"Living
backwards!" Alice repeated in great astonishment. "I never heard of
such a thing!" -Alice, Through
the Looking-Glass
Lefty factoids I've compiled:
- About 30 million Americans are left-handed!
- Blonds are twice as likely to be left-handed, nobody knows why.
- Leftys are more likely to suffer from juvenile diabetes, insomnia, migraines,
ulcers, phobias, alcoholism and manic depression and three times as likely
to commit suicide as rightys. Aren't we lucky?
- While leftys make up only about 10% of the general population, between 15
and 30% of all patients in mental institutions are left-handed.
- On the other hand, they account for almost 20% of Mensa's membership.
- August 13th is International Lefthanders Day, it also happens to be the
birthdate of Dean Campbell, the guy who founded International Lefthanders
Day, coinicidence, I think not. (He maintains that the 13th was chosen to
"make fun of all the superstitions surrounding left-handedness"
yeah, we believe you Dean)
- The term "leftist," meaning radical, dates back to the French
Revolution, during which the presiding officer of the French Assembly sat
with moderates in front of him, conservatives on his right, and radical revolutionaries
on his left.
- A study conducted at the University of Wisconsin found that 7 out of 10
women preferred to be caressed and cuddled with their partner's left hand.
Too much free time in Wisconsin.
- 70% of the Punjab tribe in Fiji prefer their left hand. In fact many aboriginal
tribes, from the Americas to Africa to Australia, have a consistantly higher
percentage of lefties.
"Any group that includes Charlemagne, Rock
Hudson, Paul McCartney, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Jack the Ripper,
and the Boston Strangler must be select, if not elite." - James De Kay
Nearly every left-handed page/book/article I've ever seen includes a list of
famous leftys, why should mine be any different:
- Both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are leftys, in fact nearly
one fourth of the Apollo astronauts were leftys.
- 4 out of the 5 people who designed the Macintosh computer are left-handed.
- Alexander the Great, Napoleon (and Josephine), Julius
Caesar, Charlemagne, Chuchill, Queen Victoria, Joan
of Arc, and Ghandi were leftys.
- Samual Adams: Brewer, Patriot, Lefty.
- Lefty presidents include: James Garfield, Herbert Hoover,
Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush,
and Bill Clinton, as well as also rans Ross Perot, Bob Dole,
and Bill Bradley.
- Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Picasso
painted with their left-hand, as did Toulouse-Lautrec, Rubens,
Klee, Escher, and Durer.
- The British Royal Family is crawling with leftys: the Queen, the
Queen Mum, Prince Charles and Prince William are all
southpaws, as were Edward III, George II, George IV,
George VI, Louis XVI, and Queen Victoria (please fill
in your own joke about inbreeding in Royal families).
- Every member of the Simpsons family has been left-handed in at least
one episode (For a breakdown of who and when, click here).
- It's not easy bein' green, or left-handed, as Kermit the Frog (and
his alter ego Jim Henson) can tell you.
- Great literature can flow from one's left hand, as proven by the likes of
Hans Christian Anderson, Peter Benchley, Lewis Carroll,
and H.G. Wells.
- I may not have any musical talent, but apparently I can't blame that one
on my handedness: 50% of the Beatles were left-handed (Paul and Ringo),
as are a full 2/3rds of Hanson (Taylor and Zac), not to mension:
Sting, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Jimi
Hendrix, George Micheal, Seal, Annie Lennox, Kurt
Cobain, Greg Allman, Micheal Stipe, Glen Frey, and
Phil Collins.
There is no consensus in the scientific community about the causes of left-handedness,
but here are some theories that we have abandoned:
- Left-handedness is a willful, neurotic choice made by obstinate and antisocial
individuals.
- All people are born right-handed. Some become left-handed because they are
mentally or physically deficient and cannot properly learn right-handed skills.
- Since the heart lies on the left side of the chest (sort of), early warriors
sought to protect it by carrying their shields in their left hand and weapon
in their right, giving right handed warriors a distinct advantage.
- One of my personal favorites, left-handedness is the result of bad toilet
training, in which the child becomes confused over which hand should be used
for toilet hygiene and which should be used for other tasks.
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*Some of the facts compiled here come from the following sources:
The Left-Hander's Guide to Life, L. W. Rutledge and R. Donley, 1992.
Lefties, Jack Fincher, 1977.