I'm not going to name names or point fingers, but I've had to deal with problems. For one, I've vowed that I'm going to use my right hand to write notes in a particular class. Okay, I will name the class at least: communication theory. My gosh, does the professor talk fast and write even faster. His policy of zero computer use really puts me in a pickle. For pure academic reason, I need to be right-handed in that class, or my gpa may suffer tremendously. However, I have the brushing of the teeth and eating with the left hand down to an art.
I've become even more observant of people who are left handed. Right now I see a girl with a cup on coffee on the table to the right of her computer, aha!, she must be right-handed. At the same time, I glance over to see a man holding a pen with his left hand, but he just drank coffee with his right, tricky. It may seen that I am observing people's actions a little too closely, but what they don't know can't hurt them, right? Accordingly to an online source, only 10-15% of people are left-handed. Why is that? Since there are basically only two options of orientation (right or left handed) why are the statistics not 50/50? We live in a world that just does not make sense.
History regarding this left-handedness:
In the late 1890's, left handed people got the nickname of southpaw. Most baseball fields were laid out where the pitcher is facing west and the batter is facing east, so the sun wouldn't be in the batter's eyes. When a left-handed pitcher threw a ball, is was with his arm that was toward the south, hence, "southpaw."
Some cultures strapped their children's left arms to their cradle board, and this caused most infants to become right-handed. In many cases infants were forced to use their right hand. I believe I am one of them.
How interesting is it that people were restrained from using the left hand. Maybe, just maybe, I will march over to the man holding his pen in his left hand and force him to put it in his right hand. Second thought, I will restrain myself.
These facts are great. I never knew that about baseball fields, and I've always wondered why such a small majority of the population is left handed. Thanks for the info! Keep it coming!
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed learning about the history behind lefties and the term "south paw." Very interesting!
ReplyDeleteAlso, your using the right hand in order to preserve your GPA is forgivable. I'm glad to hear you're getting the other left handed tasks down pat. Keep it up!
Yes, don't sacrifice your note-taking for the project. :)
ReplyDeleteI've never heard that baseball fields were (are?) built at a certain orientation. That's wild.
Baseball aside, your post made me research a little bit. I found some fun facts that maybe you know about:
ReplyDeleteMost left-handers draw figures facing to the right.
There is a high tendency in twins for one to be left-handed
Stuttering and dyslexia occur more often in left-handers (particularly if they are forced to change their writing hand as a child, like King of England George VI).
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.
There's other neat stuff too at http://www.lefthandersday.com.
Granted we have enforced right-handedness for religious reasons, and many cultures regard the phenomenon as unusual, but maybe its because in the back of our primal minds, we just KNOW their brain functions radically different than all the others. Like the red carnation that arises from a pair of white carnations would attract insects that can see that color.