Happy Left Handers Day to all my fellow Lefties! ✋

Holly_Scope

As a lefty, I spent a lot of my childhood with ink on the side of my hand. I still have my paper sideways, does anybody else?

Here are some interesting facts about us Lefties 😅

Back in the day, being left handed was frowned upon. Many were forced to learn to use their right hand predominantly. This still happens in some countries now.

We were also thought of as being unlucky or evil, and to have been using witchcraft. 😮

The word "left" derives from the Anglo-Saxon word "lyft" which means "weak" and "right" means "to be right".

It is said that we only make up approximately 10-12% of the Population, and are more likely to be male (23%).

Although, it comes with advantages. We're said to have the upper hand in one-on-one sports such as Tennis, because most others train against right handed opponents.

We're also thought of as more creative, with left handers excelling in areas such as architecture, maths, or spatial awareness because of the unique wiring of our brains.

Did you know that Cats and Dogs can be left handed too? 🐱🐶

Some famous lefties are…

• Future King Prince William
• Talk show host Oprah Winfrey
• Sir Paul McCartney of the Beatles
• Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Ruth Badar Ginsburg
• Musician Justin Bieber
• Former President Barack Obama

Albus_Scope

I'm another famous "sinister handed" person. 😁

I was always great at rounders in school due to being a bit ambidextrous, because I was forced to write with my right hand for so long.

Holly_Scope

Oooo that's handy @Albus_Scope, they don't know what to expect from you. I always found the same with rounders and tennis being left handed. Not so much golf though, however I'm not sure I can blame that on being left handed as much as I might want to 😅

66Mustang

Brilliant thread

I didn't know about the origin of the word!!

Interesting about men being twice as likely to be left-handed. In French "left" is always a feminine word. "Right" is masculine when used in the sense of "turn right" or "on the right" but personal right (e.g. "my right hand" or "on my right") is feminine as well

I've never looked into it, it's just something I was told at school, but I heard left-handed people are fractionally more likely to die because the world is set up around right-handed people… an example being running out of a building that's on fire, the doors are set up for right-handed people. I think left-handed people surely tend to adapt though, so imagine it's a microscopic difference at most

SaraC_Scope

@Holly_Scope

I had to teach myself to be left handed as my CP affects my right side. Therefore I don't think I'm naturally creative. I'd love you to see my drawings and thinking outside the box ideas. 🤣

But it does give me a unique opportunity to be part of an exclusive club.

Albus_Scope

I much prefer the Latin for left, "sinister" it makes us sound much cooler. 😎

And that's quite right @66Mustang though I think the majority of left handed deaths involve heart attacks, from us getting so frustrated with all the stupid right handed things being forced on us. 😆

66Mustang

Ha ha @Albus_Scope when I started reading that, I thought it's be something quasi-logical like the heart being slightly on the left or something 😆

Albus_Scope

Alas, it's just me ranting about right handed mice and tin openers. 🤣

66Mustang

@Albus_Scope there's me once moaning about an ambidextrous mouse as I wasn't going to benefit from the thumb button on the other side 😂

Holly_Scope

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1058243#Comment_1058243

Blimey, I bet that was difficult because being a lefty naturally makes things a little more awkward. I am curious, do you write side ways?

You're part of the club now so it comes with additional creativeness 😅 I'd imagine your drawings are a lot better than mine. Fairly sure my drawings could pass for a small child's 🙈

Holly_Scope

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1058260#Comment_1058260

Oooo this is interesting, and something I'll remember. Hopefully it won't be needed but definitely worth knowing. I'll be getting myself behind a righty in an emergency situation 😅

SaraC_Scope

@Holly_Scope Strangely enough I don't, but I've always ended up with ink on my little finger and smudge plenty of birthday cards. 😂

One thing I've always received nice comments on is my handwriting. Unusually is exceptionally neat for a leftie. Little wins!

No one has ever wanted me on their Pictionary team. I follow my Dad in creativity 🤣

Holly_Scope

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1058301#Comment_1058301

I kid you not, I just had very cringy flashbacks of the rare times I've played Pictionary 🤣

Albus_Scope

A left hander with neat handwriting? I thought such things were only spoken of as legends?! 😱

66Mustang

@SaraC_Scope

Sorry I missed your post just after mine, I was actually going to ask if anyone's ever been forced to write with their "other" hand and how it went

r.e. the sports advantage, I once had a golf coach who was left-handed. He was good as he could show most of (!) us how to swing while standing opposite us. Most golf teachers have to stand alongside or in front or behind, which isn't ideal for a tutor. I heard it's desirable trait for golf coaches for that reason! 😊

SaraC_Scope

@Albus_Scope @Mary_Scope can confirm she has seen such things. 🤣

Mary_Scope

Its true! @SaraC_Scope, you have got very got very nice neat writing😄

MyHappy256

I'm also a lefty, like many people, growing up and forced to write with fountain pens, it just ended up in one big mess of ink with my left hand smearing all the ink as I wrote, added to this I seem to have some sort of misophonia to the scratchy noise of fountain pens, it makes me nauseous (not a disability, it's just like the same scratchy noise as someone running their nails down a blackboard) Am also slightly dislecsic and have cross eye dominance with my right eye being my dominant eye, where I grew up this wasn't regarded as a disability, so I went to a normal school…

Though my mother was left handed, it was not through choice, she lost an arm and a leg as a result of a shark attack and had to retrain to use her left hand. My father believed that I was actually right handed, so throughout my childhood, he could not accept that I was left handed, so I had to constantly have remedial lessons teaching me to use my right hand…still I persisted and became the "famous" guy I am (not)

I presently struggle to use my left hand, developed neuropathy in my left pre-transplant and tremors post transplant from the medication, so as it turns out being ambidextraous is now quite useful, but am still left handed even if I have trouble gripping things like a pen with my left hand, the creative flair is still with me.

When I was growing up, being left handed was a sign of intelligence, genius, many doctors were left handed!

I am very creative and I like reading and writing short stories, when I was still able to work I would use that creative influence to find solutions to problems at work, take on many of the problems that left other people stumped.

I never really found being left handed useful in sports, but that might be father's influence since I learned to throw right handed and bat left handed. I have seen a lot of left handed sportmen and women, who excel at sports being left handed.