Left-Hander’s Day is observed annually on August 13th. In a right-handed dominated world, left-handed individuals claim August 13th as their own.
Approximately 10% of the population is a southpaw. Scientists don’t know why a person will be left-handed, but it’s more likely a child will be left-handed if one parent is. Parents of left-handed children used to force them to use their right hands. Left-handedness was considered evil and parents feared their communities would shun their children.
Celebrating it’s first year recognized in 1976, Lefthanders International helped raise awareness of the difficulties of being left handed. Being accused of witchcraft in the 1600s for just using one hand more than the other, was only the beginning. With only 10 percent of the population being left handed, various items are more expensive than their right handed counterparts. Objects like scissors, knives and even school desks can see a mark up of almost 75 percent more for left handed individuals, while golf clubs see as much as a 200 percent increase dependent on brand.
- Eight recent United States presidents were left-handed, including Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
- Famous left-handed intellectuals include Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Franklin
- Herbert Hoover is believed to be the first left-handed president, though James Garfield could write Greek with the left hand and Latin with the right
- More likely to have allergies
- More prone to migraines
- More likely to be insomniacs
- Left handed college graduates go on to become 26% richer than right handed graduates
- On a QWERTY keyboard there are 1447 English words typed solely with the left hand, whilst only 187 are typed with the right hand.
- The longest words that can be typed using only the left hand with conventional hand placement are sweaterdresses and tesseradecades
- Left-handedness is twice as common in twins than in the general population.
- Phrases in English suggest a negative view of left-handedness. For example, a “left-handed complement” is actually an insult. A “left-handed marriage” is not a marriage but an adulterous sexual liaison, as in a “left-handed honeymoon with someone else’s husband.” A “left-handed wife” is actually a mistress.
- One in four Apollo astronauts were left-handers.
- Wedding rings are traditionally worn on the left hand because people believed that a vena amoris, or a “lover’s vein,” connected the 4th finger on this hand to the heart
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