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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>David Kerchner</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 21:09
Because many things are for right handed people, I have learned to use my right hand naturally, not even thinking about it.One thing still requires my right hand only- zipping up pants. I still can only do it with my right hand. I am very proud ,however, to be left handed.
<span>Bear Ridgeway</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 21:09
Wow! It's so cool to see that there's others like me! I write & eat with my left hand. I use kitchen knives, scissors, screw drivers & hammers with my right hand. I sorta consider myself ambidextrous bcuz I can write ok with my right hand.
<span>Deb Hilton</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 20:38
I can write only with my left hand, play sports right handed except archery has to be a left handed bow. Eat, scissors, brush teeth and most other things with either hand. One hand may feel more comfortable than the other. As a child mom pushed me toward right hand and I started to stutter. She let me go back to left. I had a MRI based test to determine if my speech was right or left brain dominate and it showed to have both sides capable.
<span>Judith Lampen</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 20:21
My grandmother was left handed, my mother was left handed, I am the only one of 5 sisters that is left handed. My first born daughter is left handed. I do some things right handed, bat, golf. I use a quilting cutter with either hand. My teachers tried to change me in grade school, but my left handed mother put a stop to it..
<span>Tammy C</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 20:05
I am the only leftie in my immediate family. I learned at a very early age to keep my elbow tucked in at the dinner table. The only thing I consistently do with my right hand is use scissors. When I was a child, my left handed scissors were always disappearing at school.
<span>Bsalavarria</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 19:59
I am left handed but I play sports with my right hand. I write and eat left handed but that's about it.
<span>Kathryn J</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 19:59
I think I am maybe 75/25 right handed, is this that will decide that?
<span>Val L</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 19:54
I've always been proud to be a left handed person,as i like being different from the rest..I always have been..When i do something and it seems backwards to others i say i can't help it ,i was born backwards(lefty).lololol
<span>Vicki Motes</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 19:50
I am a lefty and have tried to do things like write, use scissors, eat, brush my teeth as well as many other things with my right hand & it's very awkward if not almost impossible. The odd thing is that things which require strength or extreme precision such as bowling, playing pool or shooting a gun I do right handed. Some people have told me that my brain is left dominant, since the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body & vice versa.... Who knows!
<span>Gloria Stewart</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 19:31
I am left handed. When I started school , for a week "experts" from Peterson Writing stood on each side of my desk and watched my every move. It was decided that I was truly left handed and to force me to change could cause some mental illness. Lol. Today, I write with both hands. Catch with my left, pitch with my write. Bowl with my right but, from the position a lefty would use. I have difficulty using things like manual can openers.