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Are you left handed? You have some famous company.

Post by Rod Wood - From everything that I've read, right handed people make up about 90 percent of Americans. That leaves me among the ten percent who are left handers....or southpaws as we're sometimes called. I recently learned that Left-Handers Day is August 13th. Maybe that's the time for a celebration!

I was amazed recently to learn the names of hundreds of famous left handed people. Here are some of them:
 
Left-Handed U.S.Presidents
James A.Garfield
Herbert Hoover
Harry S.Truman
Gerald Ford
Ronald Reagan
George H.W.Bush
Bill Clinton
 
Miscellaneous Left-Handers
Joan of Arc
Alexander the Great
Julius Caesar
Napoleon Bonaparte
Prince Charles of England
Prince William of England
Fidel Castro
Edwin Aldrin, astronaut
Wally Schirra, astronaut
Edward R.Murrow
Jay Leno
Barack Obama

Any left-handed people you think should be added to the list?
Published Friday, May 02, 2008 6:30 PM by PHRankin
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Comments

 

dara said:

jerry seinfeld and kermit the frog
May 2, 2008 5:49 PM
 

rich parsons said:

i guess i am in good company then Rod -the list was impressive but got real impressive once your name was added-lol. I guess i qualify only because i write left handed. Here is the breakdown-golf: right handed- bowling:left handed-baseball i throw left handed but bat right handed- i eat with my right hand and throw a frisbee right handed-do you share any of these traits?-hagn-Rich
May 2, 2008 5:52 PM
 

kevintorres said:

Famous Right-Handed People:
Jim Teske
May 2, 2008 9:26 PM
 

Snowlover said:

Hey good list can i add myself since im a lefty haha but kinda of a oddball lefty since i wrote lefty but golf righty and bat righty but pretty much everything else i do is lefty haha.
May 2, 2008 9:41 PM
 

294EVER said:

In addition to the above, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Leonardo Da Vinci, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, just to name a few.  There have been studies done, that state left-handed people, on average, have higher IQs.

We are lucky to live in the times that we do.  My uncle, who is in his early 70's, was left-handed but was forced to become right hand, because of a) the church and b) being the son of a very supersitious Irish mother.  In addition, left-handedness was considered evil and many were burnt at the stake.
May 3, 2008 7:51 AM
 

critterwoman said:

everyone tried to change me as a kid many,many years ago but never succeeded   my gym teacher was furios because I never had a backhand stroke I just swapped to my right hand, one of the few things I due right handed   I have been told that lefties are supposed to be more artistic  I guess Leonardo proved that for us
May 3, 2008 4:05 PM
 

Rick said:

I am right-handed except I hold a hockey stick left handed and play drums left handed. I'm also told that left-handed people have above average IQ.
May 3, 2008 5:49 PM
 

Karen said:

I was born left-handed and smacked with a ruler until I switched when I was in 1st grade (I'm 45 now).  I was very confused in gym class and remember running up to kick the ball during a kickball game and not knowing which foot to kick with!  I write with my right hand and do many other things lefty.  My husband is left-handed and, ironically, all of our four kids are righty's.
May 4, 2008 10:43 AM
 

facefurny said:

...and me.  :o)  I'm mixed up like a lot of others.  I still write and eat left-handed, but I play most sports right-handed (except for tennis and ping-pong).  
May 4, 2008 9:26 PM
 

Karen said:

I am left handed.  I am the only left handed person in my immediate family.  I like being different.  I do most everything with my left hand except drinking.  I always hold the cup or whatever in my right hand, weird...I know.  Oh and when I write, my arm isn't all bent and curled like most left handed people.  I actually write normal...you know with the paper and my arm straight.
May 4, 2008 10:20 PM
 

Robin said:

I have always heard tha Left handed people are in the right state of mind.
May 5, 2008 8:15 AM
 

Dan in Cicero said:

Ringo Starr said he is left-handed but was forced to learn to do everything (including playing the drums) the 'other' way, for the same reasons as the older folks mentioned above.
May 5, 2008 9:00 AM
 

Don in Lafayette said:

Well, I'm kind of a hybrid.  I write lefty and I eat half-lefty.  A true lefty will switch a knife to his or her left hand to cut - my fork stays to the left.  I do everything else right-handed and right-footed.  When I started learning to write, I kept switching hands.  My second grade teacher told me she didn't care which, just pick a hand and stay with it - and so I have.

