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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 Lanning</span> Fri, 08/14/2015 - 19:15
I'm a lefty and proud of it! Out of 5 people in my family 3 of us are lefties. My grandmother was forced to be a righty by a teacher who whacked her knuckles with a ruler when she tried to write lefty. I write, eat, throw, open jars and cut with a knife lefty. I switch the fork and knife to cut. However I cut with scissors,use a manual can opener and deal cards right handed.
<span>California Lefty</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 23:56
My mom was a lefty and her teachers made her write right handed. She couldn't do anything with her left hand after that she said. I'm a lefty and was never changed in school. That said, there are things that I can only do right handed....using scissors, using a baseball bat, playing golf. I dont know why, but it always felt natural to me to do those things right handed.
<span>Cindy Cooke</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 23:28
Been an extreme lefty for more than 60 years (which means my right hand is there for wearing jewelry and balancing my body symmetry NOTHING ELSE!)...had a difficult time finding scissors and shears that worked for me, as I am a crafter. Problems with threading the sewing machines, too...it's too hard to get to all the hooks when you're trying to thread left-handed. Same with putting the bobbin in correctly. Desks in the upper grades were sometimes hard to work with, too, because of their tops being only on the right half of the desks. However, it was sometimes easier to do a left-handed lay-up in basketball, and softball was great IF you could find a glove to fit your right hand. I've been told that 'natural' lefties are those who do not curve their left hand up and over their writing, but hold their pens, etc., in a way that is similar to righties except in the opposing hand. Learning to crochet, knit, etc., was harder until I learned to sit opposite my teacher and mirror-image their movements. You've probably heard the expression that "Only left-handers are in their right minds." It's also true that there are more lefties percentage-wise than righties in the art world...are we really more creative?
<span>Martha Speckels</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 23:04
I am left handed, but throw a ball and swing a bat with my right hand. My son writes with his right hand but uses his left for just about everything else. One of my daughters is left handed and so is her daughter. I am very proud to be a lefty!!!!!
<span>Susan Edwards</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 22:34
I'm left handed but I also use my right hand for some things. I eat, write, brush my teeth, and put on my makeup with my left hand. I play sports with my right hand. It's seems I use my last for accuracy and my right of thing that need strength. I am one of 6 kids. 4 of them are brown eyed and right handed and 2 of us are blue eyed and left handed. Both our parents were brown eyed and right handed. It seems in our family there may be some connection between the two.
<span>Joy Duty</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 22:08
My Mother had 11 chldren and everyone is right handed but one, ME .I told her she ran out of everything when she had me that is why Im left handed. I can not do much of anything with my right hand... The biggest problem that really upset's me about being left handed is the bread wrapper ties. they are always twisted for right handed people ... So when I get home from the store I take all of the ties off and but a clip on the bread , cause everyone else in my home twists them to the right too... left- handers have rights too!!
<span>Sandie Shafer</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 21:43
Left-handed and proud to be in my right mind!
<span>Deb In Texas</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 21:16
I'm a lefty and my teacher in the first grade hit my hand because she didn't want me writing with my left hand. I was hit everyday with a ruler, I still hate her for doing that to me and I don't use hate ever. I was just a child and this was in the early sixties.
<span>Shelia Mccarty</span> Fri, 08/14/2015 - 00:15
I was also slapped with a ruler daily by my teacher for using my left hand... She would tell me I was the spawn of the devil, because I was left-handed...
<span>Angel Bailey</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 21:26
My oldest son should have been left handed. Every time he picked up something w/ his left hand I w/ take & put it in his right hand. Big mistake. He has been plagued w/ stomach issues for 40 years. My youngest starting using his left hand. I left him alone. He's never had a stomach problem. My Daddy should have been left handed. He had stomach issues also.