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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>Judith Larson</span> Sun, 08/14/2022 - 11:15
I do almost everything left handed. When I was in grade school the teacher put a bag over my left hand and tried to force me to write with my right hand. I could not do it. I started to stutter all the time and my parents took me to a doctor. He knew right away what was causing the stuttering and he and my parents went to the school and talked to the principal about what this teacher was doing. She was made to stop doing what she was doing to me and the stuttering went away. Ignorant people called me a witch. To this day people make comments about left handed people. There are many kinds of prejudices in this world. I am very good at math, have beautiful handwriting, am artistic.
<span>Bob</span> Sun, 08/14/2022 - 09:19
I am a dominant lefty; the only activity I've ever been able to successfully perform with my right hand when independent of my left hand was using a a baseball glove on the right hand. Two months ago, I was given cognitive occupational therapy in a hospital after a major concussion. One procedure involved threading long flat plastic strings through relatively small holes along the border of a piece of cloth. I was suppose to reproduce the same pattern of loops and twists that had already been completed on a different piece of cloth by the right-handed therapist. I couldn't replicate the pattern, in fact I couldn't even imagine the hand movements that were necessary, especially because of my recent brain trauma. The therapist insisted I should be able to. Recently, I went for a follow-up session at a different hospital, to be certain that all my cognitive responses have completely returned to normal. After the therapist completed a set of physical tests of pushing, pulling, eye coordination, etc., I told the therapist about the previous struggle I had. The therapist indicated that the therapy department would review any similar single-handed procedures for such bias.
<span>Sher</span> Sun, 08/14/2022 - 08:03
I was born left handed, but in kindergarten my fingers were all taped together by my teacher to force me to use my right hand - to this day I love the smell of Scotch Tape!! In most cases I am ambidextrous, but I do most things with my right hand. Having said that I take lids off jars with my left hand, I flick light switches with my left hand and there are likely many other things that I do with my left hand that I don't realize I do. I can write with both hands, and I can write backward - I think that's a product of going back and forth between right and left. My brother was born left handed and was forced to change. To this day neither of us are any good at math.
<span>Lana Baker</span> Sun, 08/14/2022 - 01:00
I had an aha moment a few years ago when I read that lefties have problems hugging. We tend to go to the left when going in for a hug and of course righties want to go to their right. We end up doing this back and forth little dance trying to figure out which side to go. For years I wondered why my hugs were always so awkward!
<span>Beverly Beaver</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 19:29
I am ambidextrous. My mother and grandmother were also ambidextrous.
<span>Monica</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 19:19
I am a mixed bag of left and right. I write, eat, cut with a knife, and brush my teeth and hair left handed. I am right eye dominant and grew up in a family of only right handers, therefore I play all sports right handed. I was heavily involved in sports all through school. I like being a strange mix! I think my school and teachers forced the mix to some extent. I used to switch hands back and forth constantly until I entered school where they made me pick just one hand to write with. I chose left for no real reason. I think it is a shame to have had my development stunted in that way. Hopefully that practice has stopped and kids are encouraged to use both hands. Hello, balance anyone? And while we're at it, why don't we stop cramming kids feet into too small shoes asap, which changes the shape of developing feet and retards the use of toes for anything meaningful. Not a good practice in my opinion.
<span>Victor Sunstar</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 17:41
Well... I yam 77.5 now n so far, except for a few minor but frustrating n irksomes. I am ok being, doing n having as a left handed human. THINGS that DON'T WORK for meeee.. SPIRAL NOTEBOOKS SIZZORS SHOOTING A RIFLE SWITCHING SOME THINGS ON n OFF NUMBER PAD ON A PC btw if u look at a persons butt n bak pockets. If their wallet is in their right bak pocket - chances r that they r lefties.
<span>Caron Foren</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 17:39
I am ambidextrous. I use both hands. I write, eat and do a few more things Left handed. The rest I use my right. My husband was also left handed. I think being left handed is special. I like being different than most people. Then again my lucky number is 13.
<span>Judi</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 17:17
I think it has a lot to do with how you're taught. I eat and drink lefty. I can't use scissors left-handed, though. I iron clothes righty, but brush my teeth and unopen lids lefty. I learned to knit and crochet righty, and wouldn't know how to begin doing either as a lefty. My teacher tried to teach me to write lefty, but was not successful. Two of my talents are writing upside-down and backwards. Don't know any rightys who can do that! Maybe not many leftys either.
<span>Frances</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 22:53
I am 75 yrs old and mostly a righty, can write slowly as a lefty, but have an exceptionally good handwriting as a righty. Play cards, cook, paint,some other things lefty. Can write upside down, backwards, mirror-write with right hand. Taught elementary school many years and taught cursive handwriting to both left and right-handed students.