Left-Handers Facts Pt. 11

The Sunday Times reports left-handedness has reached record levels. A large-scale historical study of handwriting down the ages by academics at University College London (UCL) has found that the proportion of left-handers has gone up from 3 percent among those born more than 100 years ago, to 11 percent today. Christ McManus, professor of psychology at UCL, said the surge in left-handedness might be due to a reduction in attempts to coerce naturally left-handed children into using their right hands.

“Southpaw” has its origins in 1880s’ baseball slang. Baseball diamonds are usually arranged so the batters face east, to avoid looking into the afternoon sun. The pitcher’s left hand, or “paw,” is therefore be on the southern side.

We’re the Cack-Handed Kings, we’re the LEFTIES
You right-handers just haven’t got a clue
‘Cos if you’d been through what we’ve been through
Then maybe you would feel superior too!
-chorus from “The Left-Hander’s Lament,” by Ian Radburn

Q: What southpaw actor appeared with fellow lefties Nicole Kidman (Bewitched), Emma Thompson (Stranger Than Fiction), and Sacha Baron Cohen (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby)?
A: Will Ferrell

Lefty Couples
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick
Frances McDormand and Joel Coen

“Enuk smehi” is Egyptian for, “I am left-handed.”

Scientists believe left-handed people may have an edge when competing against right-handed competitors in sports that required direct one-on-one contact. Lefty boxers Carmen Basilio, Reggie Johnson, and Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker are successful examples of this.

1988: With an unprecedented one-in-four chance that the next president would be left-handed, the presidential campaign got underway. Of the twelve presidential candidates, three (all Republicans) were left-handed: Pay Robertson, Bob Dole, and George H. W. Bush. Bush was elected several months later, making him the sixth left-handed U.S. president.
Inspiration from Lefties

“If you live long enough, you’ll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you’ll be a better person. It’s how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit.” -Bill Clinton

Do lefties die younger? The answer, according to the National Institute on aging, the United States Statistical Assessment Service, the American Academy of Actuaries, and investigators from at least four different universities in three different countries, is a resounding NO.

David Bowie, frequently reinventing his music and image, had a profound influence on rock music from the 1970s on. He is also a film and stage actor, music video director, and visual artist. In 1996, this lefty was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him thirty-ninth on its list of the 100 Greatest Artist of All Time.

Born in the Netherlands in 1898, M.C. Escher attributed his decision to become a graphic artist, rather than a painter, to his left-handedness. He believed that left-handers were more sensitive as abstract thinkers, and more likely to be interested in shapes than in colors. Escher is famous for his mathematically inspired woodcuts and lithographs, featuring almost impossible constructions.