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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>Lisa Ruff</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 02:49
I'm left handed but I throw and bat and use scissors right handed
<span>Chelsea</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 12:41
I also throw and cut with my right hand. I can't seem to bat right handed. Tried it once and it didn't work out to well for me.
<span>Naomi Q</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 02:21
I am mostly left-handed. Never thought about but can only use scissors with my right. The hardest thing for me was trying to learn to use a chain saw. It was too righthanded for my brain.
<span>Elizabeth G</span> Sun, 08/14/2016 - 02:18
I was born a lefty. As I grew one of my parents friends ( who baby sat me) tried to change me to righty. I would eat with my left and she would change the spoon to my right. I did and when she would leave the room I'd change back to my left. Learned to cut with a right handed scissor in school. They never had left handed scissors. I always sit at the end seat at the table so I don't bump into anyone as I eat. I can do other things with my right but I wouldn't say I'm ambedextrous. I use my left hand most of the time.
<span>Sam Hill</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 23:25
I do almost everything lefty but learned early on to use righty scissors. I bat righty and use my mouse righty. Everything else, lefty. I hate spiral notebooks. My written pages are always smeared. Seeing another lefty writing looks odd to me. I'm a little sad that I'll never be a good calligrapher. :-(
<span>Tonia</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 23:08
I'm ambidextrous. My left is strongest but of course I had to learn many things the right-handed way because that's how the teacher did it. Sometimes I can use tools like a knife with either hand and sometimes it feels wrong with both hands. My youngest of 3 is a lefty. My Mom was born a lefty but her school teachers punished it out of her.
<span>Donna Osborne</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 22:34
my mom was always afraid I was gonna poke myself in the eye with scissors when I was a kid. She should have tried to cut with left handed scissors. I always have smeared left hand to this day when I write, and still hate spiral notebooks. (A lot of the teachers did not want us to write on the back of the page) I could only really teach my younges to tie his shoes, as he is the only one of my kids who is left handed.
<span>Barbara Pukstas</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 21:06
I have always been extremely left-handed , to the point when a doctor asked me to jump up and down on my right foot when I was a child I jumped on my left foot . I was mortified when he said " look at that she is even leftfooted " .My parents had to buy me my own crayons in kindergarten because the used crayons were slanted the wrong way. .My mother gave up trying to teach to knit after one session because I couldn't hold the needles " right " In high school it was always a battle to get the one or two left-handed desks .My two oldest children are right handed and my youngest is a leftie . Out of habit I would put his spoon in his right hand and he automatically changed it to his left .. I don't think you realize how you adjust to a right handed world until the first time you see a nightie struggle with left-handed scissors
<span>Shirley Pike</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 21:53
I have always been left handed and find cooking hard with the face the all liquid measuring cups are designed for right handers. Alwasy cutting with sissors has been a issue all my life.
<span>Mike Neason</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 21:05
I am mostly left handed brush my teeth with right hand and shoot right handed