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Thursday
Aug132009

Today is Left-Handers Day: Plus Many LH Facts

I'm not a leftie, but apparently 7-10% of the population is, so if you are one of the few, CELEBRATE... today is International Lefthanders Day. Started on August 13, 1992, the Left-Handers Club created a special day to appreciate all left-handers and to bring public awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of being a leftie in a predominantly right-handed world.

More men are left-handed than women and left-handedness also occurs more frequently in twins (both fraternal and identical twins). Since people who use their left hand use their right brain, it is common for lefties to excel in geometry and many math-related areas. Chris McManus, from the University College London writes in his book, Right-Hand, Left-Hand, that the proportion of left-handers is increasing and that left-handed people tend to produce above-average levels of high achievement. He states that left-handers' brains are structured differently and this leads to a wider-range of abilities. The genes that determine whether one is right or left-handed are the same that dictate the language centers of the brain.

Some other interesting facts about L-H's via the lefthandersday.com website include:

  • Most left-handers draw figures facing to the right
  • Stuttering and dyslexia occur more often in left-handers (particularly if they are forced to change their writing hand as a child, like King of England George VI)
  • Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater
  • Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing
  • Left-handers usually reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers
  • 4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed
  • 1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed - 250% more than the normal level

Visit lefthandersday.com to learn more about the fun today!

I just tried to write my name with my left-hand and wow, it's tough. Righties, try it. Lefties, laugh at us for our poor penmanship.

DateThursday, August 13, 2009 at 9:15AM | |

Reader Comments (5)

HAHA! Now I feel special! I didn't know there was a day for us lefties. I'm left handed & I am SO proud to be a lefty. Thankfully I was never one of those that was forced to try & use their right hand instead of the left when I was younger. Some of my teachers hated the fact that I was left handed, but my mother stood up for me & made them leave me alone. She'd tell them "If thats the way she wants to write...then LET HER!" I'm glad she did that because I really feel my talents would have been greatly hindered if I would have been forced to write & perform everything right handed. I am a graphic designer & I am also a very talented drawer/sketch artist ( I don't mean that in a vain way, I just recognize that my talents are what they are). I really think my ability to draw so realistically (or to draw at ALL) would have been affected if I would have been forced to change when I was a child. I also find it interesting that the people in my family (I am 1 of 3) that ARE left handed are ALL graphic designers or artist. I believe that may be a little more than coincidence, don't you think? The right side of the brain is where your creativity & ability to create is learned & stored. I wonder if artists are more likely to be left handed? What do you think? HAPPY LEFT HANDED DAY TO ALL MY FELLOW LEFTIES!!!!

August 13, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterTTINY

NO ONE EVER MADE A STINK ABOUT MY BEING LEFT HANDED. IN FACT IN ALL THE DIFFERENT SPORTS I PLAYED I WAS ALWAYS THE ONLY LEFTIE AND THE COACHES LOVED IT...I GUESS CAUSE I SENT BALLS LEFT? OR RIGHT? OR THE OPPOSITE OF THE RIGHTIES? IM CONFUSED. LOL. I JUST ALWAYS HAD A HARD TIME WRITING IN RIGHT HANDED LEDGERS...I HAVE FOUND A STORE THAT SELLS LEFT HANDED ONES NOW THOUGH. THERE USED TO BE THIS STORE IN SAN FRAN FOR LEFTIES THEY HAD ALL KIDS OF WEIRD STUFF 2 MAKE OUR LEFT HANDED LIFE "EASIER" THOUGH I NEVER FOUND BEING LEFT HANDED HARD....LOL. BOTH MY BOYS ARE LEFT HANDED AND THAT KINDA MADE ME SMILE WHEN THYE STARTED WRITING...(0:

August 13, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterCarly AKA Whistle Bait AKA Miss MakeupSiren. LOL.

I am a Southpaw too! Yay!
All of my immediate family are lefties as well, except for my Dad.

Some odd facts related to my own personal left-handedness....
I am right-eyed and have always naturally shot right handed with both bows&arrows and firearms.

When I was in first grade a teacher took me into an unoccupied classroom every day for three or four weeks and tried to teach me to write on the blackboard with my right hand. ...She did this without my Mothers knowledge or consent. Mom only found out about it a few years ago when I casually mentioned it in conversation. She was NOT happy!

A disproportionately large number of the friends I have made throughout my life have been left-handed, I believe somewhere between 20% and 25%. I have often gone without knowing for some time, and then am surprised by it when I happen to see them writing.

August 14, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterShay

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November 24, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterzhuzhu
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