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Left-Handed Facts and Folklore

Celebrate International Left-Handers Day on August 13!

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

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!

left-hander-facts

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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.

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!

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About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Maria</span> Thu, 08/14/2025 - 00:26
I’m lefthanded. I cannot drive the car with my left hand and use the cupholder or drink coffee with my right hand while driving! Totally awkward!
<span>Connie Lee</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 18:58
When my mom was little, she fell near the fireplace and burned her right hand. She had to start using her left until it healed. But she didn't switch back to the right, she stayed left handed. I am right handed and my brother is mostly right handed. He told me he wrote on paper using his right hand, but if he had to write on the blackboard at school he used his left.
<span>Heather Durbin</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 18:24
I'm left-handed and I am proud to be one! Im the only lefty in my family. The biggest thing it was always hard to play baseball, because I never had a left-handed baseball mitt. Most people don't know that being a lefty in the military is very difficult too.
<span>Lydia Boekell</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 15:28
The hardest time being left handed was at Cedarville University. They had very few left handed desks in their classrooms. I had to take notes in my lap and my professors thought I was not taking notes.
<span>Shirley</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 14:02
Right-handers probably don't know that when we lefties hold a pencil or pen that the writing on them is upside down and backward to us.
<span>Cre</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 13:52
I'm a right-hander. However, the summer between 7th and 8th grades, I severely broke my right arm. Being casted from palm to shoulder for two months, I learned to do many activities left-handed surprisingly well including writing, batting, and throwing. However, over the many years that the cast has been off, much of those abilities has declined. Use it or lose it.
<span>Big Worm</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 13:29
I was born a true lefty. Which in and of itself is somewhat unusual in that both sides of my biological family I am the only Lefty. I have one uncle that is left-handed but that is by marriage and I very rarely spent any time around him in my life. The only thing of any real substance I can do right handed is batting in baseball I'm ambidextrous. I actually bat stronger right handed I just have more control left handed My best sport which is basketball I am left-handed only I have tried shooting right-handed but as the old saying goes I shoot like a girl (sorry ladies ha) and like many of my generation and before they tried to force me to learn to write right handed but I'm too stubborn (I'm a Taurus ♉)
<span>Jyl</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 12:28
I’m a leftie, but had to learn to peel potatoes with my right hand because of my right handed mother. But the worst was having to use right handed scissors and having constant calluses on my left hand! Always thought the world was a bit backwards. However, there are enough left handed people in my family that we had a right and left side of the table. My husband is Chinese so I made myself learn to use chopsticks with my right hand so that I wouldn’t embarrass myself at a crowded, round banquet table!
<span>Kelly Sexton</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 11:35
I'm left handed. Three of my kids are also left handed. We've always had problems handling knives for tasks like peeling potatoes. Lol
<span>Dona</span> Wed, 08/13/2025 - 17:29
Most people don’t know that serrated/bread/tomato knives are sharpened on one side- that is- sharpened for right handed users. I always had a problem slicing bread,etc until I bought a lefty bread knife! Also, traditional Japanese carbon steel knives are also sharpened on one side depending on the user. At the fabulous Korin in NYC, when I had to replace a Japanese Chef’s knife that I had been given decades by my Chef, they asked if I was left or right handed so they could sharpen it properly. Finally some respect!!