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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>Roddy Camper</span> Mon, 07/04/2022 - 18:49
LOL Donna, that works both ways!!!
<span>Sharon Cardenas</span> Fri, 08/13/2021 - 14:58
I'm a right hander...the only thing I do left handed is bat a ball. Why??? Don't know, just fells right! No pun intended! I have made quiet a few pitchers hit the dirt though. Unintentionally of course! : )
<span>Rosalee</span> Fri, 08/13/2021 - 13:08
I am predominately left handed but crochet, knit, golf, shoot, and use scissors right handed- Mom taught me that way- saying it would be a lot easier to follow patterns- and back them. we had never heard of left hand scissors back then. I cross stitch with both hands. It was harder to learn- but glad she did that. My adult son uses both hands interchangeably for everything even eating. My daughter is left handed but also does many things right handed.
<span>Kathryn</span> Fri, 08/13/2021 - 13:03
Kathryn again, I forgot to say that if you dance the man’s part in Round Dancing, the lead leg you begin with is always your left leg. I’m a woman, but I find the man’s part is easier
<span>Kathryn</span> Fri, 08/13/2021 - 13:03
Kathryn again, I forgot to say that if you dance the man’s part in Round Dancing, the lead leg you begin with is always your left leg. I’m a woman, but I find the man’s part is easier
<span>Anita Herndon</span> Fri, 08/13/2021 - 12:41
I’m left-handed. But I bat a ball and wear my watch right-handed. When I was in school my Grandma told me to do the opposite of what the teacher said about handwriting. I still have very neat handwriting. Also in school they always put the left-handed desks in the back of the classroom, so I would have to drag it to the front every day.
<span>Kathryn</span> Fri, 08/13/2021 - 12:23
I am right handed. I seem to only be able to brush my teeth with my left hand! I also Round Dance. Round Dancing is choreographed ballroom dancing. I am a woman, but I find that the man’s part is easier than the woman’s. When someone cues a round dance they cue to the men, the women have to listen and reverse all the cues that the men do, so they don’t crash into the man.
<span>Steve</span> Fri, 08/13/2021 - 11:29
I am one of those lefties forced to be a righty when I was in Kindergarten. Growing up, I learned to do some things as an ambidextrous person. Comes in handy at times and fools people (which is fun to do).
<span>Richard</span> Fri, 08/13/2021 - 11:09
Left handed like my father, learned to play stringed instruments right handed( violin, guitar, mandolin, bass) and golf early on (used older brothers clubs) then when I got my own clubs switched to playing left handed
<span>Elizabeth Steffen</span> Fri, 08/13/2021 - 10:51
My third grade teacher asked my mother to visit Palmer Publishing in New York so that I would learn proper cursive penmanship. All it involved was angling the paper opposite of the righties. It was so simple and I still have good penmanship at 80 years of age.