Celebrate International Left-Handers Day on August 13!
International Left-Handers Day is August 13! To celebrate, here are some fun facts and folklore about being left-handed. Right on, left-handers!
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!
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
- 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.
- 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.
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-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!
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Thank you Almanac for the article trying to support us Lefties!
What got me started advocating for Lefties was back when I was 12 years old and my father would make fun of me for not being able to start the mower on the first pull! This really upset me because I had to always figure out why things didn't work. I was the kid that took things apart to either fix them or make them better. Well, I found out why on the mower, the pull cords are all designed for a right hander! From then on, I have been fighting for lefty rights.
You can see my book, Lefty Leon's First Day at school at my website www.leftyrightsclub.org. You can also buy a copy if you really like it. However, this book was written to help parents and teachers with left handed kids so they will understand they have a unique challenge in this world that will only make them better. I don't want them to be one of the 2500 that get killed yearly by using right handed tools.
My mother used to tell me stories about how she got her hand smacked in catholic school and how others use to tease her for being left handed. She did eventually shift (forced to) however she encourage me, not like my dad. That's okay, it made me who I am today.
Just to give you an idea about where I am going with this, I have contacted our government to add left handed children to the "No child left behind group" because we are disadvantage because most of the teachers don't recognize lefties, the schools don't keep records of who is left handed, and some schools still have those right handed desks that hurt us for years (my back is still hurting to this day).
With adults who are left handed, I am pushing government for a tax break due to the fact that we can not get products for us in a lot of cases and if we do, most of the time the product is more expensive. NOT RIGHT, or more precisely, not CORRECT! I am also going to work with manufacturers to get them to recognize us 13% (should be 25% as the newly discovered gene states). And, get them to label products correctly, left handed ONLY, right handed ONLY along with getting the pictures straight so we can make smart buying decisions and not buy something that is not made for us. And, get that stupid company who advertises scissors as ambidextrous to fix their labeling or get sued for lying!!!
Yes, as you can tell, I am pretty passionate about our left handers cause. I just need a few of the famous left handers who can sponsor our cause to really kick off our "Coming Home" march for equality. Not that we are better, we are in a lot of cases, however right handers are better at other things. What we need is the balance of it all so our country can be great again! Lefties are the best divergent thinkers, so, if you want a different solution, a different path, go see a lefty, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Roddy
I write and eat with my left but most everything else is with my right but I remember when elementary teachers would smack me with ruler for using my left.
Hello Kelly. Congratulations for fighting through the bad teachers and keeping left. Lots of psychologist back in the day, including Freud, told parents to convert their children to right handed. What a bunch of idiots. What we have learned is that when you force a change of this nature, it creates new problems such as King George I who was converted as a child and then developed a stuttering problem. We know now why however they didn't know.
I am ambidextrous but left-hand dominate. I can but not well; throw, write, play pool, and cut all right-handed. I was lucky growing up I was not forced to use my right hand. I do know I was labeled as dyslexic not sure if it has anything to do with being left-handed. As a matter of fact, I broke a bone in my left hand had to be in a cast for 6 weeks and I got out of writing in school and homework. For the homework, I did my best writing with my right hand. It was hard still is. My father was a leftie. I have a lot of cousins that are also lefties. Left-handed people are awesome in my book!!
Yes Dawn, left handed people are AWESOME! You keep using the hand that feels the best, as God has intended.
If you get a chance, take a look at my book Lefty Leon's first day in school and see if you can relate. I know I did. The website is www.leftyrightsclub.org. Have fun!
Roddy
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