Holy shit, people still read this thread.

Eli: Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. You still didn't explain exactly what you were thinking about icons and width and possibly direction, though. Unless I'm supposed to take this as a concession that icons never make sense no matter how you order them, in which case I'll gladly accept.

FWIW, I think of slamming left as "smash mouse into keyboard," while right is "frisbee tossing" / "gesturing" / "showtunes" / "smash mouse into edge of keyboard drawer." But then, I'd rather be using a trackball.