Why are some people left handed?

Brainyblonde

Some things really are a mystery, and that's surely the case with left-handedness. Numerous theories abound but there are no definite answers. Some research shows a link between a mother's age when she gives birth and left-handedness in her child. Genetics might be a factor, as indicated by research analyzing parents' and children's hand preferences. Then there's the study connecting brain lateralization and hand preference. Researchers have theorized that hand preference is the opposite to whichever side of the brain ones' speech and communication specialization is based in. http://www.soundmedicine.iu.edu/archive/2003/mystery/lefties.html Feb 14 06, 2:35 PM

mementoflash

I am left handed, I don't know why, everyone else known in my family on either side is right handed. Its never held much importance in my life other than as a child I always found it difficult to use a can opener, I need a special glove to play baseball, and when I use to take notes in school often the ink would smear across the page and get all over my hand (especially those darn erasable pens). And occasionally some well meaning person gets excited and says to me "Your left handed!" I like being left handed - its good to be different. Feb 14 06, 3:13 PM

chattykat

I am also left handed. I only eat and write with my left hand, but I do everything else with my right hand. Now does that make any sence? I have had people make remarks about me being left handed and I turn around and ask "why are you right handed?" I wish we knew for a fact why we are left handed, but then it wouldn't make us special anymore. Feb 14 06, 4:57 PM

Arpeggionist

My father is left handed, and he is a middle child. As am I, but I am like my brothers in being right handed. I do believe, however, that if my father had taght me to hold a pencil rather than my right handed mother, I would feel just as comfortable writing with my left hand. In history, people had right handedness forced upon them. Being left handed was considered to be bad luck. So a lot of pre-baby-boomers are probably left handed without knowing it. The Latin word for left is "sinister". In the Bible, you could speculate that Benjamin was left handed. The tribe of Banjeamin had its own militia, with an elite unit of left handed snipers. Lefthandedness played an important role in the tribe of Benjamin's success, as can be seen from the story of Ehud Ben Gera (Judges 3), who used his left handed skills to kill Eglon, the king of Moab. That said, the term the Bible uses to describe lefthandedness is "unskilled in his/her right hand" (Heb. "iter yad y;mino"). Today the Hebrew term for a left handed person is simply "s'malli" ("lefty"). Feb 15 06, 5:24 AM

gonehorsey101

Back in the day, (no offense to anybody out there) but people that were left handed were considered to be under demonic possesion. Especailly during the Salem Witch trials, when it because a big deal. Parents would go as far as tieing the left hand behind their child's back to keep them from using it. To me its all like A Tale of Two Cities all over again, when people would be prosecuted for being a friend of a friend of another friend that had stollen a pot or something. Measely like anyways. Feb 15 06, 10:09 AM

Bellcat59

I think it's genetic. When my son was young he started out eating with his left hand but switched to his right because it felt better. My daughter on the other hand started out lefty and has been that way since. Feb 22 06, 10:38 AM

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Why is it that some people are left-handed while others are right-handed? Why are left-handed people called "south paws"? How many people are left-handed in Britain? Why is a left handed pitcher called a 'southpaw?'

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