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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>Willene Melder</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 12:58
I am left handed and was the only one in my family who was left handed until I had my two children. My oldest son is right handed and my youngest son is left handed. I broke my left elbow last summer and soon realized how difficult it is for a leftie to accomplish many daily task right handed, brushing teeth, applying makeup, bathing, going to the bathroom, etc. I do not remember my parents ever trying to get me to write right handed. The only problem I ever remember having in being left handed was that I had to take paper out of a three ring binder to be able to write. Also, when I used a gel pen, the ink would smear on the paper. I have never heard that being left handed had anything to do with the devil. Crazy old tale for sure! I am a Christian and love Jesus!
<span>Edwin Adams</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 12:56
I'm left-handed, but I can brush my teeth with my right hand. I always have used scissors with my left hand. Went to parochial school, so some of us know how fun that was.
<span>Brien Tubb</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 12:46
I have always considered myself Left Handed. I write with my left hand. I could not write with my right hand for any reason. I also throw a ball left handed. But, if I am using a hammer, I prefer my right hand. I also use my right hand to hold a fork.
<span>Kred</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 12:37
My Dad would have been a lefty but was forced to write with his right (had his hand tied down and even got 'the strap' for using his left). He was fairly ambidextrous doing some things left and some right. I am the only one of 8 kids who is a lefty, but have several nieces and nephews who are lefties too. My mom was really proud of her lefty and always talked about it to anyone else she saw using their left-hand.
<span>Debbie</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 12:34
I write , eat & brush my teeth left handed, but do everything else right handed...ie: crochet, bowl, use scissors, throw a ball, shoot....I've tried doing those things left handed, but too awkward. My brother is totally left handed..
<span>Rachael</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 12:29
My 2 oldest siblings are left-handed. They are both musically gifted and math comes to them easily. When my 3rd siblings favored her left hand, our grandmother slapped her hand and actively discouraged her. In 1st grade on Christmas, I fell off my pony and broke my left arm which I had used to catch myself. So I learned to write with my right. The youngest was trained to write with her right, but was determined to teach herself to write with her left. The last 3 of us have some degree of dyslexia that the 2 oldest don't. I have long wondered if there was a connection between dyslexia and being "trained" out of using your natural hand.
<span>Donna Osborne</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 22:45
I am sure my father had dyslexia, undiagnosed though. He was forever getting numerals reversed, and he did not like to read at all. He left school early also, but for many reasons. He was left handed, but he mother was enlightened for a small town woman in the 1930's. She made sure that the schools did not mess with his writing hand. My two brothers are also left handed and both had some problems in school, but may not have been dyslexic. They sure cannot spell to this day, though.
<span>Remy</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 14:25
As far as my family goes, no. I'm the oldest and left handed so my family didn't try to change anyone's hand preference. My younger brother has dyslexia.
<span>Bonnie Kazmar</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 12:28
I was the younger sister in my family. My Mother, Father and Sister were right-handed. I married a left handed man. We had two kids, a boy and then a girl. They are both right-handed. A left-hander always notices another left-hander when they write. But a right-hander never gives it a thought if a person is left or right-handed. So left-handlers have a connection.
<span>Rachael Thornton</span> Sat, 08/13/2016 - 12:24
My 2 oldest siblings are left-handed. They are both musically gifted and math comes to them easily. When my 3rd siblings favored her left hand, our grandmother slapped her hand and actively discouraged her. In 1st grade on Christmas, I fell off my pony and broke my left arm which I had used to catch myself. So I learned to write with my right. The youngest was trained to write with her right, but was determined to teach herself to write with her left. The last 3 of us have some degree of dyslexia that the 2 oldest don't. I have long wondered if there was a connection between dyslexia and being "trained" out of using your natural hand.