There's a great desk diary designed especially for left handers that you can buy from Anything Left-Handed.
There are planning pages on the left side of each weekly spread, with interesting facts about left-handedness on the right hand side. The diary also lists the birthdays of famous left-handed people.
Even the printing is reversed, so that it opens from left to right. Buy your 2009 left-handed diary.
Apparently, people who throw balls with their left hands, use their left eyes to look through peepholes and place their left ears against the wall to eavesdrop on conversations are twice as good at problem-solving and have wider vocabularies than their right-handed peers. But we're also more forgetful.
Take a look at the full story on this blog....
If you like to read calendars from right to left, then here's one you can download for free:
I saw on Anything LeftHanded's site the other day that Will Aspinall, who makes documentaries for the BBC and the Discovery Channel, is making a film about the experience of left-handers in modern combat.
He is looking for people who:
Yvette Stanton is an Australian embroidery designer who is currently working on a left-handed stitch dictionary.
If you happen to be an embroiderer, she is asking for requests: what stitches do you as a left-hander, particularly want instructions for? If you are a needlework teacher, what stitches would you really like left-handed instructions for your left-handed students?
So far she has had requests for the following embroidery stitches: french knots, colonial knots, ladder stitch and plaited braid stitch. The dictionary will have simple stitches, right through to much more difficult stitches, all diagrammed step-by-step, with accompanying written instructions and photographs.
Simply leave a comment for Yvette with your stitch request on her blog:
http://white-threads.blogspot.com/2008/12/left-handed-stitch-instructions.html
That may seem a strange title coming from someone who is a southpaw but it doesn't refer to me. It's the name of an Irish band. Out of curiosity, I emailed them to find out why they had chosen this name and Kathryn Williams (one of the band members) kindly sent me this reply:
"To begin with, I grew up in a small town in Ireland. I went to an old Catholic school and some of the older nuns there believed very firmly in things that many people didn't. When I was 4, no-one in my class was actually allowed to be left-handed - we were all told we had to write with our right hand. (Luckily I had a very sweet lady who taught me when I was 5 who said we could colour in with any hand we liked, but it definitely made an impression) The band name is a throw back to that year of my life.
The more we thought about it, left-handed people still seemed to have a certain reputation. They're the creative types, they're artistic, they're musicians... We felt that, even though we were musicians, we didn't fit into the artistic/creative bag. We play because we enjoy it, but you couldn't define any of us because of it.
And finally, I have to presume that everyone has seen this sword fight at some point in their lives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3gfFVmw0kA It was my favourite film when I was a kid, and the bass player and I bonded over memories of this movie when we first worked together. It's such a brilliant moment, how could we not name the band after it?"
Thanks to Kathryn for taking the trouble to reply ot me. Here is the band's website: http://www.iamnotlefthanded.com They are playing in Scotland at the moment:
10 Dec 08 - Pivo Pivo, Glasgow
11 Dec 08 - Paisley Student Union, Paisley
13 Dec 08 - The Forest Cafe, Edinburgh
14 Dec 08 - The Tunnels, Aberdeen
Following hot on the heels of a study that said left-handed men earn more than right handers, another study (this time from the University of Bristol) claims that left-handed children perform less well in tests compared to their right handed counterparts.
They based their findings on national curriculum test results (Sats) and IQ tests of over 10,000 children.
Hmmm. When I was at junior school, I was always in the top one to three in my class. And one of the other two was a left hander. So I take these studies with a generous pinch of salt. Anyhow, here's where you can read about the left handed study.
There was a great story in the Daily Mail yesterday. Apparently, left-handed men earn 5% more than right handers. A study undertaken by academics at University College, Dublin studied 18,000 people in their 30s and 40s and found that left-handed men earned £1,112 more a year (or 5%) than their right-handed counterparts. Read the full story about left handers earning more.
Interestingly, this contradicts another study carried out by Johns Hopkins University in the States which I wrote about in earlier this year. This study concluded that left-handed men who attended college for at least a year earn 13% more than right-handed men. And those who completed four years at college earn, on average, 21% more than similarly educated right-handed men.
So, who do you believe?
I came across a video on You Tube the other day that lists famous left handers - everyone from Einstein and Napoleon to Bill Gates and Leonardo da Vinci. Take a look at these famous southpaws.
