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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>Beth</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 07:24
Yay for leftys! My 1st grade teacher tied my hand behind my back to force me to write right handed, "correctly" - until my father found out. I was humiliated in front of the class & so relieved when it stopped! I did work hard to learn not to write with a "hook", though, once I knew my left hand was "bad", I was accused of cheating once in school because I had to sit sideways in a wrap around right handed desk in order to write & support my arm. In college there were only a few left handed desks available in some classrooms, so you had to get there early! And if you sat
<span>Beth</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 07:51
(Continued) in a booth at a restaurant, you 'd try to leave space beside you & the wall for your elbow, or better yest sit on the outside of the bench seat. And a gravy ladle with a spout always had the spout at the top! It IS easier to be an accountant as a lefty. I'm not forever having to switch hands to write vs running the calculator, much more efficient. The same for using eating utensils - my fork's in my left hand, knife in my right & no switching. Decades ago I bought a book called "Left Handers World". It was so nice to know a book had been written about us... I still have it 40 yeaes later. And - I've always wondered why I can't start things having a pull cord, so thank you for writing here. My tennis instructor quit when I switched hands after one arm got tired. I always thought that'd be an advantage if competing, likewise for baseball pitchers! Personally, I believe we're better able to be analytical as well as creative. But we need to be careful re not smearing pencil or wet ink as our hand moves across the paper while writing. (I'm old enough to still WRITE, cursive no less!) I'll check out your book, and will probably look for my old one today for more peeves. I only have left handed scissors in my home... Thanks!
<span>Kelly</span> Wed, 04/06/2022 - 00:39
I write and eat with my left but most everything else is with my right but I remember when elementary teachers would smack me with ruler for using my left.
<span>Roddy Camper</span> Sun, 07/03/2022 - 16:31
Hello Kelly. Congratulations for fighting through the bad teachers and keeping left. Lots of psychologist back in the day, including Freud, told parents to convert their children to right handed. What a bunch of idiots. What we have learned is that when you force a change of this nature, it creates new problems such as King George I who was converted as a child and then developed a stuttering problem. We know now why however they didn't know.
<span>Dawn Mcgroarty</span> Tue, 10/26/2021 - 09:47
I am ambidextrous but left-hand dominate. I can but not well; throw, write, play pool, and cut all right-handed. I was lucky growing up I was not forced to use my right hand. I do know I was labeled as dyslexic not sure if it has anything to do with being left-handed. As a matter of fact, I broke a bone in my left hand had to be in a cast for 6 weeks and I got out of writing in school and homework. For the homework, I did my best writing with my right hand. It was hard still is. My father was a leftie. I have a lot of cousins that are also lefties. Left-handed people are awesome in my book!!
<span>Roddy Camper</span> Sun, 07/03/2022 - 16:34
Yes Dawn, left handed people are AWESOME! You keep using the hand that feels the best, as God has intended. If you get a chance, take a look at my book Lefty Leon's first day in school and see if you can relate. I know I did. The website is www.leftyrightsclub.org. Have fun! Roddy
<span>Pmf</span> Sat, 08/13/2022 - 06:44
History.com says this regarding the Salem Witch Trials: “Twenty people were eventually executed as witches, but contrary to popular belief, none of the condemned was burned at the stake. In accordance with English law, 19 of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials were instead taken to the infamous Gallows Hill to die by hanging.” Actually, approximately 40,000 to 50,000 were executed as witches in Great Britain and the United States over a period of approximately 100 years. I’m left handed, and I’ve always been careful to check facts, especially before stating incorrect information in public.
<span>Irene Mutibwa</span> Tue, 06/14/2022 - 12:50
We are differently created but a perfect creation
<span>Roddy Camper</span> Sun, 07/03/2022 - 16:39
Hello Irene. I love the thought, however there was only one perfect creation on this Earth, it was Jesus. However, I will have you know that throughout my life's research on left handedness, I have discovered that Jesus himself was left handed! Along with his disciple Peter. It was the image in the shroud that revealed his handedness. And, it makes sense, due to the fact that left handers have a evenly symmetrical brain. Meaning the right and left hemisphere are equal in size, whereas a right hander has a reduced right hemisphere. Probably due to the lack of usage. Thus the reason I am strongly promoting the unification of both handed people in this world.
<span>Patricia</span> Sun, 08/15/2021 - 21:50
I started out life left handed. My Grandmother made me switch because she believed it was evil. I remember turning in a paper at school that I wrote half with my left and half with my right. I had forgotten to write it right handed. The teacher asked me about it and I told her about what my Grandmother said. She told me she liked the left handed writing better. Later in life I injured the tendons in my right hand. I had a cast on that hand for 2mon, and then physical therapy to rehabilitate it. I had to do everything with my left hand. I found that I picked it up quickly and my brain processed better. Today I am mostly right handed but switch now and then. I was having a hard time threading a needle while sewing this afternoon. Couldn't seem to get the needle threaded, so I switched to my left hand and nailed it the first time. I threaded that needle 3 times in a row on the first try. I use both hands but my left hand feels more natural to me.