Without looking it up...

[synchondrosis]

Finally! A question I know the answer to! ;D

Since majority of people are right-handed, they made life easier by placing buttons on the left, that way, the dominant hand (right) will have easier access. Men dressed themselves then, but women were dressed by their servants so to make the servants' lives a bit easier, women's buttons were placed on the right side for their easy access.

[duckie]

I had heard this, as well as another reason... when women would ride on the back of a horse, they would ride side-saddle, with their legs dangling on the left side of the horse. Having the buttons on the left side prevented a draft from entering their shirt.

[pfrsue]

duckie said:

I had heard this, as well as another reason... when women would ride on the back of a horse, they would ride side-saddle, with their legs dangling on the left side of the horse. Having the buttons on the left side prevented a draft from entering their shirt.

Reasonable. When you're galloping full tilt across ploughed fields, with the hounds baying ahead and the fox on the run and a giant hedgerow coming up that you're going to have to get your horse to jump over... the absolute last thing you'd want to worry about is whether your slip showing.

[DocD83]

I had heard this, as well as another reason... when women would ride on the back of a horse, they would ride side-saddle, with their legs dangling on the left side of the horse. Having the buttons on the left side prevented a draft from entering their shirt.

I always wondered why they would change their fashion for the sake of making a servant's life easier....of course, couldn't they just as easily ride with their legs on the right?

But anyway, I was thinking of the right-hand-dominance one, so I'll award this one to synchondrosis.

[synchondrosis]

Question: Why is New York known as the Big Apple?

[MarsNeedsTowels]

Though there's probably a better answer, weren't the first references to New York's apple analogy coined in the early 20th century, as a result of New York's reputation as a den of iniquity? Especially in regards to the explicit behind the scenes activity amongst the elite of the city. Like an apple, rotten in its core.
I think the big part is self-explanatory.

[pfrsue]

DocD83 said:

....of course, couldn't they just as easily ride with their legs on the right?

No, because you mount a horse from the left hand side.

[DocD83]

No, because you mount a horse from the left hand side.

Well, horses are symmetrical, aren't they?

[pfrsue]

DocD83 said:

Well, horses are symmetrical, aren't they?

Yes, but also side-dominant like we are. (Right handed or left-handed.)

My theory is that since most people are right handed, it's easier to mount from the left side because it's your right leg that you have to push off and swing over with. The left leg is little more than a pivot point. But the tradition is so old, who the heck knows?

What I do know is that if you try to get on a traditionally trained horse from the right hand side, you could very easily end up in the dirt. Allowing a rider to climb on its back goes against every instinct a horse is born with. So while a horse might be desensitized on one side from its training, the other side is a whole new ball of wax. You can certainly train a horse to be mounted from either side, but the vast majority aren't.

However, when you consider side-saddle riders specifically, the rider has to carry a fairly long whip as a replacement for the leg that isn't in use, so it does make sense for a right handed person to carry the whip on the right.

Man, I'm rambling. Sorry. Too much coffee this morning.

Sue

[Lissa]

Totally off-topic, but...

Um, synchondrosis, is Gollum eating Nemo there? Or am I just nuts?

[synchondrosis]

Lissa said:

Totally off-topic, but...

Um, synchondrosis, is Gollum eating Nemo there? Or am I just nuts?

Well, he did find Nemo... ;D

MarsNeedsTowels said:

Though there's probably a better answer, weren't the first references to New York's apple analogy coined in the early 20th century, as a result of New York's reputation as a den of iniquity? Especially in regards to the explicit behind the scenes activity amongst the elite of the city. Like an apple, rotten in its core.
I think the big part is self-explanatory.

Yep! A woman named Eve, who founded one of the most exclusive den of iniquity and her "apples" in the late 1800s! (Although the local government did try to sanitize the moniker later on).

Your turn, MarsNeedsTowels!

[MarsNeedsTowels]

Ahh the more things change the more they stay the same. Shifting slightly from prostitution to artists, here's another question approaching...

It is said that Vincent Van Gogh severed his ear under the influence of what?

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

Isn't the story that Van Gogh was so in love with a woman (who was either with someone else or just didn't like him, i forget), so he cut off his ear to prove to her how much he loved her?

Unless you mean "influence" as in an anesthetic of some sort, in which case I would be wrong.

[Lissa]

Wasn't he committed to an asylum and the doctor thought he had some form of epilepsy? (Which is what prompted the whole ear thing?)

Really disgusting story.

We were disecting a fetal pig in biology in 10th grade. If we wanted, we could stick around after school one day and do the brain for extra credit. We must not have had indoor track that day or something, because I do remember sticking around. Three of us were working together: myself, this guy Garrett, and my lab partner, who I suspected had a crush on me. We were also doing modern painters in World Culture and literature, and had just done Van Gogh. So we get talking about Van Gogh, and I'm telling Garrett about how Van Gogh cut off his ear and gave it to a woman as an expression of his love. Well, my lab partner cut off the pigs' ear and handed it to me! (Needless to say, I was right about the crush.)

[DocD83]

Aww, that was sweet.