The geography of American left-handedness

My parents are right handed. I'm left handed. Had a pretty hard time in communist Poland too. It started with a kind of wrong diagnosis where the doctor told my parents that I'm both and that they could choose which side I'd use. So my grandparents lobbied for right. I started out left but it was hard with a fountain pen and since I had nobody to help me out with that my parents finally broke and told me to learn writing right.

My writing is still horrible. Sometimes even I can't read it. I became used to getting worse grades just for that. Same goes for art class. I was the only person in class to cut himself with paper scissors...

Thanks to the motivation of my gf and colleges, I've started learning to write with my left hand but it's not easy. It's like starting over again. My gf bought me scissors for lefties. What a beautiful feeling to cut paper with the "right" hand!

I grew up in southeast Oklahoma, as well as all my family.. Teachers spewing off about left handedness being evil is surprisingly common, though I didn't expect it to persist to today. Anecdotal accounts: my wife was told being left hand was evil (she was ambidextrous) and she was converted to fully right handed in 1st grade (1990s). My step-brother's kindergarten teacher constantly picked on him for being left handed and made him a mockery of the class before the superintendent intervened (1970s)... I recall one other account to do with my step-mom, but I can't remember the details of who it was.

So yea, idk what is up with Oklahoma, but they do NOT like lefties

I had years of mechanical drawing in high school, and it wasn't until my junior year that the teacher noticed I am left-handed. He started having me create drawings from the lower-right corner to the upper-left, while the right-handed kids drew from upper-left to lower-right. When I switched, I stopped having smudged drawings caused by dragging my hand across the completed parts of the drawings.

Little things.

These days, you'd think you'd see the opposite where parents might force boys towards left-handedness.

If you're a right-hander who throws 90 MPH, the MLB scouts will take a look at you. If you're a left-hander who throws 90 MPH, you'll get drafted.

For those that want to go straight to the results ==> https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2015/09/...

Forcing a child to write with their non-dominant hand can lead to all kinds of psychological trauma. Children can develop stutters, have a difficult time learning, and can experience profound secondary psychological effects.

Think about how much concentration it takes to write with your non-dominant hand. Now imagine being a child, being told you are somehow wrong _for being who and what you are_, and being forced to concentrate on working with your non-dominant hand while attempting to learn how to read, write, and do math.

This educator should be fired. She is clearly incompetent. Rather than supporting someone who already faces many challenges the right-handed world doens't face, she is actively attacking his psyche and making it more difficult for him to get an education.

Those sneaky East Coast lefties !!!

sinister (adj.) early 15c., "prompted by malice or ill-will, intending to mislead," from Old French senestre, sinistre "contrary, false; unfavorable; to the left" (14c.), from Latin sinister "left, on the left side" (opposite of dexter)

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sinister

"The National Geographic data also show significant variation in rates of left-handedness by U.S. state, with higher rates in the Northeast and lower rates in the middle of the country."

The actual accompanying data only describes white people born after 1950 which could be evidence of too many researcher degrees of freedom. Additionally, the legend to the map is showing single percentage points of difference which hardly speaks to a robust finding. And given the fact that the data was collected in a non-scientific manner, that 1% between New Jersey and Missouri may be as easily attributed to ambidextrous people fibbing to be more unique, or perhaps for some reason National Geographic appeals to different kinds of people than the underlying population. At least show me an r value or something.

At any rate, the idea that since the Victorian era people have evolved to be less left-handed than in certain areas is absurd and without any scientific basis.

That is a rather tiny difference in percentage, is it even statistically significant in relation to the samples?

It's interesting that the findings in this article are an unintended benefit of a study on smell. Makes you wonder if any other studies have important data like this where data was simply discarded because it wasn't relevant to the initial hypothesis.

My father's left handed, I'm left handed, my sister's ambidextrous. A couple of her kids are left handed. There is certainly a genetic component.

My son's too young yet to have a dominant hand, but I make a point of putting things in his left hand. It's a lifestyle choice.

I grew up in Australia in the 70s and 80s, and I don't recall any prejudice against left-handers at the time. I never even really thought about the difficulties of using right-handed implements. It's just the way things were.

My father does tell a story, from the early 50s, where his mother had to forcibly intervene at his primary school, where they were trying to force him to use his left hand.

Here's something I've always found strange: every relationship I've ever had has been with a left-handed woman. I'm right-handed. It's not something I notice until after maybe a third date (as I usually am the one paying the bill before then). I don't watch for it. I certainly don't ask up front. And I don't give it any kind of weight. But it's still weird.

For whatever reason, I guess I just seem to click better with lefties.