It appears that our new President is left handed.

This sort of thing facinates me. So, have there been a lot of left handed presidents?

I think I heard yesterday that the last four (maybe five?) in a row were lefties ! I agree ... it's a very interesting 'coincidence'!

Edited to add: I just looked it up, and my thought that the "last four (or five)" presidents were lefties was wrong. BUT, it seems there have been more of 'em than one might have guessed, especially in recent years. Article here.

I see where this is going! I'm left-handed, and all you righties out there would just LOVE to blame the world's problems on us! It's terribly sinister

Slipping into Yorkshire accent There's nowt wrong wi' bein' cack 'anded.

I'm left handed in most things, and so is around 10% of the population. It's a sign of intelligence because we can use our brains the other way round as well as the same way as you 'righties'.

So... if Left-handers are in their right mind (they use the right side of their brain), does that mean that those of us who are ambidextrous are out of our minds?

*giggle*

Who wouldn't want to be sinister Clare The only thing that annoys me about writing with my left hand is the ink prints all along the 5th finger where youve managed to successfully smudge your writing all over the page!

My niece is the only person in the family who is left handed. Although it would be a convenient thing to blame the 'woes' on, no can do! In my experience, lefties ARE more creative, and maybe smarter, too!

You must use a clean paper UNDER the fifth finger, to keep everything neat and tidy!

You are lucky Dave I've seen many with the same problem...it is like the plague. I remember being taught calligraphy at some point and there is no need for me to explain how that ended

I have scissors for lefties, notebooks for lefties, fountain pen nibs that have been modified for lefties...

The worst part for me at school was the "right handed desk". Not one of the many schools attended had a desk that accommodated a lefty. Discrimination!

That was one of the reasons I liked your new President.

I can relate to him with his left handedness.

Back when the dinosaur's roamed I went to school where they tried to changed me to my right hand and I was having none of it and my Mom had to go to the principal and tell them to knock it off and leave me alone.

There have been many famous people that are or were left handed.

Paul McCartney is one.

Edited to correct a spelling error.

They say that left brained (right handed) people are more analytical and right brained people (lefties) have a tendency to be more creative.

Barack Obama is left handed President number eight.

I looked for some famous lefties, and here is a list of some of them:

Benjamin Franklin
Marie Curie
Alexander the Great
Queen Victoria
Winston Churchill
Joan of Arc
Albert Einstein
Leonardo da Vinci
Michelangelo
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ludwig van Beethoven
Pablo Picasso
Charlie Chaplin
Babe Ruth
Lewis Carrol
H.G. Wells
Marily Monroe
Jimi Hendrix
Kurt Cobain
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
Billy the Kid
Both Jack the Ripper and the Boston Strangler were lefties!
And don't forget Kermit the Frog
and of course, Ned Flanders.

I'm left-handed. Mrs TW says that's why I sometimes cut the wrong angles on mitres. When I'm cutting wood to shape, I'll often ask her to watch me to make sure I'm not making any mistakes.

Left handers are said to have an advantage at the game of cricket, though I'm living proof this isn't so. Bill "tiger" O'Reilly, a particularly good player of days gone by suggested they should be strangled at birth!
I'm very left handed but even I think left handers golfers look weird.

Quote:

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They say that left brained (right handed) people are more analytical and right brained people (lefties) have a tendency to be more creative.

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That's odd -- I'd "heard" just the opposite - that lefties are the more logical, and righties more creative. And, seeing that we "creative" types are right handed, the more logical side simply get what's "left" over....

Really, though, I had understood left handed people tend to have a higher intelligence (in general). It seems to hold some water in that there are more left handed people belonging to Mensa that right handers. Now all I have to do is find supporting evidence!

I had no idea there was a Left Handers Day -- August 13! Here's a bit about intelligence and left handedness. Also, author and psychologist Chris mcManus of University College London seems to think the same way. Wonder if he is left handed? Not sure how valid any of this is, but for what it's worth ----

My father was left-handed, and would tell of stories where at school he had his left hand tied behind his back to force him to use his right. This was in the early and mid 30's, thank goodness we no longer do that. The good thing that came out of that for him, was that he became ambidexterous for certain tasks. For example, he could use a screwdriver with either hand, very handy when the screw was in an awkward position for us righties. His natural inclination for writing though, was always left-handed.

My youngest son is cross-dominant, meaning he uses one hand for some tasks and the other for other tasks. He writes, eats etc with his right hand, but plays golf and hockey left-handed. Yet he is not ambidexterous.

My son is very left handed. It was quite interesting trying to teach him to tie his shoes, as I can't do it the way that he needs to. When we first started writing, I was using my right hand which made it look different to him. Holding the pencil, for example. I finally figured out that I could write well enough with my left hand, and that when I did it make it easier for him to emulate. But there are little things you probably wouldn't probably think of, being right handed teaching someone who is right handed. You can just say, watch how I do it... but that doesn't always translate correctly from one hand to the other. I suppose that goes both ways, as I once had a boss who was left handed. The work required a certain dexterity, and he was very good at it. Turns out I was good at it too, after I realized that he was doing it left handed and that I had to approach it a bit differently than he did!

Being a lefty, anytime I need to teach or learn something "hand specific" from a righty, I stand/sit opposite of the person and imagine a mirror image. Instead of left and right, it becomes a reflection. It actually enabled me to learn golf from a righthanded professional quite effortlessly.(the 'translation' was effortless, not golf itself!)

Currently I'm learning guitar from my right handed brother-in-law, and he is amazed how easy the lessons go. Actually, he finds it easier now to teach lefties than righties because of the reflective nature of our handedness.

When I (a righty) was teaching my lefty son to write, I sat across from him and wrote the letters upside down (from my perspective). Of course, I could only master printing that way (but S and Z always sent me crazy ); and I let the teachers at school deal with the cursive.

I attempted to teach my children to tie their shoes using the "reflective method", by sitting across from them, but it never worked. Fortunately, the ongoing popularity of "Vans" and "Merrills" (in my house, no matter what the season), means that footwear is not a problem.

I have two grown children who don't know how to tie their shoelaces...
The jury is still out on the younger kids, but I am not holding my breath.

My father who like Madmags` father is naturally left-handed went to a Catholic school that insisted that he should write and generally behave as a right-handed person. He wasn`t born ambidextrous but through repetition became so. The only thing he has reverted to being mainly left-handed at is writing, though if he has to he can write quite well with his right hand.

My high school graduating class (of 245) was almost 50% left-handed. Never did figure that one out.

I like to think that that's why we were such a talented group, though.