Here's a handy set of videos for all southpaws, courtesy of Anything Lefthanded. They explain how left-handed items work - from smudge-free pens to can openers.
Here's the link
Just pondering on my post from Nov 5th, about Barack Obama being left handed...Considering that only 10% of us are left-handed, it's pretty surprising that since the second world war, half of the presidents (six of 12) have been left-handed. In January, that figure will rise to seven out of 12.
Both McCain and Obama are lefties, but ALL THREE candidates in 1992 were left-handed (Bush Snr, Clinton and Perot).
A three-year study of 17 wild chimpanzees in Tanzania found that 12 of them used their left hands when using sticks to probe for termites.
Only four were right-handed, as one used both hands to dig out the ants.
The strange thing is, the researchers (from Emory University in Atlanta)reported a right-handed preference when the chimps cracked open nuts.
I read the other day that there is a scholarship especially for left-handed students!
It's the Frederick and Mary F. Beckley Scholarship, worth up to US$1,000, that's awarded to left-handed students of Juniata College in the States. I'm not sure who May F. Beckley was, but I did discover she used to attend Juniata College and she left this bequest in 1979.
So, we southpaws are not always discriminated against. :)
Congratulations to Barack Obama who will be the fifth US president out of seven to be left handed!
Did you know that Al Gore is also left handed? So this would have meant the sixth out of seven, had he won back in 2000.
Do you know which is your dominant eye? Try this quick test:
Stretch your arms out in front of you, level with your face, and make a small triangle with your hands, as per the photo.
Pick a focal point in front of you (eg: picture on the wall, or whatever), then look through the triangle with both your eyes open.
Now close your left eye. If your target object remains in view, you are right eye dominant. If your hands appear to move off the object and move to the left, you are left eye dominant.
A slight zap of electricity to the brain could make righties better at using their left hands, a new study shows.
Researchers from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School used a non-invasive electrical stimulation technique to see if it made 16 healthy, right-handed volunteers better at using their left hand.
While the test subjects didn't suddenly become ambidextrous, the dexterity of their left hand did increase slightly.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27439132/
Here’s a thing: left handers are meant to be more intelligent than right handers. Even as a left hander, I’m fairly sceptical as to whether this is actually true but studies have shown there is some evidence for this.
Apparently, right handed people process information in their brains in a linear sequence - ie, they complete one thread of thought before going on to the next. On the other hand, we southpaws are supposed to use a ‘visual simultaneous’ method where we process lots of threads at the same time.
So, if right handers can only handle one piece of information at time, surely they must be slower thinkers, right? But, even if that's true, does that make them any less intelligent?
Last year I bought a great calendar especially for southpaws. Next year's is now out and I can't wait to put it on my Xmas list (hint, hint). Called, not surprisingly, The Left-Hander's 2009 Calendar, it's full of "left-handed legends, lore and more".
By the time you've reached December 31st, you'll be so genned up on left handed facts, you'll be able to enter MasterMind. For example, here's one I really liked: "If you type on a standard QWERTY keyboard, the number of English words typed solely with the left hand is estimated at 1,447. But only an estimated 187 words are typed using only the right hand."
'Stewardesses' is one such word, I've discovered....
I recently came across a book for teenagers on Amazon called The Case of the Left Handed Lady:an Enola Holmes Mystery.
Written recently by someone called Nancy Springer, this book is about Enola Holmes who is on the run from her much older brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. She becomes embroiled in a mystery to find the missing Lady Cecily - the aforementioned left-handed lady.
Interestingly, there were seven reader reviews for this book. One had four stars and the other six rated it a maximum five stars. It's great to see that a book set in Victorian London and aimed at the teenage US market should be so popular.
Must buy a copy....
The other day I read that most dogs are right-pawed, and only about 10% favour their left. Just the same ratio as in humans!
But, interestingly, cats tend to favour their left paw. Certainly my cat biffs things, and tries to catch things, with her left paw.
I'd be interested to know - is your cat left pawed and your dog right pawed?
As a tribute to Paul Newman who died last week, I thought I'd mention his 1958 film, Left Handed Gun, about Billy the Kid.
