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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>Linda</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 16:28
I am right handed and do many things with my left hand; it is a mater of convenience. If my right hand is full/busy with something, I will use my left hand. I often use my left for unlocking the door when carrying things in my right hand. As teacher I would encourage kids to try writing and doing other things with their left hands in case they were ever in a position to need to do that such as having a broken right arm. I have even written with my right foot for fun.
<span>Jenn</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 12:16
My son is lefty. It is an advantage to him as a baseball pitcher and batter but not as a fielder. As a pitcher he has natural movement that is highly prized along with the change in release point for messing with the batters heads. As a batter, pitchers at his level often have trouble throwing strikes to him and the fielders often shift on him due to a lefties tendency to pull the ball, but he has learned to exploit those gaps. As a fielder, he is limited to 1st base and outfield due to the fractions of a second longer it takes a lefty to throw from any other position to first base. The only other relative we know of that was lefty is my husbands grandfather who was forced to be right handed back in the day (knuckle wacking included). He was also an avid baseball fan, raised several players (including one that was drafted by the Dodgers out of high school but went to college instead on baseball scholarship), and always wanted a lefty baseball player in the family. Sadly, he passed away before our son was born.
<span>Bonnie Minsterman</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 12:12
I believe genetics does play a role in being left-handed. My mother was left handed, as is myself, my sister, my daughter, and my granddaughter. None of the men in the family are left handed. My mother was punished for using her left hand, with a ruler by her teachers. She always told my teachers not to make me use my right hand. She was forced to write with her right hand, and struggled with writing her whole life. Thanks, Mom. I have been told that I have beautiful penmanship.
<span>Pat Wagner</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 11:15
I'm a lefty, and about the only things I can do righthanded is using scissors and when I was a kid using a bat to play softball, otherwise I am strictly a lefty. There are and were several other family members who are lefthanded and the newest member to the group is going to be my 3-year-old great niece. It was so exciting to see her using her left hand when she started eating and using utensils.
<span>Joe</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 11:11
I consider it a gift to be lefthanded. Because we are born into a right-handed world, we are forced to do many things that way. Results. Lefties can do more with their right hand than a rightie can do with their left. When I had surgery on my left hand, I got along pretty well using only my tight.
<span>George Dalton</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 11:08
I am proudly left-handed. When I was in grade school the teachers tried to make me write "right" handed. They stopped when my parents went to the Principal to complain. I do everything left-handed - except shoot a bow and arrow or a rifle. I hold my pen with the top facing my body and have always written that way. I have seen people who are left-handed hold their pen or pencil with the bottom facing their body. A very unnatural position if you ask me. I used to wear my watch on my left hand but then changed to the right and have worn it there for the last 60 years or so. The world is not set up for left-handed people, but I have adjusted.
<span>Peggy U.</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 10:53
I am a left-hander, but I guess I am also ambidextrous because I write and eat left-handed but I bat, throw a ball, use scissors and a few other things right-handed.
<span>Judy</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 13:10
Hi Peggy, I am like you. I write and eat lefty but do most other activities right. However, many things I do with either hand, but I cannot write or eat right at all!
<span>Joyce Crump</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 10:42
I have always been left handed and was one that experienced a grade school teacher smacking my hands with a chalkboard pointer every time is used it. I am proud to say I am still left handed. I was surprised also by the picture of a writer using the left hand and seemed unnatural because of the angle of the pen pointing towards the body and not away like mine does when I write.
<span>Peggy</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 11:32
I’m a third generation left hander. My maternal grandmother, mother and myself and this makes me very proud. But I grew up last of five children in my family, they were all right-handed and so I learned to use my right hand somewhat. But when we played wiffleball I batted left-handed but ran to third base when I hit the ball my siblings thought that was hilarious.