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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>Susan Knoch</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 17:09
I am a left handed and my son and his three children are all left handed. My husband is not, and has to find a place to sit a the table with all of us lefties.
<span>Kathy</span> Sun, 08/14/2022 - 09:37
I and my husband of ( 42years) are left handed. We never had children, but I said if we had ....they would be lefthanded or confused right handed folks!
<span>Christy Townsend</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 16:31
I am a lefty, couldn't learn knitting from mirroring Mom, and didn't learn until my 60s, on youtube. When my granddaughter wanted to learn, I went back and learned to knit righty so I could teach her and because I do historic demonstrations and was told I would have been stoned if I insisted on using my right hand back in that era. I can do a lot of things with either hand, but I only crochet lefty. My granddaughter managed to learn that from me in spite of our different handedness.
<span>Ann M Breitenbach</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 15:32
I am the only person in our family who is left handed for at least 12 generations. I have a great aunt to thank in allowing me to choose which hand to use.
<span>Shane Verplanck</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 15:00
I am somewhat ambidextrous and can play some sports with either hand. I do write and eat with my left hand but cut with scissors with my right! No wonder I was a bit confused as a kid, especially with regard to sports!! It is fun to switch hands when playing tennis or table tennis and confuse my opponent. My mother was totally left-hand and my Dad right-handed.
<span>John</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 13:57
At 77 I remember my parents never made me switch hands & when I started school (in a one-room school) The one teacher NEVER tried to make me use my right hand. She had come to the house the summer before I was to start and talked to me and I believe that's when my mother told her I was left-handed and not to try changing me. She was a beautiful person and helped me even though she only had me for 2 years before they closed the school and I had to go to another school ( K thru 8 grade). Being left-handed has presented me with occurrences that caused me some problems but I learned to cope. Being left-handed has made me a better person than I would have been as a righty.
<span>Sally Roesner</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 13:49
I can fold a paper n half. Then with a pencil in each hand, beginning at the fold, write my name from fold towards the vertical edges. That means the left signs backward from center to left while the right signs from left to right which is not my dominant hand. I concentrate on one hand, and the other hand just follows along.
<span>Samantha Gray</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 13:37
When I was a kid the schools switched all south paws in first grade onward. It made for total confusion. When I drive any distance I still wear rings ONLY on my left hand in case someone says "Turn left" so I am reminded that MY right is actually their left." I think this is why I have trouble with direction to this day. I was ambidexterous until I was 15, and sometimes still write on blackboards or vertical surfaces with my left hand. I can cook, open jars, brush my teeth, paint, thread a needle, etc., with either hand. NEVER, but NEVER try to change a child's handedness. It's chaos.
<span>Jo Mcdermand</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 13:13
I am left handed, my dad's mom was also left handed. Neither of my parents are but both my brother and I are. I use scissors, and shot a gun with my right hand. I also have a mouse on the right side of my computer. I can bat and shot hoops with both hands. You just learn to adjust.
<span>Nancy Carbone</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 15:33
I never hear right handed people say they can do things with their left hand. All I know is if I was a baseball hitter, I could swing both ways. I too use the mouse with my right hand.