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!
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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.
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!
Catherine Boeckmann
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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.
Out of 5 sons my husband is the only left handed child of 2 left handed parents. He says "if the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then left handed people are the only ones in their right mind". I say that there is right handed and wrong handed. We have teased each other about this for 44 years.
I am ambidextrous. I am one who was forced to use my right hand. At one time, I was told left handed people do not write well and do not get jobs where writing is a necessary part of a position. But, while in high school, I'd practice writing left handed and in college years I began to play different sports games (not on official teams) left handed. Later on, after receiving injuries where I was unable to use my right arm, I'm glad I defied those 'teachings' of 'must be right handed'! Since then, I use my left hand for most things but write 90% of the time right handed as it is the most legible of the two. But, I continue to practice making the left handed writing better. Unfortunately, I injured my left thumb and all it's joints a few years ago and it makes it a bit hard to write too long with that hand; I can't hold a pan of water, a dinner plate, etc. long as it hurts too much after awhile. The surgery I needed to fix the joints, etc. had a year long recovery time, time that I did not have to do so.
I am right-handed, but I have always been fascinated by people who are left-handed. When I was a little girl, I met an adult who was really nice to me at a picnic, and he mentioned that he couldn't throw very well because he was left-handed. Somehow, that imprinted on me where I notice when someone is left-handed, especially how many left-handed men write in a hooked position. In the 1992 and 2008 presidential elections, all the candidate were left-handed.
My wife is a left handed. She was so happy when I bought her left handed pens. YES they really make them. The ink dries really fast so no more ink on her hand when she writes!
I write best with my left hand, but play sports right handed, having been taught by 3 older right handed brothers. I can eat or brush my teeth with either hand. It's a mixed bag with me. But there are still schools here in the area that are trying to force left handed kids to be right handed, making them use their right hands to write during school, demanding to know what hand they did their homework with. It's just wrong, what does it matter as long as their writing is easy to read. I know that if someone tried to make me write with my right hand, good luck being able to easily read it.
I have been left handed my entire life and yes early on my teachers tried to persuade me to switch to my right hand. They failed however. My father was left handed as is one of my three children, my son. I am ambidextrous when eating but besides drawing and writing everything else is done with my right. It was frustrating growing up with left spiraled notebooks for sure and the side of my left hand always rubbing on the lead or ink from my writing but I’ve learned to accept my lefthandedness and embrace my individuality.
I’m was born a leftie in a right-handed family. My 1st grade teacher tried to correct me but my parents met with her and insisted she allow it and not punish me. My teacher was catholic and my parents were Baptist. My teacher allowed it but there were no left handed desks; my handwriting was horrible because no one would show me how to hold a pencil. I wrote with my paper almost completely rotated. All my years at school I never came across another lefty. Married a right handed man but he compromises with me on the silverware drawer (I get the forks facing my left hand) lol
I'm left-handed for most things however I've learned to throw, bat and play tennis right handed as well as left. I guess that makes me ambidextrous however I can't write very well with my right hand and my drawing sucks with either one!! I think typing comes easier to me because of the above. Took me a while as a kid to figure out which hand to use for which thing!!
I’m a righty; but last year when I fell and broke my right arm near my hand, I had to quickly learn to do many things with my L hand. Especially eating was a learned skill.
Because of the angle of using your hand when you eat; I couldn’t use my right for many months. So I became very good at eating with my left!
