How Left Are You?
As unlikely as it may seem, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Oprah Winfrey, Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, Pablo Picasso, Bill Clinton, Napoleon Bonaparte, Helen Keller and Tom Cruise all have something in common—they are all left-handed. As International Left- Hander’s Day is celebrated on 13 August of every year, this article is dedicated to all the left-handed people out there.
Negative associations
Being a leftie has been a taboo in many societies, as it was associated with bad luck and considered ‘unclean’. A child who started to write with her left hand would be prevented from doing so and forced to write with the right hand, often seriously affecting the child's development. Even today, in some societies, eating, serving, paying and, of course, writing with the left hand is still considered to be taboo, disrespectful or impolite.
Left-handedness test
We all know that writing with the left hand makes one lefthanded. But how ‘left’ you really are, or in other words, how far this bias extends to the rest of your body can be assessed by answering the following questions:
1. Which hand do you write with?
2. Do you eat with your left hand?
3. Do you hold a racket or throw a ball with your left hand?
4. Do you arrange mugs or pots with the handle facing the left hand?
5. Do you carry your handbag or drag luggage with your left hand?
6. Which hand do you use to send text messages on the phone?
7. Which hand do you use to hold your phone?
8. Imagine the centre of your back is itching: which hand do you scratch it with?
9. Interlock your fingers: which thumb is uppermost?
10. Imagine you are applauding.
11. Wink at an imaginary friend straight in front of you. Which eye does the winking?
12. Put your hands behind your back, one holding the other. Which hand is doing the holding?
13. Someone in front of you is shouting, but you cannot hear the words. Cup your ear to hear better. Which ear do you cup?
14. Count to three on your fingers, using the forefinger of the other hand. Which forefinger do you use?
15. Tilt your head over to one shoulder. Which shoulder does it touch?
16. Which eye would you use while looking through the camera lens to take pictures?
17. Fold your arms. Which forearm is uppermost?
18. Which hand do you use to comb your hair?
19. Which ear do you listen with on the phone?
If you answered “left hand” for 17 of the 19 above questions, then you are for sure a leftie.
Interesting facts
The gene responsible for people with left-hand dominance is called the LRRTM1 gene. Canadian research shows that left-handed people are more adaptable than right-handed people. Most left-handers draw figures facing to the right. There is a high tendency in twins for one to be left-handed. Lef-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater. Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing.
Left-handers usually reach puberty four to five months after right-handers.
Four of the five original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed. Sixty per cent of American Presidents have been left handed. The speech centres of right-handers and most left-handers
are located in the left brain. A leftie can use her right hand to do tasks much more easily than a righty can use her left hand. Left-handed people seem to be able to switch over more easily.
