Thread: левая?

What exactly does "левая" mean in this sort of example:

I was talking to my friend about my iphone weather program... and it was not perfect at forecasting winter snow. So he says "левая программа"

What exactly does левая mean when used like this? weak? feeble? idiotic? something else? Dictionary doesn't mention this kind of usage at all.

Yes, this meaning is very colloquial or even slang.
Левый:
(direct meaning) - illegal or with unknown origin
(indirect meanings) - non-standard, occasional, improperly made, self-made, of bad quality

thanks, good to know

Originally Posted by ycomp

Dictionary doesn't mention this kind of usage at all.

http://lingvo.abbyyonline.com/ru
It's a big dictionary and it does have the entry for this.

I did check it before posting, but it didn't really help me.

However the explanation about indirect meaning by it-ogo really helped.

Exactly as in English: "This is the right program to use". In this case "right" obviosly does not mean opposite to "left".

So, we can conclude that English "right" is opposite to Russian "левая":
"Это левая программа" = "This is not the right program".