Today is International Left Handers Day. As a member of a minority, I can tell you that the world is made for people who are right handed. It is true that right handed people have a dominant left brain. Left handed people use the right side. Therefore, only left handed people are in their right mind!
Nearly all things are made for right-handed people, and lefties have to live in the world designed for righties. We struggle with many things – binders, butter knives, driver’s cup holders, keyboards, game controllers, computer mouses, scissors, golf clubs, baseball gloves, watches, and even door knobs – I could go on and on. I’ll bet that most lefties have bad penmanship, because it’s more difficult to push a writing instrument than to pull it, AND the left hand follows the pen or pencil, so it picks up ink and lead along the way, smearing the hand and the paper.
Some facts:
Only about 10% of the population is left handed.
While many people are left handed, very few are 100% left handed. For example, many Left handers golf and bat right handed. On the other hand, there is a high percentage of righties who are 100% right-handed. I am one of those who golfs and bats right handed, or at least I did when I still golfed and batted. I could putt either right handed or left handed with equal accuracy.
Lefties are also called “southpaws”. The term was coined in baseball to describe a left handed pitcher.
Sinistrophobia is the fear of left-handedness or things on the left.
During the 1600’s people, thought left handers were witches and warlocks.
Left-handed legend Ned Flanders outside the Leftorium
History is filled with famous left-handed people, including: Julius Caesar, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Mahatma Gandhi, Joan of Arc, Napoleon Bonaparte, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen mother Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Prince William.
Some of the most well-known inventors were left-handed like Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin. Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein were also lefties. So is Mark Zuckerberg, as was Steve Jobs. Bill Gates too.
Presidential Left handers: James A. Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. That subset is much higher than the average. 44 men have become president of the United States. Eight of those were left-handed, or 18%.
Famous notorious left handers include: Osama bin Laden, Boston Strangler, and Jack the Ripper.
It is believed that all polar bears are left handed.
There is a rumor that octopuses have but one right hand. Scientists are diligently studying this issue.
Left-handed people process information more quickly.
Left-handed college graduates have a 26% greater chance of becoming rich.
LOL Well, as a totally right handed person, now I know why I will never be President or invent a new, better, mousetrap.
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While my statistical chances may be greater, I obviously have done neither.
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No one ever doubted Bill and POtuS were lefties.
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Yes, maybe, but you did start a blog. 🙂
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No, but I helped destroy a Bloc.
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Interesting column. My former doc was left handed, and he used to bring up oddities pertaining to it occasionally. My father was left handed although he could also write with his right hand. When he was a boy it was common for teachers to try to make lefties use their right hand. Looks like my grandson Conner is going to be a leftie too, although at this time I’m more concerned about trying to keep at least one of his feet on the ground than what hand is dominant.
Since I have always been involved in crafts, arts, lettering, and even a business faux painting, I am glad that I am not left handed, it would have made things so much harder. Here’s to you 10 percenters who persevere and never mention the additional challenges.
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My right-handed ex broke his collarbone when he was about 10. He had to learn to use his left hand. He is fully ambidextrous now which has worked well for him since he is a mechanic.
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That happened to a friend of mine (who was left-handed). She also broke her arm.
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Agreed, I could never quite get the hang of those left handed screwdrivers and hammers.
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My sons worked at the shipyard where their dad works in the summers. With each boy they tried those out, but, thanks to my husband, had to get just a little more creative.
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Oh yeah, we used to send newbies out for 5 gallons of prop wash, 350 feet of flight line, a left handed crescent wrench. We never got tired of it…and this was the Air Force with a higher AFQT score needed to enlist!
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Sorry y’all, where more than one person’e described me as sinister I am, for what it’s worth, not sinister.
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Woo Hoo! Eclectic dinner day! Stewed zucchini, potato salad, garlic toast and gas station beer.
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My Grandmother my Mother’s Mother was Left Handed and so is my Son and my Nephew my Sister’s Son
Once upon a time I bought a big olde house over 100 years olde
Through working around the place I got tendinitis of the Right Arm
So it was out of commission for a while
I decided not to let that stop me from doing things so I started using my Left Arm and Left Hand
And to my surprise I was able to use the Left Side just as well as the Right
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These are the stats on eye color: “Approximately 79% of the world’s population has brown eyes, which makes it the most common eye color in the world. After brown, 8%-10% of the world has blue eyes, 5% has amber or hazel eyes, and 2% of the world has green eyes.”
Does anyone tell a green-eyed person that it’s such a shame they aren’t in the brown-eyed majority? Of course not. Why should left-handers be treated any different?
My all-time fav baseball player who happens to be a lefty…
…and he’s a darling old man, too…
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I have green eyes too!
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