Here's what I found out on Wikipedia:
"While Billy the Kid was right-handed, it was widely assumed in the 20th century that he was left-handed. This belief stemmed from the fact that the only known photograph of Bonney, an undated ferrotype, shows him with a Model 1873 Winchester rifle in his right hand and a gun belt with a holster on his left side, where a left-handed person would typically wear a pistol.
The belief became so entrenched that in 1958, a biographical film was made about Billy the Kid called The Left Handed Gun starring Paul Newman. Late in the 20th century, it was discovered that the familiar ferrotype was actually a reverse image.
This version shows his Model 1873 Winchester with the loading port on the left side. All Model 1873s had the loading port on the right side, proving the image was reversed, and that he was, in fact, wearing his pistol on his right hip. Even though the image has been proven to be reversed, the idea of a left-handed Billy the Kid continues to widely circulate.
Perhaps because many people heard both of these arguments and confused them, many hold the belief that Billy the Kid was ambidextrous. "
Source: Wikipedia
Here's a cool left-handed calendar you can download for free. Pity I've found out about it when there are just three months of 2008 left.
Hopefully, they'll do another one for 2009.
Here's yet another example of the left hander's natural superiority. :)
In last week's final of 'Maestro' - the BBC's series of celebs wielding a baton - not only was the runner up (Goldie) left handed but so was the winner, Sue Perkins.
Congratulations to both of them.
I read an interesting article that says most climbing plants are left handed. That’s the result of a study that discovered 95% of vines in 75 locations across the world twined anti-clockwise.
Lead scientist behind the research Angela Moles, an evolutionary biologist at the
Other research has shown that 94 per cent of spiral sea shells twist to the left.
You can read the full article here: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2163/most-plants-are-left-handed-study-says
I saw my first electronic book at the weekend. Then, on Monday, I saw a photo of the new Sony E-Reader in a newspaper. Both gadgets had the controls down the right hand side. If these electronic reading devices take off, I doubt very much whether they will make a left-handed version.
At least with a conventional paper book, you can turn the pages with your left hand.
The animal charity, the PDSA, wants to find out how many of the nation's cats, dogs and other pets favour their left limbs while going about their daily business.
According to their recent press release, PDSA senior vet, Sean Wensley, said: "There is evidence of 'handedness' – preferring one side of the body to the other for certain tasks – in chimps, walruses and crows, so it's plausible that the same could be true of our pets."
In a recent poll organised by the Left Handers Club, members voted Barack Obama as Left Hander of the Year.
Runner up was Sir Paul McCartney, followed by Angelina Jolie. Left-handed tennis player, Raphael Nadal gained 15% of the vote, well ahead of American Idol runner-up David Archuleta.
You can find out the full story here.
Not a lot. That's because they developed many right-handed traditions, from the handshake we still use today to writing from left to right - a practice which causes many of us to drag our hands over what we've just written and smudge everything.
Luckily, I've recently discovered some rather clever pens which have been designed especially for left handers. They're a must for every left hander. You can view them here.
A recent article in an Irish newspaper revealed that, according to a poll for the AA Driving School, 57 per cent of left handers pass their driving test first time, compared with only 47 per cent of right-handers.
Simon Douglas, director of the AA Driving School, said: "Scientists have hypothesised for years that left handers are quicker to learn than right handers and, looking back through history, some of the most important drivers in the world have been left-handed."
Well, hooray for that story!
You can read the full article here.
August 13 is International Left Handers' Day which means this is every southpaw's chance to celebrate their right to be left handed.
It's the one day in the year where we can officially designate our personal space as a LEFTY ZONE and where our friends, colleagues and family must do everything within that zone left-handed!
The official Left Handers' Day website has a whole range of free posters you can download to display in your special lefty zone. You can access the downloads here.
So choose the ones you like best and stick them up all over your lefthanded-only zone at home or at work - or both.
Here are just a few tasks you can get your right-handed friends and colleagues to do left handed: open a tin or a wine bottle, use a computer mouse, cut bread, write with a fountain pen, cut paper with scissors. Enjoy watching their plight!
But it's not just about getting one up on your right handed friends; there is a serious point to the day. It was started 16 years ago in an attempt to raise awareness of left-handedness and the challenges caused by living in a right-handed world. And also to educate designers and manufacturers to accommodate left-handers’ comfort and safety in the design of their new products.
