Dealing with the 'unclean hand' when travelling (if you're left-handed)

"Among Muslims, the left hand is reserved for bodily hygiene and considered unclean. Thus, the right hand should be used for eating. Shaking hands or handing over an item with one's left hand is considered an insult."

A common enough sentence in many guide books and on Wikipedia. However, being left-handed it's quite often very unnatural - you reach for food with your dominant hand, pass something with that hand, and ironically the right hand is often the one used for bodily hygiene among left-handers.

Indeed, in Uzbekistan I picked up an apple with my left hand to the horror of the locals I was with on a train ride, at which point one of them who didn't speak English graphically demonstrated that right hand is for eating and left hand is for ... elsewhere.

So, if you're left-handed, how do you deal with it? Tie a string around your hand? Just lots of practice? Or do you just not care, even if their insistence on the right hand can result in them unknowingly getting a hand that is the very one they were trying to avoid?

EDIT

Source of the quote

Best Answer

Shaking hands or handing over an item with one's left hand is considered an insult.

I think this is exaggeration!

I live in and visited many Muslim/East countries and it is not an insult/wrong to hand stuff with left hand. You might just met some extremist in this train, anyway I never went to Uzbekistan .

and by the way, I have never saw any one shaking hand using left hand, even left-handed people shake with their right hand, because this is the defacto standard.

But in these countries, you will notice that most of people eat with their right hand. Even left-handed people are used of it. But there are few people who eats with left hand and no one see it as wrong/bad/unhygienic.

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Why is the left hand considered unclean?

In many parts of the world, the left hand is considered unclean, usually because it's used for \u201cablutions\u201d. If you're left-handed and visiting places like India, Nepal and the Middle East, you may have to pretend to be ambidextrous \u2013 it's incredibly rude to eat, pick anything up or hand over money with your left.

Why is it disrespectful to shake with left hand?

Shaking hands, pretty much anywhere In fact, colloquially across the United States, the term \u201cleft-handed handshake\u201d is considered an insult and refers to insincere promises. Sources: Emily Post Etiquette: \u201cPassing Food at the Table\u201d Quartz: \u201cYour smartphone performs better in one hand than the other\u201d

Is it wrong to eat with your left hand?

The left hand is traditionally discouraged at table because it is the non-sacred hand, reserved for profane and polluting actions from which the right hand abstains. One example of these tasks is washing after excretion.

Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order by Ray Dalio

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