More than likely, you know somebody is left-handed. You may be left-handed yourself! If you spend any amount of time talking to them about their day-to-day lives, you probably already realize that it can be very difficult to find products that are specific to their use. After all, being right-handed means that you are a dominant individual and the gene that makes an individual left-handed is recessive. Since the world is engineered toward right-handed people, left-handed people have to struggle to fit in and it isn’t always easy to do so.
Although we may think of left-handed people as just being somebody who uses the other hand regularly, they also tend to have different personality traits. For example, did you realize that many left-handed people tend to be more independent? It is thought that it may be because they spend a lot of their time adapting to the world around them. There are a number of fascinating facts about Southpaws that you may never have known before. Here are 23 for your consideration.
1. 10% of the population are left-handed
2. Lefties are three times more likely to have a drinking problem
3. Lefties use the right side of their brain primarily
4. Most left-handed individuals reach puberty up to five months later than right-handed people
5. They tend to be good at sports such as swimming, boxing, baseball and tennis
6. Four out of seven recent presidents were left-handed
7. Lefties who are college graduates tend to become 26% richer than right-handed people
8. At one time, if you were left-handed you would’ve been accused of having the mark of the devil, being neurotic, having a nasty habit or being rebellious. You may have even have been considered a criminal or a homosexual.
9. The word left came from an old anglo-saxon word (lyft). It means weak or broken
10. If you are over 40, you have a 128% greater chance of giving birth to a left-handed baby compared to a woman in their 20s
11. Cats, rats, and mice have equal numbers of left-handed and right-handed
12. Lefties tend to be better at math and architecture. Right-handed people are typically better at verbal skills
13. 25% of Apollo astronauts were Southpaws
14. Almost 30 million Americans are left-handed
15. Lefties are more likely to have allergies and asthma
16. Left-handed people tend to adjust better when they can’t use their dominant hand
17. Using your left hand you can type the words sweater, dresses and decades on a keyboard.
18. Some of the royal family are lefties including Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and Prince William
19. Lefties are more likely to have insomnia
20. International left-handers day is August 13
21. Lefties are able to see better underwater
22. Left-handed people tend to be short tempered, including John McEnroe, who is a lefty.