Happy Left Handers' Day!
Driving on the left means we left handers can get to use the gear stick with our left hands. (One of the few things that are designed to favour southpaws...) However, we have our right-handed ancestors to thank for the fact we drive on the left hand side of the road.
That's because they used to carry their weapons in their (dominant) right hands. It was far safer to pass someone on the left, as it meant their weapon was between them and the passing stranger.
When Napoleon came along he changed this rule of the road. He was left handed so he ordered his armies to march on the right, thus keeping his sword arm between him and the advancing enemy.
I read an interesting story the other day: marine biologists from 23 Sea Life centres across
The results will be released in autumn.
Incidentally, I also read an octopus in a German zoo has been trained to open a jar!
Ever since I got my first SLR camera about 20 years ago, I've been keen on photography. And the digital SLR I got last Christmas was the best present I've ever received.
But, like all left handers, I have to use a camera that has been designed for right-handed people because I'm forced to use my right index finger to depress the shutter. And, on my little point and shoot camera, all the buttons and cursor keys are located on the right hand side - the left hand side is all screen. The SLR has so many buttons and controls that there are one or two located on the left - but not many.
The other day we were visiting the Wetland Centre in Barnes (dozens of ducklings!) and got chatting to a chap who had a Sanyo Xacti compact camcorder. It was a really neat camera and very impressive for its size. It was designed so you could control it with just your thumb. But, yes, you've guessed it - your right thumb.
About 10%-12% of us are left-handed, but not in China. Children who are spotted writing with their left hands are forced to change to their right.
As a result, you won't find left-handed people in China. And, not surprisingly, everything there is designed for right handers. So, if you're left handed and planning on visiting the forthcoming Olympic games, don't be surprised if you needs not catered for.
Mind you, what's different there! OK, there are lots of left-handed kitchen and sporting products available online now, but, here in the UK, every time we open a door or a window, go through the Tube gates, or operate a camera (the list is endless) we have to do it the right-handed way.Lots has been said recently about the fact McCain and Obama are both left handed - and that four of the past five US presidents have also been left handers. However, not that many UK prime ministers have been southpaws. Is it, then, just coincidence?
Well, David Cameron is left handed. So, maybe our next PM will also be a southpaw? Something further to cement that 'special relationship'?
The more I read about tennis, the more left handed players I hear about.
I didn't see the new Wimbledon junior champion, Laura Robson, play this year but it turns out she is also left handed. And so is Jamie Murray (Andy Murray's brother) who won the mixed doubles last year at Wimbldeon.
So being left is alright, after all. I always suspected it was.
We like:
Left-handed player, Rafael Nadal, thwarted Roger Federer's attempt to win his fifth Wimbledon title. Interestingly, back in 1980, Bjorn Borg failed to secure his fifth title by being beaten by the left-handed John McEnroe.
I've recently come back from a week walking in Alpine meadows, hearing cows' bells tinkling and generally enjoying the beautiul mountain scenery and the clean, fresh air. It has been warm in London this week and travelling on a fetid, cramped and sweaty Tube is not pleasant. In fact, you couldn't get more of a contrast with the Alps.
This post isn't about lefthandedness, but anyway...this led me to thinking about the amusing things I've seen on the Underground here in London over the years:
On Saturday, I was sitting on the plane on the way back from my holiday drinking some apple juice. Of course, the little indented circle for my glass was on the right hand side of my tray (ie: the wrong-hand side). So, I had three options:
1. hold the glass in my right hand so I could put it easily back in its place
2. hold the glass in my left hand and reach over to put it down
3. hold the glass in my left hand and ignore the indented bit on the tray completely
I know it's a petty point but it's just another example of how we lefties are overlooked when it comes to product design. Like having the loo roll holder to the right of the loo and the soap dispenser fitted on the right hand side of the wash basin. Ho hum.
I find it hard to understand why many right handers think being left handed is some kind of handicap. Yes, we have to adapt and survive in a world that's not designed for us, but I see it as a gift - not an affliction.
