Where does southpaw come from?

The term southpaw has referred to a person’s left hand since the 1800s. The paw in southpaw is slang for “hand,” but what does south refer to?

It’s popularly said that southpaw is related to baseball diamonds facing west in the 1800s so that batters didn’t have to look into the sun (before lighting made night games possible). That meant left-handed pitchers would have been positioned south in their windup.

It’s a clever story, but evidence suggests that southpaw began in boxing. The south may have characterized the left hand as “lesser” or “lower” than the right hand.

In boxing, left-handed fighters learn what’s called the southpaw stance, involving leading with the right hand and foot but delivering the most powerful punches with the left fist. As most people are right-handed, the southpaw stance can be very advantageous (as pitching southpaw is in baseball, too), and so right-handed pugilists (who typically fight in what’s called the orthodox stance) may learn the stance, too. Famous southpaws in boxing include Ruslan Chagaev, Héctor Camacho, and Manny Pacquiao.