left [OE] The original core sense of left in Old English is ‘weak’—the majority of people are right-handed, and the left-hand side was regarded as the weaker side of the body. The political application of left originated in the French National Assembly of 1789, in which the nobles as a body took the position of honour on the president’s right, and the Third Estate—the French bourgeoisie and working class—sat on his left. See also ambidextrous, sinister. In baseball left field [E20th] is the part of the outfield that is to the left from the perspective of the batter. In US English something that is left-field or out of left field is surprising or unconventional, or possibly ignorant or mistaken. The connection with baseball probably came from the fact that in many early ball parks the left field was larger than the right, making it more difficult to retrieve balls hit there and sometimes leading to delay and general confusion.