For daily wit & wisdom, get the Almanac newsletter.

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

More Like This

Comments

<span>Dawn Robin</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 19:15
I'm a lefty who is not in the least bit ashamed of it. I think it's amazing they way I've learned since early childhood to adapt to the right handed world. Most everything is designed for right handedness, so it makes us lefties adaptable in life to be able to overcome the limits. Take for example the old hand crank pencil sharpener, oh my but I chewed up sooo many pencils learning to use it correctly. Same with scissors, I do most everything I can left handed, but I can use scissors with my right as well. Can you imagine a right hander trying to adapt to a left handed world the way that we have had to do to live in their world?
<span>Cindy Leftie</span> Fri, 08/14/2015 - 00:26
I'm a proud leftie! No one tried to change me and I'm glad. My dad's sis has 2 of 4 kids who are lefties. My dad had 1 of 3 who's a leftie... Me. Of my 2 kids, 1 is a leftie. The lefties have ended there. I am very ambidextrous and so is my leftie son. Except for writing, I switch hands as I desire. I don't wrap my hand when writing and most people I work with don't even know I'm a leftie! I love my leftieness!
<span>Tonya Row</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 18:27
Only left handers can do this!! Put a pen in each hand and write a word forward with your left while writing the same word mirror image with your right hand. Write at each end of the paper and write toward each other! It should look like this: Tonya aynoT
<span>Bud Linggi</span> Fri, 08/14/2015 - 21:59
Golly, the eyeballs of this old Southpaw tried to find my ears and did not cross after reading your two-fisted writing exercise. The furthest from my being a typical left-hander is that I do write without curling my wrist (probably because we wrote with ink pens in the forties) and I faced the picture with my left-shoulder... Bud
<span>Eva Evans</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 21:09
I'm right hand dominant but was able to pass your test. Right side had neater wrighting but both were clear.
<span>Michelle P</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 18:17
I'm left handed. I only write, eat, brush my hair, and brush my teeth left handed. I always have to put scissors in each hand to determine which hand to use. I'm not very crafty. I play sports right handed. I loved the few left handed desks that were available in college. I like the left handed note books too!
<span>Joan R</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 17:36
Ever notice how many lawyers are left handed? 1/3 of my law school class was left handed. I work in an office with 12 other attorneys and we are all left handed.
<span>Elizabeth N</span> Fri, 08/14/2015 - 08:00
I'm a lawyer too and have noticed that as well.
<span>G Sinclair</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 17:25
as a lefty I've noticed that in any sort of work where a helper is needed especially for lifting and moving projects or materials your right handed partner will report after a period of time that working with another right hander is frustrating and dangerous....as a left hander your right arm becomes stronger than a natural right handers arm because all fine motor skills are done with the left and the right does all the lifting and holding....living in a right handed world is dangerous unless as a lefty you are willing to learn to use things like chain saws right handed, just one example but there are many....life is good
<span>Susan Ollis</span> Thu, 08/13/2015 - 17:12

I am left-handed, but in this right-handed world, I have learned to be a little right-handed as well. I cut meat with my right hand....but for the life of me, I can not butter bread or spread jelly with my right hand.....only the left hand will do!! :)