This world is not for me

Yes, this world is not for me because it is largely built for right-handed people. We, the left-handed people, are also a part of this world. There should be arrangements for us in every institute and workplaces. Sure, lefties make up about 10 percent of the population, but frankly, it seems like society has forgotten about them. Right-handed gadgets are like awkwardly designed desks, cooking tools that fit comfortably in your right hand … they are all just so wrong! Being a lefty, I have always had trouble with scissors, pens, notebooks, desks, sewing machines, cameras, etc…

Out of the 10 percent of the world’s left-handed people, there are twice as many men as women. 30 per cent of us are mixed-handed and switch hands during some tasks. Ambidextrous people can do any task equally well with either hand, but it’s exceptionally rare. Ambilevous or ambisinister are awkward with both hands.

During the Middle Ages, left-handed folks were thought to be possessed by the devil, prompting the modern definition of the word ‘sinister’ which comes from sinistra, the Latin word for left.

The English word left comes from the Old English lyft, meaning idle, weak or useless. The French word for left, gauche, also means clumsy or awkward.

August 13th has been declared International Left-handers Day, which was first launched in 1992 by the UK-based Left-Handers’ Club to increase awareness about the left-handed lifestyle.

The official Boy Scout handshake uses the left hand, not the right. Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouts was ambidextrous, but he chose the left hand because it is closer to the heart.

Five of the seven most recent U.S Presidents have been left handers, including Barack Obama.

The left hemisphere of the brain controls speech, language, writing, logic, maths and science, while the right side controls music, art, creativity, perception, emotions, and genius. So left-handers are more likely to be creative and visual thinkers, and consequently better at 3D perception.

There are advantages and disadvantages of being left- handed. On a QWERTY keyboard, there are 1447 English words typed solely with the left hand, whilst only 187 are typed with the right hand.

Left-handers have more chances of developing allergies, migraines and insomnia, and are three times more at risk of becoming alcoholics, as the right side of the brain - which is dominant in left-handers - has a lower tolerance to alcohol.

Lefties are more likely to be on extreme poles of the intelligence scale. They are prone to suffer stuttering and dyslexia. However, lefties may be in luck when it comes to other health conditions. A survey of more than 1.4 million participants found that left-handers had lower rates of arthritis and ulcers. Left-handed stroke victims recover faster than the right-handed victims. Also, lefties are less able to roll their tongue than righties.

Researchers aren’t sure why, but the left-handed seem to make up a disproportionately large part of those who are highly intelligent. For example, twenty percent of all Mensa members are left-handed. When you consider that less than 10 percent of the total population is left-handed, this makes for a lot of smart lefties. Some think this genius stems from being forced to use both sides of the brain more often, allowing these individuals to more easily process a large amount of information.

You might just come out ahead in athletics if you’re a lefty. Since most players are right-handed, many are unused to dealing with those who are lefties.

One of the advantages of being left-handed is that it forces your brain to think more quickly. What this means for everyday life is that lefties may find it easier to multi-task and deal with a large, sometimes unorganized stream of information. Researchers found that conversations between the left and right sides of the brain happen more quickly in left-handed people. The more dominant the left-handedness is, the better these abilities are.

You may be a very distant relative of the Royal Family of England if you are a lefty! Ok, probably not, but the royal family has a surprising number of left-handers!

A study carried out in the UK found that left-handed men earn more money – especially non-manual workers. Tough luck if you’re a left-handed woman though, you’ll earn less.

It is said that the left-handed live on average nine years less than the right-handed people, but there’s no logical reason that lefties would die younger than righties.

Boo!

If you’re a left-hander, that probably made you cringe. That’s because people who use their left hands tend to be more affected by fear than people who use their right hands, according to a recent research presented at the annual conference of the British Psychology Society.

For the study, participants watched an eight-minute clip from the film Silence of the Lambs. When asked to recall events from the segment, lefties were far more likely to show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder than righties, including giving fragmented descriptions and making more mistakes.

Another advantage that the lefties enjoy is that they get to choose their seat at the dinner table. Everyone knows you can’t sit next to a lefty; otherwise, you’ll get your elbow bumped. Smart southpaws use this to their advantage to get a spot with more space. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work as well at a circular table!

