janKipo wrote:We have been through this a few times before over the last decade and a half. The problem is, of course, that left-handed people feel (and often are) stigmatized by this kind of terminology.
Let me disagree from here on. The main problem is - toki pona has no means to express directions and coordinates. This is one big design flaw which prevents quite a lot of practical usage. That's the main issue, as i see it.
janKipo wrote: The same is true, to a lesser extent, with most other suggestions for "left side/hand" and "right side/hand": "heart side", say, or "strong side". tp doesn't have a commitment to the militaristic origins of Abrahamic terminology nor medieval medicine, etc. but also, alas, has not culture of its own to draw on.
So, the language also lack any cultural background other than that of people using it right now. Why does that mean that we, the people who use toki pona, must not use our cultural habits while using toki pona? Also, we do use them alot, maybe you just don't recognize it. For example:
1) ma Amewika seli/lete for South and North America.
How does that make sense? The Warm America is actually anywhere in South and North Americas excluding Southern Argentina, Alaska and Canda.
A habit to substitute lete and selo for North and Soth is actually wery european thing. It makes no sense in tropical areas and really confuses people of Southern Hemisphere.
2) tenpo lete for winter
Again, it works fine for some european and north american areas. But for where i live, winter is actually tenpo walo. If it's tenpo lete, than it may just be the autumn. For areas of tropical climate "cold time" makes no sense at all. Every time you refer to a calendar period as tenpo lete, people from tropical areas (India, Brazil, Central Africa, Southern Asia) must struggle to recognize that in Europe winter is cold. And you have no other means to refer to calendar periods

I'm not saying that you must stop doing that, i'm just pointing out the fact that adopting the surrounding reality (including social reality) into the language is a natural thing.
janKipo wrote:The one universal of tp experience, it turns out is the left to right writing system, the official one, not the codes like sitelen pona or sitelen sitelen. As a result, the least objectionable words for "left" and "right" so far are 'poka/luka open' (I suppose fully ''pi open sitelen') for "left side/hand" and ''luka/poka pini' for "right". There is no general agreement about these choices, but less objections than to any other.
I can tell the main objection. It is not recognizeable. If you tell people to turn to the side of beginning - will they instantly understand that you are refering to your local writing system? Or shall they use nearest open door as a clue? Or the side where Sun begins it's way? It's worth mentioning that the latin script is only used - again - in Europe and Americas. For other parts of the World poka open sitelen may refer to the top side or the right side.
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On the other hand, i like you mentioning "strong hand" as a synonim for right hand. I find "luka wawa" much more neutral than "luka pona", and from now on i'll use it.