > > >roles were immutable.
> > > >AM
> > >
> > >I remember a month-long Sunday school sequence on the Arab world
> > >(mid-70s, Unitarian Church) in which we were instructed to eat with
> > >the right hand (no utensils!) because the left hand was traditionally
> > >used to wipe oneself.
> > >
> > >Barbara
> > >
> > >Barbara Need
> > >UChicago
> > >
> > >------------------------------------------------------------
> > >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > Still true for Muslims.  If I'm holding something in my right hand and
> > unthinkingly shake hands with a Muslim student with my left hand, I
> > immediately know I've committed a faux pas from the look on the face of my
> > student.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>--
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-----
>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org