Left handers - who have a dominant right brain - are more creative, more imaginative, more artistic, more...well, here's a favourite quote of mine which just about sums it up perfectly:
"Left handers are wired into the artistic half of the brain which makes them imaginative, creative, surprising, ambiguous, exasperating, stubborn, emotional, witty, obsessive, infuriating, delightful, original, and never, never dull.” From 'The World's Greatest Left Handers' by James T de Kay and Sandy Huffaker
There have been literally dozens of articles over the past couple of days regarding Kevin Pietersen and his left-handed batting. Just because the England cricketer can bat brilliantly with both his left and his right hand, people are whingeing he is ' gaining an unfair advantage by effectively changing from a right-hander to a left-hander'.
What nonsense!
Anyhow, the MCC don't seem to have a problem with it. In a statement, they confirmed: "The 'switch-hit' stroke is exciting for the game of cricket. Indeed, the stroke conforms to the Laws of Cricket and will not be legislated against. (The) MCC believe that the 'switch-hit' stroke is a difficult shot to execute and that it incurs a great deal of risk for the batsman. It also offers bowlers a good chance of taking a wicket and therefore the MCC believe that the shot is fair to both batsman and bowlers."
Yah boo sucks to the whiners. And hurrah for ambidextrous cricketers.In my last post, I mentioned that the next president of the US will be a left hander. I discovered today that Al Gore is left handed, too. So, if Dubya hadn't become president, there would have been 32 years of uninterrupted left-handed rule at The White House. Because Ford, Reagan, Bush Snr and Clinton were all left handed. Trust Bush Jnr to spoil things....
BTW, Reagan wrote with his right hand as he was forced to switch as a child (as happened regularly in those days) but he was actually a lefty. As was Winston Churchill.
Unless something unforeseen happens, the next president of the US will be left handed, as both Obama and McCain are southpaws.
Four of the last five US presidents have been left handers and soon it will be five out of six. Now that's far higher than the average. Only one in 12 people is left handed. Pure coincidence or a demonstration of the fact that left handers are naturally superior??
I learnt something interesting yesterday. In India, you should never pass something to someone with your left hand. If you do, it's regarded as an insult.
Usually, we southpaws muddle along quite happily in a right-handed world, but it wouldn't be natural for me to hold things in my right hand to give to someone. I am too left-hand dominant. And I certainly wouldn't get on well in those countries where you have to eat with your right hand. I'd end up with most of my food down my chin and my front.
I guess it's just a matter of practise. Maybe I'll try both things tomorrow and see how I fare....
Here are a few quotes to do with left handedness. The first and last ones are my faves:
“The right half of the brain controls the left half of the body. This means that only left handed people are in their right mind.”
Anonymous
“Damned infernal gizmo. My kingdom for a left-handed can opener.”
Mr Burns, The Simpsons
“To be hated cordially, is only a left-handed compliment.”
Herman Melville
Reason is our soul’s left hand, Faith her right.”
John Donne
As you’re driving your carriage along;
If you go on the left, you are sure to be right,
If you go to the right you are wrong,”
Anonymous English rhyme, 19th century
George Bernard Shaw
Ursula K Le Guin from The Left Hand of Darkness
Bible: Judges 20 v 15
Irish saying
“Left-handers are wired into the artistic half of the brain, which makes them imaginative, creative, surprising, ambiguous, exasperating, stubborn, emotional, witty, obsessive, infuriating, delightful, original, but never, never, dull.”
James T deKay and Sandy Huffaker from The World’s Greatest Left-Handers: Why Left-Handers are Just Plain Better than Everybody Else
I read something over the weekend that said 2,500 left handers die each year using products designed for right handers.
That led me to thinking: what were these people doing? Stabbing themselves due to out-of-control scissors? Getting into a life-threatening situation with a tin opener? Suffering a coronary from a right-handed computer keyboard?
As a southpaw, I know how much easier everyday tasks are when you use left-handed implements but I find it hard to believe 2,500 people put their lives at risk each year by using products that were designed for right handers.
Good news for Czech southpaws: their first left-handed store has opened in Prague. Called 'Obchod pro levoruké' (ie: the left-hander’s shop), it's in the former industrial region of Karlín.
The left-handed shop we used to have in London is now an old-fashioned sweet shop. Luckily, you can buy all the stuff the shop used to sell here.