There's a saying that only left handers are in their right mind.  I'm not sure where that leaves me.  Of all the things I've lost in my life,  I miss my mind the most.
May 5, 2008 2:00 PM
 

Jackie said:

The saying is "If the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body then  left handers are the only ones in their right mind".  
May 5, 2008 2:56 PM
 

tom f said:

i am ambidexterous at birth but favored my right hand because i was raised to do everything left handed. genetic studies are not necessarily accurate drawing a parallel to high IQ and left handedness. ive known alot of lefthanders in my time that are[dumber than a box of sox] thats not to demean anyone but it has no direct correlation. variety is the spice of life  being ambidexterous is a wonderful way to live also.
May 5, 2008 6:25 PM
 

Jennifer N. said:

My dad was left-handed, and one of his sisters.  I'm left handed, and so is my son.  Is it really only 10% of the population?  It seems like I know more than 1 lefty out of every 10 people.  In the dept I work in, there are 3 out of 13.  In my bible study, there are 5 out of 10!!

May 5, 2008 8:01 PM
 

GLT said:

my neice is a lefty, her parents and brother are both right handers. I had to
show her how to hold a pencil when she was a little kid. I am the only lefty
in our family, all the kids are right handed. My mom right handed my dad left handed.
May 6, 2008 10:44 AM
 

GLT said:

the office I work in used to have 4 out of 5 staff leftys.
May 6, 2008 10:45 AM
 

theresa said:

I think the percentage is more like 15-20%. I'm the only leftie out of 7 kids, but I do lots of things right handed. Comes from living in a right handed world. My mom was forced to use her right hand (she's about 80 now), but used to just switch hands when her right would get tired.
Interesting factoid - go into a normal college classroom and the ratio is 8 right to 2 left handed out of 10. Now go into an art based class, and that almost flip-flops, the ratio will be 3 right to 7 left handed out of 10.
May 6, 2008 10:51 AM
 

Kym said:

I am left handed as well as my mother and father,  my sister was right handed. When I played softball, I batted right handed and pitched and catched  left handed. In cheerleading I had to learn how to start with my right foot, as I always wanted to start with my left. I have two children now, both right handers, teaching them how to tie their shoes, and write their names were very difficult.
May 6, 2008 12:05 PM
 

Maggie said:

My son is left handed, but I am right. Teaching him to write has been interesting. My left hand letters looked just like his! My grandma thinks that which hand you right with has to do with how you are spoon fed as a baby. She has 4 kids, three of which she fed on thier right(they are all right-handed) and then my dad whom she fed on his left(he is the only lefty). I agree with her as I fed my son with my right hand facing him, which would be his left. My dad can bat left or right, as can my son. I however, cannot. Maybe lefty's are better at flipping between left and right?
May 6, 2008 3:19 PM
 

BigNTall said:

I am a lefty.  I remember working at McDonald's and having to learn how to scoop fries with a right handed scooper.  Every once in a while I have seen a scooper with two handles on it for either one.

I have heard that left handed people are also creative as well...
May 7, 2008 10:26 AM
 

JasonSutliff said:

"RIGHT" On !!!  'Us' lefties rule!  Famous?  Me?

J.
N. Syr.
.
May 7, 2008 2:58 PM
 

Theresa said:

My husband and I had four children.  We both are right handed.  The first three children are lefties and the fourth is right handed, but they are all equally smart.  
May 7, 2008 3:27 PM
 

jay22 said:

being left handed in a right handed world for over 50 years and survived.  
May 7, 2008 4:55 PM
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