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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>Rononpi</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 07:59
If you are left handed, you always get to sit at the end of the dining table.
<span>Carol</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 08:19
It makes perfect sense to sit on the end of a table or at the end of a dining booth!
<span>Jill</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 06:44
What does it mean if you do somethings left handed and others right handed? I write left handed but other things I do right handed. I used to be in a bowling league and someone told me that I throw a left handed ball but I use my right hand. Lol I'm so confused🙃
<span>Amber</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 06:53
It’s called cross dominant! I am also cross dominant. I write, eat, brush teeth, and bat with my left hand but virtually everything else I do with my right hand. There are very few true lefties in the world.
<span>Al Runkel</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 06:38
I'm left handed. I recall in grade school how teachers were trying hard to change me to right handed. It may what caused me to hate school and my late blooming to education until college.
<span>Carol</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 08:37
I learned to write cursive when another student with a beautiful handwriting sat next to me. I was soooooo impressed with her handwriting, I copied it and taught myself to write in a similar style. I also like printing, learning that early and have always liked printing. Left handed people are more creative, have many more skills learned out of survival, and very often, can use both hands for many actions such as eating.
<span>Chelsea Johnson</span> Sun, 06/22/2025 - 00:01
How do we find the web site for the scholarship for lefties I really need it for school, please can someone post it on here thank you so much
<span>Chelsea Johnson</span> Sat, 06/21/2025 - 23:56
Fun facts about my family My mom, myself, one brother and one of my daughters is also ambidextrous, three of my girls are lefties with one using both hands write and draw she is very creative with dancing and doing amazing jobs on some hair. As well as out of six grandchildren 2 or 3 are lefties. So fun fact 2 Mom Me Brother Neice Grandson and my dad who is deceased we all have our birthdays on the same day of the week every year never changes, that’s so crazy that I figured it out. Also WE LEFTIST ARE IN OUR RIGHT MIND!! Inside joke. Have a blessed day everyone, SEASEA signing out
<span>Rochelle Marshall</span> Thu, 05/15/2025 - 23:21
54yo. Female, baby of 5, only left-hander other that maternal grandfather. I write on paper left, but on the chalkboard right. I bat left but throw right. Golf is left, but I putt either. Kick right, dribble either, shoot a ball right. I am left eye dominant but shoot a rifle and pistol right. Makes it tough to line up a shot. I believe I am a left handed person raised up in a total right family. So many of the things we learn as young children, is right handed. Eating, brushing hair, cleaning a mirror, vacuuming or weedeating, all are taught with right handed equipment or right handed directions/instructions.
<span>Steve Karnes</span> Mon, 08/26/2024 - 11:42
When I was a child, my mother thought I had a learning disability. She tried to teach me to time my shoelaces and I just couldn’t figure it out. Eventually, she got frustrated and asked my dad to show me. He did it once and that’s all it took. Turns out we were both left-handed.