The unorthodox stance actually applies to any stance that isn't right handed, so it covers any other stance including the southpaw stance, but today most people in boxing would understand the term to mean a southpaw or left handed fighter.
The term Southpaw is often credited as being a baseball term coined in the mid-late 19th Century, however the term pre-dates baseball to describe, simply, the left hand or a punch or blow given with the left hand and as such is more closely related to boxing. In fact, most dictionary definitions of Southpaw ascribe the term to boxing.
The History Channel has a web page which discusses the term Southpaw, and whilst the bulk of the article argues for the term originating in baseball their conclusion leads one to a very different position.
Major League Baseball's official historian John Thorn also agrees that the term originates from boxing rather than baseball.
This post is part of a series in the Blogging From A To Z Challenge, April 2022.
Interesting and a new term added to my vocabulary. Do you write with your left as well ?
ReplyDeletehttps://pagesfromjayashree.blogspot.com/2022/04/upma-and-quote-from-kannadasan.html
Since I'm not into baseball or boxing, I have never heard the term" Southpaw" - thank you for teaching me.
ReplyDeleteSouthpaw...learnt a new word today. Interesting
ReplyDeleteDropping by from a to z "The Pensive"
Are left handed golfers southpaws too?
ReplyDeleteI don't play golf but I know lefties seem to make a fuss about clubs....
Heading down another rabbit hole......:)
I always thought the term "southpaw" was kind of weird. I still think it's weird, but now I'm more enlightened about it.
ReplyDeleteArlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Hello, Dean, I'm finally out and about on the 2022 A to Z Road Trip to visit blogs. 2022 was my first year participating in A2Z, and I fumbled around a lot figuring the ins and outs of it. I grew up watching the Friday Night Prize Fights with my grandpa (back in the 1960s), so I have an interest in boxing. I'd always heard the term southpaw came from boxing and not baseball, too.
ReplyDelete