Grrr! Left-handers get angry rather easily, too. In addition, they seem to have a more difficult time processing their feelings. Again, this seems to be related to the brain-hand connection. Compared to the righties, the left-handed participants in the study showed an imbalance in activity between the left and right hemispheres when trying to process their moodiness.

There are different theories scientists proposed to explain why people are left-handed. For example, hormonal imbalance/parental trauma, evolutionary changes, physical condition or imitation, because some younger children may try to imitate older family members or people they look up to, and end up becoming left-handed themselves.

But the most interesting theory is the Vanishing Twin Theory, which suggests that left-handed people are originally one-half of identical twin fetuses in the mother’s womb. However, the right-handed fetus fails to develop very early on during the pregnancy and is reabsorbed by the mother’s body. Twins do have a high occurrence of left/right-handedness in the pair, but this theory has been discredited by Australian scientists.

Left-handers are the minority. So, does that mean they’ll go extinct one day? Nah! In fact, some researchers believe that when it comes to survival of the fittest, lefties come out on top.

Southpaw celebs

SPORTS

Jimmy Connors (tennis)

Rod Laver (tennis)

Martina Navratilova (tennis) - ambidextrous

Rafael Nadal (tennis) - ambidextrous

Wasim Akram (cricket)

Alan Border (cricket)

Gary Sobers (cricket)

Actors

Charlie Chaplin

Tom Cruise

Robert DeNiro

Cary Grant

Brangelina

Nicole Kidman

Keanu Reeves

Julia Roberts

Bruce Willis

Musicians

Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)

Jimi Hendrix

Paul McCartney

George Michael

Artists

Michelangelo

Raphael

Leonardo da Vinci

Miscellaneous

Alexander the Great

Julius Caesar, Roman general

King Louis XVI of France

Prince William of England

Fidel Castro, Cuban leader

Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer

Helen Keller, advocate for the blind

Jack-the-Ripper, serial killer

Bill Gates

Napoleon Bonaparte

What it means being left-handed - in a right-handed world

Crossing other people’s paths/position on pavement

Taking neighbour’s drink/bread roll at the dining table

Direction of work, decorating/painting rooms

Being helped to put on a jacket

Receiving change

Putting children’s socks and shoes on

Feeling more comfortable sitting on the left hand side of things

Putting belts on upside down

Visualize things the opposite way around

Trouble opening/locking locks

Work stations flow the opposite way around

Organizing files “back to front”

Putting clothes back on racks the wrong way round

Flicking through magazines from back to front

Line dancing on the wrong foot

Tying shoe laces

Best of both worlds

Many left-handed or left-footed sportsmen are actually right-handed in other respects, and have presumably learned to employ their left side for its sports advantage, or for a variety of other reasons. For example, many baseball and cricket players bat left and throw/pitch/bowl right, or vice versa; left-swinging golf champions Phil Mickelson, Mike Weir and Steve Flesch all prefer their right hands for almost all other tasks; boxer Marvin Hagler is right-handed but adopted a left-handed southpaw stance; lefty tennis players Martina Navratilova and Rafael Nadal are right-handed in other respects; etc. Interestingly, though, there are also counter-examples: right-handed golfer Arnold Palmer performs most non-golfing activities left-handed; Henry Cooper and Oscar de la Hoya box in the orthodox (right-handed) stance, but are left-handed in most other respects, etc.

Facts and myths

In witchcraft texts in medieval Europe, it was the left hand that was used to harm or curse another person. To affect a curse, witches were instructed to silently touch the recipient with the left hand, which would convey the curse. Additionally, the devil supposedly gives the gathering a benediction with the left hand, as opposed to the right-handed blessing of the Christian church. He would also baptize or anoint with his left hand.

Among the Eskimos, every left-handed person is viewed as a potential sorcerer. In Morocco, left-handers are considered to be a s’ga, a word that means either a devil or a cursed person.

The Incas thought left-handers were capable of healing and that they possessed magical abilities. The North American Zuni tribe believed left-handedness signified good luck.

Both the Jewish and Christian traditions are strongly right-handed in their nature and practices. For Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, and other denominations, the priest must present the communion wafer with the right hand, and the communicant accepts it with the right hand. All benedictions must be made with the right hand, and a priest symbolizes the “strong right hand of God.”

Medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides (A.D. 1135-1204) listed 100 blemishes a Jewish priest could not have, and being left-handed was one of them.
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