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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>Dona</span> Tue, 08/13/2024 - 13:03
When my grandmother had a stroke many years ago, the doctor asked my mother if her mother was left handed. As far as she knew , her mother was right handed. She mentioned this to nana's last remaining sibling who said that she was born left handed but had been forced to switch. Because of that, many many decades later her brain still reacted like a left handed person and her stroke affected her right side( can’t remember the type of stroke but apparently it affects the opposite of your dominant hand) . We are who we are!!
<span>Glenda W</span> Tue, 08/13/2024 - 12:30
I am 79 years young. When I started to school in 1952, my teacher tried to make me right handed and told my mother to work with me to make me use my right hand. This did not work! I always have trouble making decisions, deciding on anything over 2 choices. I believe this had a bearing on my inability to make up my mind. (Being left-handed is definitely a disadvantage in a right handed world, but should not be a handicap).
<span>Mark Lane</span> Tue, 08/13/2024 - 12:18
I am left handed, but I am right eye dominate. I write and throw with my left hand, but shoot right handed. My wife is also left handed, our house is arranged left handed., which confuses our guests.
<span>Jacki M</span> Tue, 08/13/2024 - 11:39
My son and I both cook a lot. I am right handed and use a stick of butter from the left side going right. He is left handed and starts on the right and goes to the left. The center is always the last part of the stick used. Lol
<span>David Lynch</span> Tue, 08/13/2024 - 11:38
lefty
<span>Tina B</span> Tue, 08/13/2024 - 10:45
I'm a righty, but I have four children and I let them use whichever hand was comfortable growing up. Three out of the four are left handed!!
<span>Tom</span> Tue, 08/13/2024 - 17:14
I eat left handed, shoot a bow left handed, also a pistol and a rifle as well as shooting pool lefty, I write and play base ball right handed but I bat either way, The reason I write right handed is because the teachers in the schools I attended had a thing called a pointer and my knuckles got tired of feeling it, and the reason I play baseball right was because my father wouldn't allow me to play left handed!
<span>Lynn</span> Tue, 08/13/2024 - 10:22
My Sis is a lefty! She cuts with a scissors right handed & shoots a gun right handed? I wash my face with my left hand feels weird to wash it with my right hand??
<span>Sarah</span> Tue, 08/13/2024 - 10:22
As a lefty don't you love seeing someone somewhere pick up a pen with their left!? It's like seeing a long lost relative.. You're a lefty wow so am I !! It's a rare and exciting occasion 🙂
<span>Marilyn J Ryan</span> Tue, 08/13/2024 - 10:21
I'm the oldest of 16 grandchildren. My grandfather said there will be NO left handers in his family and to this day, I'm the only left handed family member. I have to use scissors right handed and some other odd things that I favor with my right hand or the left.