Love to the Lefties – It’s International Left-Handers Day!

Photo Credit: Unsplash / Tash Williams

Celebrating a small fraction of people using the ‘other’ hand in a right-handed world…

South Africa, (13 August 2025) – Every year on 13 August, the world raises their glasses (in the left hand, obviously) to the small but mighty bunch of the world’s population.

Yes, it’s International Left-Handers Day. Let’s take a moment to celebrate the quirks of using your ‘other’ hand in a world that’s pretty much obsessed with the right one. Lefties, this one’s for you.

Only about 10-12% of the world’s population is left-handed, which makes you part of an exclusive club. Sure, it sometimes means grappling with scissors that just don’t feel right, smudging your notes, or figuring out the dark magic of a tin opener.

It also means you share a trait with some impressive company like Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Sir Paul McCartney, and even Winston Churchill.

Lefties haven’t always been celebrated, though. In the past, some kids were even forced to switch to their right hand, and in certain parts of the world, using your left is still considered rude. And that’s rude.

Even language hasn’t been kind. ‘Gauche’ in French means both ‘left’ and ‘clumsy,’ and the word ‘sinister’ comes from the Latin word for left. Back in the Middle Ages, left-handers were sometimes accused of witchcraft!

Haibo. Thankfully, those days are behind us now.

Science has a few fascinating tidbits about lefties, too.

The brain is cross-wired; the right side controls the left side of the body, and research from Oxford suggests left-handers have better connections between the two hemispheres, especially in areas linked to language. Some experts think that it can mean unique skills or ways of thinking.

“If you are left-handed you might find yourself with a slightly unusual way your brain is organised and suddenly that gives you skills that other people don’t have,” says Chris McManus, from University College London, and author of the book Right Hand, Left Hand.

How do you even become left-handed?

It could be in your genes. Having one left-handed parent ups your chances, and if both are left-handed, there’s a one-in-four shot you will be too. Some studies even tracked babies in the womb and found that those who sucked their left thumb were more likely to grow up left-handed, and likewise for right thumb-suckers.

The fun facts are never-ending, but let’s take them with a pinch of salt:

Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater.
Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing
Left-handers usually reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers
4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed
1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed, 250% more than the normal level.
Left-handers are generally more intelligent, better looking, imaginative and multi-talented than right-handers. *based on discussions among members of the Left-Handers Club!

So to the lefties, you’re pretty great and good-looking. To our right-handed friends, try doing everything in your uncomfortable hand for the rest of the day. We’ll watch and enjoy.