I'm part way through an evening class on how to illustrate children's books. In last night's class I noticed that, out of 10 students, three of us were left handed. Far higher than the national average of 12% but not surprising considering it's an art course and so calls on the creative, right-hand side of the brain.
What was interesting, however, was that one member of the class - who is right handed - decided part way through the lesson that she could draw better with her left hand. So there are now four of us who are southpaws.
This prompted our teacher (right handed) to say how, at art college, the right handers were encouraged to draw with their left hands and the lefties encouraged to practise with their right hands. The theory being that the hand unused to holding a pencil would be more sensitive.
I gave it a go but, erm, it'll be a while before I turn into the next Landseer. He was the artist who could simultaneously draw a stag with one hand and a horse with the other! Try writing different things simultaneously with both hands - nigh on impossible - let alone draw!
I read an article the other day about a study that claimed left handers ran several times the risk of suffering from migraines as their right-handed counterparts. This was because they found there was a higher frequency of left-handedness in patients who suffered from migraines than in their control groups.
Interesting finding, but why should that be?
I then read that another study, done by scientists in Germany, found there was no evidence at all to suggest we southpaws are more prone to migraines.
So how are we supposed to know what to believe when we read such articles? My anecdotal evidence is that the people I know who suffer from migraines are all right handed.
I read something interesting the other day: there is evidence that lefthandedness was fairly common in the Stone Age. University researchers looked at 507 hand prints in 26 caves in France and Spain that were painted between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago.
They found that 23% were prints of right hands, indicating that they were made by left handers - as they would have painted the cave wall using their left hand and done the print with their non painting hand. Today, only about 12% of us are lefties.
But, then I've also read that tools found in Stone Age times were sharpened equally for left and right hand use, suggesting left handedness was far more prevalent than 23%. So who knows what to believe?
I'm often asked why we southpaws find it irritating living in a world geared for right handers. So, for those right handed people who have never given it a thought, here are ten examples:
The husband and wife team behind the online store, Anything Left Handed, have just launched a new online community for southpaws, called Left Hand World.
I joined up straight away as I see it as a fun way to meet other left handers around the world. They've also made it easy for everyone to communicate with each other using video and audio postcards, rather than simply with text. How cool is that?
They've even got a blog page facility where left handers who don't yet have their own blog can easily start one.
How many times are you stuck for ideas on what to get a friend or relative for their birthday or Christmas present? Well, if your hard-to-buy-for friend or relative is a southpaw, then it's easy!
Here are ten items just for starters that any left hander will be glad to receive:
We left handers naturally draw lines from right to left and draw circles anti clockwise so, not surprisingly, we form our letters differently. But I wonder how many left-handed children are taught to form their letters the left-handed way? I certainly wasn't. And we didn't have left-handed scissors in the classroom, either.
As an adult, I now have a left-handed ruler (so I can measure right to left - the natural way for me) and a left-handed pencil sharpener (so I can sharpen a pencil anti clockwise, and have the shavings fall away from me and into the bin rather than over my hand, as is the case when I have to use a right handed sharpener in my left hand).
This anticlockwise thing means I get some strange looks. The other day I was table moderator at a networking lunch and organised the distribution of business cards so they went round the table in an anticlockwise direction. I didn't consiously go 'the other way' on purpose, it's just the way that seemed to me to be natural. Anyhow, it seemed to confuse the hell out of everyone.
Just like if I hand over my cheque book or paying in book to a right handed person in my bank. They can't seem to work out which way up or which way round they go. They'd be totally confused within about five minutes if they had to live in a left-handed world.
The more I find out about which tasks left handers use which hand for, the more confused I get about what 'being left handed' actually means. For instance, my hairdresser cuts paper with scissors in his left hand but holds the scissors in his right hand to cut hair.
A friend I saw over the weekend writes left handed but does virtually everything else right handed. Just like my niece and just like Bill Gates. And Martina Navratilova does everything with her left hand (including playing tennis) except write.
I am left handed, left footed, left eyed, left eared. So I look through the view finder of a camera with my left eye, I hold a phone to my left ear etc etc. Just about the only thing I do right handed is wear my watch on my left wrist. And that's probably because, when I had my first watch, my mother strapped it on my left wrist for me.
