13 August: International Left-handers Day

Today is International Left-handers Day. It was founded by the Left-Handers Club in 1992, and is, according to the club, "an annual event when left-handers everywhere can celebrate their sinistrality (left-handedness) and increase public awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of being left-handed." Here are 10 things you might not know about left-handedness:

1. Studies suggest that approximately 10% of people are left-handed. Men are 23% more likely to be left-handed.
2. Is it inherited? Possibly, but it's not simple. If two left-handed people have a child, there is a 26% chance of that child being left-handed. It's also possible for a pair of identical Twins to have one left-handed member and one right-handed one. Identical twins are often mirror images of one another which could explain that. There was once a theory that all left-handed people started out as twins but their right-handed twin died in the womb.
3. Different sides of the human brain control different activities. In most people, the left hemisphere controls speech and the right hemisphere controls perception and gross motor skills. Finer motor skills such as writing are controlled by the left. As the right hand is controlled by the left hemisphere (and the left hand is controlled by the right hemisphere) most people are right-handed. Does this mean left-handed people have back to front Brains? No. In most left-handed people the left side of the brain controls speech just as in right handed people. Only around 30% of them are not left-hemisphere dominant for language.
4. Why are some people left-handed then? There are a number of theories. Studies have suggested that in-utero exposure to diethylstilbestrol (a synthetic oestrogen based medication used between 1940 and 1971) were more likely to be left-handed, and also that mothers who have ultrasound scans are more likely to have left handed children. Seeing as just about everybody has an ultrasound scan nowadays, that should mean more left-handed people. Chris McManus of University College London argues that the proportion of left-handers is indeed increasing. But, you may be saying, people were left-handed long before synthetic oestrogen and ultrasound scans. Other scientists have suggested the position of the foetus in late pregnancy and its birth position has an effect, which has been suggested as an explanation as to why more premature babies are left-handed. Though it could be that premature babies have given cause for concern all along and may therefore have been scanned more often. Stress during pregnancy is another theory.
5. Are left-handed people more intelligent than righties? Not necessarily, studies have shown that there's only one IQ point in it, so not significant. However, more noteworthy was the finding that left-handed people tended tended to be better at music and mathematics and many of them are high achievers. Left-handed people are at an advantage in some sports, including baseball, tennis, fencing, cricket and boxing, possibly because their opponents are more accustomed to the right-handed majority.
6. There are down sides to being left-handed, though. Being left-handed means a person is more likely to suffer from autism, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia, alcoholism, cerebral palsy, heart disease and broken bones. Left-handed women have a higher risk of Parkinson's disease and breast cancer. Studies have also found that in spite of left-handers being over-represented among high achievers, on average, left-handed people earn 10 to 12% less over the course of their lives than right-handed people. Left-handed men were almost twice as likely to die in war as their right-handed contemporaries, possibly because they had to use weapons or equipment designed for righties.
7. Then there's the prejudice. While we live in more tolerant times now, there was a time when left-handed people were seen as evil. Modern language still reflects this. "Right" in English also means "correct" or "proper", and the word "sinister" derives from the Latin for left. It's not just English. The French word for left, "gauche" also means "awkward" or "clumsy", while the word for right, "droit" also means "straight". The word "dexterity" meaning manual skill also derives from the Latin word for right. A "left-handed compliment" is one with two meanings, one of which is unflattering; and black magic is sometimes referred to as the "left-hand path". As recently as the 20th century, children would be beaten if they used their left hands and, and were forced to use their right instead. Perhaps part of the problem was that the machines invented in the industrial revolution were made for right-handers to use and a left-handed person would be less capable of using them efficiently.
8. Some cultures view left-handedness completely differently. Peoples of the Andes believe left-handers possess special spiritual abilities, including magic and healing. The Incas also see left-handedness as a positive thing. In Buddhism, too, the left hand represents wisdom.
9. Some famous left-handed people include British King George VI and Prince William. The former was forced to use his right hand, the latter is quite proud of being a leftie and hopes some of his children will follow suit. Some more famous southpaws are Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, Pele, Justin Bieber and Angelina Jolie.
10. "Footedness" is a thing, too. People will usually favour one foot for various tasks like taking a first step or kicking a ball. It's possibly most visible in sports like snowboarding, where riders are "footed" in one of two stances, generally called "regular" (right foot leads) and "goofy" (left foot leads). Sounds to me like there's a bit of that language prejudice creeping in there, too!

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