"Nothing is so ignorant as a man's left hand, except a lady's watch."?

Question:Mark Twain wrote this in "Following the Equator." What is meant by this line? I wonder if it has to do with some cultural fact of the time that is no longer true today.



Answers:
I'm not sure about an cultural aspect but I can give my contemporary view of the quote.

I am Right handed. I don't mean almost or maybe. My left hand does little more than give my body some semblance of symmetry. I can also use it to hold something I am working on or to prevent my watch from sliding off of my wrist.

That covers the left hand part.

My wife hasn't been on time for anything I can remember. She depends on me to tell time for her and unless I lie about the time or set the clocks ahead she will be late. I plan on scheduling her funeral for Noon and inviting all the guests to be there around 4:00 PM.

And that covers the lady's watch aspect.

As I said, I don't know if there is something of the period that I am not aware of but for today I feel as comfortable with my interpretation as I could possibly be.
To my understanding, it means that a man doesn't use his left hand, and a woman doesn't use her watch, aka--the woman has no sense of time.

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