But it seems that many of my fellow southpaws are fairly dual handed. If you do some tasks with one hand and some with another, I'd love to hear from you.
Those of us who are left handed have a rum lot. Look at how derogatory the terms to do with 'left' and 'left handed' are.
You pay someone a 'left-handed compliment’ when you’re concealing an insult. If you’re not picked for something, you’re ‘left out’. If you can’t dance, you have ‘two left feet’. Here in England, left handers are often described as ‘cack handed’ – ‘cack’ meaning excrement.
And it's not just in English that left has negative connotations :
Latin for ‘left’ is ‘sinister’. In French, left is ‘gauche’ which also means ‘awkward’ or ‘clumsy’. In German, ‘links’ (left) is also synonymous with ‘awkward’ or ‘clumsy’. In Italian, left handed is ‘mancino’ which has additional meanings of ‘treacherous’ or ‘dirty’. In Spanish ‘left handed’ is ‘zurdo’. There is also a phrase ‘no ser zurdo’ which translates literally as ‘not to be left handed’ but actually means ‘to be very clever’. Similarly, Portuguese for left handed is ‘canhoto’ or ‘weak’.
It doesn’t quite seem fair does it? As those of us who are southpaws know, left handers aren’t clumsy at all – we just have to get by in a world designed for right handers. And if you're a righty and you don’t believe me, try using left-handed scissors or a left-handed can opener.
Instead of a blog today, here's a quiz to test left-handed knowledge:
1. Which composer was left handed?
A. Chopin
B. Liszt
C. Beethoven
2. What is the Latin for left handed?
A. dexter
B. sinister
C. leftus
3. Which of these was not left handed?
A. Grace Kelly
B. Charlie Chaplin
C. Queen Victoria
4. How many of the last seven US presidents
have been left handed?
A. 2
B. 4
C. 7
5. What are left handers called in the US?
A. linksfooters
B. gauchehands
C. southpaws
6. When is Left Handers Day?
A. August 13
B. July 9
C. April 22
7. In which game is it illegal to play left handed?
A. bowls
B. polo
C. cricket
8. In Scotland, what does an itchy left palm mean?
A. you will meet an old friend
B. you will get good luck
C. you will lose money
9. Which climbing plant twines to the left and not the right?
A. clematis
B. honeysuckle
C. rambling rose
10. What percentage of the population is ambidextrous?
A. 1%
B. 2%
C. 3%
Scroll down to see the answers
Answers
1C. Beethoven
2B. sinister
3A. Grace Kelly
4B. 4
5C. southpaws
6 A. August 13
7B. polo
8C. you will lose money
9C. honeysuckle
10A. 1%
Scores
0-3 right? Oh dear.
4-6 right? Pretty good, but you could do with a bit more 'southpaw' knowledge at your fingertips.
7-10 right? Very impressive indeed!
Lucky me; I’ve got a brand spanking new kitchen. And that means at long last the electric hob with dials on the right is in the skip. So is the microwave with its control panel on the right. I have managed to find ‘ambidextrous’ kitchen appliances which left and right handers can use with equal ease.
Mind you, I think the sales guy at Peter Jones thought I was a bit strange when he saw me dismissing cookers, ovens and the like with one swift glance.
“But it’s the latest model, madam.”
“Maybe, but the dials are on the right.”
I got the impression he’d never had a left-handed customer before…
In my search for the ‘perfect’ kitchen, I even found sinks that are designed for left handers (draining board on the other side). And best of all, I spotted a few toasters with both the controls and the lever for pushing down the bread on the front. But I have yet to find a special toaster that’s made specifically for left handers. If anyone knows of one, do tell.
So I can go and tie my right hand behind my back and still master all my new appliances. Cooking just got that much more enjoyable. :)
Now here’s an interesting fact.
A recent study carried out by Johns Hopkins University in the States concluded that left-handed men who attended college for at least a year earn 13% more than right-handed men.
And those who completed four years at college earn, on average, 21% more than similarly educated right-handed men. How weird is that?
So, do my left-handed male friends seem unusually awash with dosh? Are my right-handed male friends one-fifth poorer on pay day?
Strangely, this study found no wage differential between left- and right-handed women.
