Hey Lefty

Ok, so I’ve heard of Southpaws and Lefties – but new to me – Mollydookers, Porty, Goofy-footer, Cacky-handed, Corrie-fisted, Chickie-paws, Cuddy-wifter, even sinister, may be a bit too much!! There’s no shortage of nicknames for the left-handed people of the world, even if much of everyday life seems to have been designed without them in mind. Being a lefty myself (I must admit I’m actually ambidextrous, which comes with its own challenges), I can never try out my golfing buds’ new clubs, and having to deal with most golf courses designed for righties!  For me, there are some advantages – I can eat with either hand (something I’m very good at!), I get to explain away my horrendous handwriting, and have been blessed with lots of creativity – part of being left-handed! According to experts (Laterality Experts: researchers focusing on the functional specialization of the brain, including hand use), hand preference remains an intriguing puzzle for scientists, with researchers still questioning why a small percentage of people favor their left hand over their right. This quirk has caused lefties to be saddled with historical baggage and ongoing inconveniences. While some people do some things “righty” and some things “lefty,”  Jackie and I are both either ambidextrous or simply “unique”. Experts are still working to uncover the origins of this unusual hand preference – one of our daughters is a true lefty! In the meantime, here are some curious facts about left-handed life. Enjoy!

Of course, there’s a song about left hands (This is for all you country music lovers)

Being Left-Handed Used To Be a Red Flag

For centuries, being left-handed in a primarily right-handed world wasn’t just inconvenient; it was also seen as suspicious or even dangerous. This bias goes way back: The word “sinister” comes from a Latin word of the same spelling, meaning “on the left side.”

In medieval Europe, left-handedness was thought to have ties to witchcraft and, for some religious groups, demonic possession. These suspicions lingered for centuries – even into the early 1900s, left-handed schoolchildren in the U.S. and Europe were retrained to use their right hand instead. They tried to change Jackie into a “righty.” Thank goodness it didn’t happen!

These perceptions didn’t shift much in any major way until the mid-20th century. Time magazine suggests one notable turning point came in 1968 with the opening of London’s Anything Left Handed store, which celebrates southpaws rather than condemning them. By the 1970s, more manufacturers were producing products specifically for lefties, and by the end of the decade, the number of people publicly embracing their preferred hand had risen from 2% in 1939 to approximately 12% in 1979.

Only 10% of the World’s Population Is Left-Handed

Only about one in 10 people worldwide are left-handed — or at least that’s the most accurate estimate the latest data can offer. As it turns out, pinning down an exact number is trickier than you might think. 

Some people write with their left hand but throw a ball with their right. Others, thanks to the aforementioned long-held misconceptions and stigmas, were flat-out forced into right-handedness as children, even if they innately favored their left hand. Despite the margin of error, this 10% statistic has held up across time and cultures spanning more than 10,000 years. 

Genetics Are Partially Responsible

Left-handedness tends to run in families, but it’s not as straightforward as, say, eye color or blood type. Instead, it’s likely influenced by a combination of genetic, prenatal, and possibly even environmental factors (Mom did say she dropped me on my head now and then). Research has identified rare genetic variants, particularly in a gene called TUBB4B, that appear 2.7 times more often in left-handed people than in right-handed people. My unscientific guess would be that this gene is partially responsible for how wonderful we lefties truly are!

Handedness also appears to have an environmental component. In a 2019 U.K. study of more than 500,000 participants, the percentage of people identifying as left-handed increased steadily among those born each year starting from around 1920 until roughly 1970, when it leveled off. But this wasn’t simply because more left-handed people began to be born; instead, it was likely due to a decline in the social pressure to switch hands.

Men Are More Likely To Be Southpaws

One pattern that consistently shows up in handedness studies is that men are more likely to be left-handed than women. The gap isn’t huge: about 12% of men versus roughly 10% of women prefer their left hand. Given the low number of lefties overall, though, it is statistically significant, and scientists still aren’t entirely sure why this is the case. One theory suggests hormones — specifically, higher levels of prenatal testosterone — may play a role. 

One thing is for sure … I drive my golfing buddies crazy – they “look away” when I swing, because everything is backwards for them – (and then look again, only to see my ball penetrating the fairways and landing softly on the greens!)

The TV series, The Simpsons, has The Simpsons’ Leftorium, where left-handed folks can find everything from can openers to cars suited to their needs, still remains fictional.

Even Animals Can Be “Left-Handed”

Favoring one’s left or right side isn’t solely relegated to humans; plenty of animals show their own versions of “handedness.” Kangaroos often prefer their left hand for grooming and feeding, and even tiny creatures such as bees can display side biases when navigating around objects. 

Dogs, too, will favor a paw, and there’s a way to test it beyond a paw shake: It’s called the Kong test. Give your dog a food-stuffed Kong or other treat-dispensing toy and watch which paw they use to hold it in place while eating. If they consistently favor one paw, that’s likely their dominant side. Some dogs may use both paws equally, but many demonstrate a clear preference. One study found that, among dogs that showed a clear paw preference, about 58% were right-pawed, and 42% were left-pawed, making “left-handedness” much more common in dogs than in humans. 

Lefties Have an Edge in Certain Sports

Despite most sports gear being designed for right-handed players (GOLF!), lefties often hold a surprising advantage, especially in fast-paced competitive sports such as tennis, baseball, boxing, soccer, and fencing, in which an opponent’s reaction time is not used to the strong left side.

Because southpaws are relatively rare, right-handed athletes don’t get as much practice facing them, whereas lefties spend their whole lives playing against righties. This creates an element of unpredictability for righties when facing a lefty: The latter’s movements, angles, and timing can feel unfamiliar to their opponents. Some favorites include Babe Ruth, Sandy Koufax, Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Tom Brady, Lionel Messi, Rafael Nadal, Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe, Phil Mickelson, Muhammad Ali, Lebron James, Wayne Gretzky, and more. And, here are some others I can say I’m related to in some way … 

Scientists & Thinkers

• Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Nikola Tesla, Galileo Galilei, Benjamin Franklin, Alan Turing, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates

Authors, Poets & Writers

• Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, H. G. Wells, Stephen King, J. R. R. Tolkien, Dan Brown

Politics & World Leaders

• Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Queen Elizabeth II, James Garfield, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Prince William 

Hollywood & Entertainment

• Leonardo da Vinci, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Robert De Niro, Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney 

Artists & Creative, and Fun

• Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Andy Warhol, M. C. Escher, Kermit the Frog, Bart Simpson, Napoleon Dynamite

So, next time you encounter a cacky-handed gent, be sure not to judge – might just be the next superstar!

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