Why are some people left-handed?
Because they are evil, and in congress with the devil.
Not a very popular point of view these days, I'll admit.
But one that was very prevalent back in days of old when knights were bold.
And back then when anybody used their left hand dominantly was thought to be, at best,
a bit odd, and at worst, in league with Beelzebub.
It's why the word sinister comes from the Latin 'sinistra' meaning of the left.
And yet throughout human history around ten per cent of us have used our left hand dominantly
for most tasks, with slightly more men than women being left handed.
And research has even proved that some Neanderthals were left dominant.
For a while it was believed that left-handed people had their brains wired differently.
Some do.
Most humans use the left hemispheres of their brain to speak and to understand language:
between 75 and 90 per cent of us, according to scholarly types.
Because using your dominant hand requires a similar amount of brain power, it was reckoned,
for a long time, that the other half of your brain must therefore be used for doing this,
so the majority of us are right handed.
But this doesn't quite stack up, around 30 per cent of left handers do indeed have reversed
brain lateralisation, or no dominant side at all, but the vast majority of them still
use the left hand brain for language, the same as normal people.
Another big factor is definitely your genes.
As with height, body shape and being ginger, lefthandedness can be transmitted from generation
to generation.
If both of your parents are leftists, then there's a 26 per cent chance that you will
be too.
More than double the normal odds.
It's also possible that your hand preference is established some time before you even arrive
in the world.
Premature babies are more likely to be left handed, there's also some evidence that ultra-sonic
scans increases the chances of a baby being a left hander.
All of which is an elaborate way of saying nobody really knows.
But being left dominant does give you one or two interesting advantages and a couple
of major drawbacks as well.
Let's start with the downsides: around 20 per cent of people who develop schizophrenia
are left-handed.
They're also more prone apparently to dyslexia and ADHD, they also have a reputation of being
more angry than the rest of us.
On the plus side though, they are less susceptible to ulcers and arthritis.
There's also plenty of evidence that left-handed people are more creative.
A disproportionate number of great artists painted with their left hands.
Leftists are also better at getting elected it would seem at least judging by recent American
history because four of the last seven presidents have been lefties, Obama, Clinton, Bush senior
and Gerald Ford.
And left-handers also do well in sport and, if we go back far enough, fighting.
This is because a left hander has a distinct advantage over a right handed opponent who
will probably only have ever faced other right handed people, that makes them particularly
vulnerable to a sudden southpaw.
But as a minority left handers like nudists have long have to accept that the world is
failing to adapt to them.
Dozens and dozens of everyday items from corkscrews, to scissors and even books, are designed for
right-handed use.
On the plus side, left-handers have their own day to celebrate being a bit different,
there are also special left handed shops where you can buy left handed everyday tools and
even left handed pianos.