Three great left-handed April Fool’s jokes today.
The left-handed cappuccino
The left-handed burger
Left-handed ropes
Café chain Doppio Zero in South Africa launched a left-handed cappuccino, with a view to introducing a range of left-handed drinks and meals.
Also in South Africa, a burger chain called Steers launched a left-handed burger, redesigned so it fits more comfortably in the left hand. Apparently, the new lefty Steers burgers ‘will have all the condiments rotated 180 degrees, thereby redistributing the weight of the sandwich so that the bulk of them skew to the left’.
And get this, the spokesperson in their press release was Avril Foley….
Finally to Milton Keynes, where southpaw visitors to the Aerial Extreme outdoor adventures course can use special 'left-handed' ropes – wound anti-clockwise to give a better grip. And they even went to the lengths of producing left-handed leaflets explaining the new system, which open from left to right! The first 10 left-handers who applied before noon today (April 1) could try the course for free.
Keep ‘em coming.
Now that sounds like a fairly easy question to answer. But what does mark us out as a left or right hander? My niece is 'left handed' because that's the hand she uses for writing. But in every other respect she is right handed.
And a friend told me that he throws "a ball with my left hand but kick a ball with my right foot. I bat in cricket or swing a club in golf right handed! I write with my left, yet if someone challenged me to an arm wrestle I would instinctively proffer my right".
They aren't ambidextrous, because that would mean they could do everything with both hands equally well. Are they a label that has yet to be given? Bi-handed?
I use my left hand for everything except for putting moisturiser/sun lotion on. Why that sole task? I think it's because I hold the bottle or tube in my left hand and squeeze out the sun cream into my right hand.
You can check which is your dominant hand by trying this easy test, called: How left handed are you?
Useful fact: gorillas are left handed and most cats are left pawed.
On last Friday’s blog, I mentioned that around 10%-12% of the population is left handed. But what exactly determines which is our dominant hand? It’s not exactly known, but here are a few theories:
As I'm new to the world of blogging, I was amused to learn the term 'blogroll'. Essentially, a list of someone's favourite blogs which they add to the sidebar of their blog.
I think the term is lost on American audiences but, here in England, we think it's jolly amusing. Hooray to the person who coined that!
I decided to find other blogging terms that were new to me. A quick search on Wikipedia turned up a whole A- W of terms. Here are my favourites.
Blaudience: The audience who reads your blog
Bleg: when you make a request to your readers, for information or contributions
Bloggies: blog awards
Bloglet: a mini blog entry, consisting of just a sentence or two
Blogorrhea: excessive, overlong blog entries (thank goodness for blogrolls)
Blogstipation: the opposite state: being unable to think of any topic to blog about. A rush of interesting events can clear this writer’s block known as a blenema
Blogistan: alternative term for the Blogosphere, or blogging community
Blogsnob: anyone who refuses to respond to comments left on their blog by people unknown to them
Flog: fake blog, ghostwritten by someone, eg in the marketing department
Gulog: when a blog is so dismal and depressing, it sounds as if it were written in a Soviet labour camp
Momosphere: blogs written by mothers ("mom" and “blogosphere”)
Splog: a blog made up mainly of spam
I know this blog is meant to be about things left handed but I thought you might enjoy some of the above terms. More left handed stuff on Friday.
'No, I'm not going to blog.' I was adamant. Firstly, I wouldn't be disciplined enough to write regular postings. Secondly, no-one would be in the slightest bit interested in reading it.
Mmmm, but 50 million + people think it's a good idea. So, I decided to dip my tentative toe into the big, wide world of blogging by reading one or two. And now, I've donned my goggles and snorkel and have plunged right in. So, come on in, the water's lovely.
Just because The Left Hander will focus on matters 'southpaw' and 'sinister' doesn't mean right handers aren't welcome into my left-handed world. I hope that left handers, right handers and the ambidextrous will read it.
Here's an interesting thing: there's a fair likelihood that the next US President will be a southpaw, as both Barack Obama and John McCain are left handed. In fact, four of the last six presidents have been left handers so, if either Obama or McCain wins, this will make it five out of seven. And, when only 10%-12% of people are left handed, that's a pretty amazing statistic.
