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Left-Handers Day: Surprising Facts About Being Left-Handed

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

International Left-Handers Day is August 13, a day celebrating the 10 to 12 percent of people worldwide who favor their left hand. Discover surprising left-handed facts, history, and folklore—from old superstitions to the science behind handedness.

Years ago, some teachers insisted that all students, including left-handers, learn to write with their right hand. Teachers thought that students would have an easier time if they were not “different” from right-handed writers. Some thought that using the left hand was just a bad habit. Some even slapped or punished left-handed kids who had trouble!

left-hander facts

Now we know that everyone should use whichever hand is most comfortable. Today, 10 to 12 percent of the world’s population is left-handed. It’s not surprising that lefties sometimes feel “left out.” Plenty of superstitions and odd terms regarding left-handedness exist.

Left-Hander Superstitions and Terms

  • Sinistrophobia is the fear of left-handedness or things on the left side.
  • Many people believe that the devil is left-handed.
  • The Latin word for left, sinister, also means unlucky, evil, and suspicious.
  • The French word for left, gauche, also means clumsy.
  • A left-handed compliment is an insult.
  • It is believed that all polar bears are left-handed.
  • A left-handed baseball pitcher is called a southpaw. (And no, there’s no such thing as a northpaw!)

Why Are Some People Left-handed and Others Right-handed?

Scientists aren’t sure what causes left-handedness. Genetics plays a role, but it’s not the whole story. For example, identical twins have the same DNA, but it is common for one twin to be right-handed and the other to be left-handed.

Many left-handers have a symmetrical brain, meaning that the left and right portions of their brain are shaped alike. Right-handers often have an asymmetrical brain: The left cerebral hemisphere is often larger than the right cerebral hemisphere.

pinky promise left hand facts

No matter the shape of your brain or the hand you favor, here’s what we have—um—left:

Left-handed Facts and Trivia

The Left Test

There’s no sure way to measure “handedness.” One of the most widely used tests is called the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (developed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the 1970s). This test asks participants which hand they most often use for a series of activities, including writing, eating, drawing, throwing, cutting with scissors, brushing teeth, and unscrewing a lid.

Left-handed Burgers? Baloney!

A full-page ad in USA Today in 1998 claimed that Burger King had developed the “left-handed Whopper.” The burger had the same fixings, but they were turned 180 degrees so that they wouldn’t drip out on left-handed customers. It was a joke! The ad ran on April 1 (April Fools’ Day).

Lefties Day

August 13 is International Left-Handers Day! The tradition was started by the Left-Handers Club, a group in the United Kingdom. Club members around the world give interviews and play left-handed games.

left handed facts folklore

Left-hander Heaven?

Lefties might want to travel to Left Hand, West Virginia, where there is a church, a school, and a post office. The village was so named because it sits on the left-hand fork of the Big Sandy River, not because of the way its citizens write.

Left-handed Reward

A few left-handers attending Juniata College in Pennsylvania have benefited from a scholarship just for left-handers established in 1979 by Mary and Frederick Beckley, two left-handers who met when they attended tennis class together in 1919.

If you’re right-handed, try writing with your left. If you’re left-handed, try brushing your teeth with your right. You’re likely to find these activities surprisingly difficult.

So, tell us below if you are a lefty or righty and what you’ve observed about this phenomenon called handedness!

Amusements

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the digital home of The Old Farmer’s Almanac. She leads digital editorial strategy and publishing across a wide range of Almanac sub...

Read more from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Dusti Hershberger</span> Mon, 08/15/2022 - 12:54
Lefty here! Scissors always bother me. We demand compensation! (just kidding) though might as well get on the bandwagon of even being offended about everything and demanding money for it.
<span>Judith Goodnow</span> Sun, 08/13/2023 - 10:21
Dusti- you can buy left handed scissors. Go to a sewing store like Joann’s or similar and go into the sewing section, or ask. I’ve had mine for years
<span>Dorothy</span> Sun, 08/13/2023 - 08:27
I've heard turning the scissor upside down if you are a lefty. Does that work?
<span>Ricki Lee Stamper</span> Sun, 08/13/2023 - 13:01
Nope. Not at all.
<span>Billye</span> Mon, 08/15/2022 - 09:52
I'm right-handed but my sister and niece are left-handed. My sister had a horrible teacher in first grade. The teacher would slap her hand with a ruler and tell her, "Good children don't right with their left hand. Only wicked and evil children are left-handed." My mother didn't know this was happening until my sister brought a sheet of ABC's home to work on. When asked why she was trying to write right-handed my sister told her what was happening with the teacher. My mild-mannered Mom was livid! She called the Superintendent and the Principal to schedule an appointment the next day with them and the teacher. I can still remember her telling Dad, "I told them if they thought my daughter was evil then they've not ever seen evil and wicked if this right-handed mother ever sees or hears of this again." Needless to say, the teacher was fired the next week. Wahoo Mom! Both my sister and niece although left-handed they bat, use scissors, cut meat, and open jars right-handed. I think this is due to how Mom taught them to do what was natural and comfortable to them and not what society wanted them to do. I only say this because my niece didn't have an awful teacher like my sister did. I still give them guff after all these years for being left-handed. Heaven help those who do the same because I'm the first one there in defense of left-handers when they're called slow, stupid, backwards, slackers, evil, and other derogatory terms. Although, my sister does give a mean Evil Eye. Maybe she is a wicked child after all. LOL ;) Love you Sis
<span>Fred Parker</span> Mon, 08/15/2022 - 08:31
Left-handed,and,proud to be different.
<span>Debbie Ragland…</span> Sun, 08/14/2022 - 19:58
I Love being a Minority, I am the only LeftHanded person in my immediate family , when I was young I used to think I was adopted !!!!
<span>Carol</span> Sun, 07/16/2023 - 17:20
I also am the only left handed person anyone could remember from either side of my family. Despite my paternal grandmother hating this "disability" I have enjoyed the gift of artistic creativity and excelling in science. I recently read an article that lefties have easier ability to manipulate and envision abstract 3d images in their minds so that is why we are inclined to fields of work using those skills.
<span>Mary</span> Sun, 08/14/2022 - 17:52
I love being left handed. My husband and our son are both lefties too. I do not remember being reprimanded at all by teachers, but I do cut with scissors, use a knife to peel and hit with a bat using my right hand, so maybe a teacher influenced that back then. Lefties are also very artistic and creative individuals.
<span>Lamon L Hayhurst</span> Sun, 08/14/2022 - 16:38
I do everything left handed. Yes when I was a child the teacher would slap my left hand and told me I had to use my right. I went home and told my dad and he went to the school and told them if they did it again he would be whipping some butt.