Anthony is a student at USC and one of my closest friends. He grew up in New York and moved to Los Angeles this year to study at USC. He comes from an Italian background.

Performance: “Southpaw is like a thing because when you introduce yourself to a girl you want to have your right hand open. You don’t want to have your right hand clammy or cold. Is that the reason?”

Sure, whatever reason you think is right. that’s why it’s folklore. keep talking. How does it happen and what does it mean.

“Well if you’re drinking a beer, and the beer is in your right hand, your hand is cold and wet from the can or bottle, and thats bad when you meet people. First you have to switch what hand the beer is in , and then your hand is cold. Southpaw is when you see somebody with their drink in your right hand, you say “Southpaw,” and they have to chug their entire drink. It’s to encourage you to always hold your drink in your right hand.”

Response: I’ve heard of southpaw before – it is very popular at USC and in party communities. A variation of this folklore that I’ve heard before is “Buffalo” where “buffalo” is exclaimed at a person holding a beer in their right hand and the same rules apply. I am unclear where the word buffalo would come from. Southpaw makes some sense, as that is the colloquial term for left handed pitchers in baseball. Anthony learned the phrase not in his home of New York but at USC.