"Left" is a word that has sinister connotations in many languages and expressions. (You probably caught the example that I slipped in there, the word "sinister" is derived from words tracing back to Latin and originally meaning "on the left, which is the BAD, side".
In various cultures it's considered very bad manners to gesture or touch someone with your left hand. One of the origins of this was sanitary. If you didn't have much access to soap and running water then you'd always use your left hand for "dirtier" tasks (use you imagination), thus leaving your left hand relatively hygienic for shaking, or handling food.
But English has even deeper meanings for the word left. For instance, "When that guy sitting on your left left, he left his coat behind, the last thing he had left!" Four "lefts" in a one sentence, each with largely separate meanings.
In English, "left" means "opposite of 'right'", but is also a past tense for "leave". So in the example it's first a direction, then a verb, then a DIFFERENT verb, and finally an indicator of state, in a part of speech I actually don't know.
Mostly simply, "The guy on your left left and left all he had left."
Also, "izquierda", which is Spanish for "left", at least in the "directional" sense. I don't believe that it's used as in English, no one says, "Pablo izquierda la casa," people would shake their heads at that. You'd probably use a form of "deportar", "to depart", or even a tense of "var", "To go".
But I like "izquierda, it just seems like such an exotic word for such a mundane concept. "El Mano Izquierda" (gender may be wrong, Im not that good at Spanish) sounds like it should be the name of a Spanish superhero, not "left hand"!
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