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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>Cindy</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 17:54
I was born a lefty and am now probably 65/35. I always wrote lefty until my mid-twenties when I was injured by scalding water. To my astonishment I was able to write legibly with my right hand after figuring out how to hold my pen between my thumb and forefinger. That's when I discovered that I don't hold my pen that way in my left hand. I cradle my pen between my curled thumb and and the first knuckle of my middle finger with the tip of my forefinger resting against the pen. This position gives me a natural right handed slant to my writing with the paper at a slant natural to right handers. People are surprised that my writing was done left handed. This pen position was self taught in grade school after many tears and frustration when learning how to write. I eat left handed unless I'm using a knife and then I hold my fork right handed. No awkward switching. I bowl lefty, crochet righty, mouse and caculate righty, shoot well with either hand. I never had a problem with scissors left or right. Growing up in a right handed world I just grab whatever and try with either hand and go with the one that works best without stopping to think about it. This article actually made me stop and think about which hand I use for different tasks. Lefties are the lucky ones in adaptability.
<span>Santa</span> Mon, 12/26/2016 - 00:15
Well that's weird Cindy but we appreciate you .. jk Merry Christmas
<span>Tony Holden</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 17:47
As a left handed person, while learning to write, I wrote in amost perfect mirror image. You had to hold my paper up to a mirror to read it. Once I figured out, by myself, the cause I was able to make the correction. The cause: when the teacher demonstrated writing a letter - like a "B" - she would say "draw a line and then start at the top and draw a loop out and away and then back in." I saw her move out and away from her body, so I did the same. But away for her was to the right, for me it was to the left. I also wrot from the right side of thr paper to the left - so I could see what I was writing. I also flipped any notebook over because the note book binder rings got in the way. But like I said, once I realized I was different, I learned to adapt and reverse the movements when being instructed in a new skill. But I still can't write in ink without smearing it. "Hire a Lefty because it's fun to watch them write."
<span>Ani</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 16:27
I am mostly ambidextrous. The tests of "sidedness" usually end in a tie. I can write with my left, but undoubtedly it is better with my right. I use both hands independently, and often hide things from myself by slipping them into my left pocket without thinking!
<span>Dave</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 14:51
I eat left handed, I throw darts and baseballs right handed (although I'm accurate with darts no matter how I throw), I write left handed but play guitar and drums right handed. I favor my left eye and I have a gifted iq level. Studies show that people of higher intelligence tend to be left handed although being left handed doesn't mean you are by default of higher intelligence.
<span>Darlene Moore</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 14:48
I am a fraternal twin; my twin brother was right handed and I (female) am left handed. I am told I have nice handwriting but I have to concentrate on it; I have a hard time ironing, opening jars and as a secretary my work station has always been set up for a right handed person. I learned to type using the numbers above not on the little numbers to the right. When I was little I apparently had a hard time learning to tie my shoes until a neighbour noticed I was lefthanded and showed me. I learned right away. It is nice to be different.
<span>Robin</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 08:29
scissors were the best gift I ever received as a child. I'm quite crafty and was always making something. My dad got them for me. My sons girlfriend ask to borrow a pair of scissors. I handed her the ones next to me. Then noticed her frustration. She looked at me and said is it me or is something wrong with these scissors. I laughed and said welcome to my world.
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.almanac.com/blog/almanac/everything/left-handers-day-august-13">Fran Falan</a> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 06:09
When I was a baby, my grandma (a former lefthander), was not allowed to stay that way because she was taught that lefthanded people would grow up evil. She kept that belief all of her life and even in adulthood she did not stay a lefthander. Grandma's belief was that it meant your soul would be at risk in the afterlife. So each time grandma babysat me, she would take my sock off my foot and cover my lefthand so I could not use it thus hopefully getting me accustomed to being right-handed. My mom told me when my parents picked me up and as soon as they walked outside their home my mom would take the sock off my left hand. Well, grandma did NOT succeed because I am still completely lefthanded and NOT evil LOL. My parents were both right-handed but used to have me stand across from them for most tasks-which worked for me in the majority of cases.
<span>Penny Rayfield</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 03:12
I started out being 90/10. As I got older, I gradually became 80/20. Now as an adult I am more in the neighborhood of 75/25. I haven't found many items that can be used by both even though that was trending in the 60's. The sad thing for me is not being able to knit, crochet, embroidery by hand. Doors and screens open for lefty's. I can dance and find that interesting. I shoot pool, but that's about all. I'm a writer and have been told my writing is beautiful. I like being a lefty. <3
<span>Betty</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 13:11
I don't have any problem knitting,crocheting or needlework of any kind. My mother-in-law, who was right handed taught me how to knit and crochet about 50 years ago. She was right handed, and I mirrored her hand movements.