Fun Friday Facts About Left-Handers

My youngest daughter gave me the idea for this week's Fun Friday Facts - being left-handed she is a walking encycolpedia of fun facts concerning left-handers.

--On a left-handed person, the nails tend to grow faster on the left hand than on the right hand.

--There is a high tendency in twins for one to be left-handed (my dad is a twin and he is left-handed; however, my daughter is NOT a twin).

--People who are left handed make up about 5 to 15 percent of the population. There are more men than women who are lefties.

--According to SAT results, left-handed students have higher math scores than right-handed students do.

--Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with his left hand.

--A left-handed individual may be known as a southpaw, particularly in a sports context.

--In 2006, a Johns Hopkins University study found that left-handed men are 15 percent richer than right-handed men for those who attended college, and 26 percent richer if they graduated.

--Guitar great Jimi Hendrix played a right-handed Fender Stratocaster strung upside down to accommodate his left-handedness.

--The only astronaut to fly in all three space programs, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, was left-handed Wally Schirra.

--There have only been 7 left-Handed U.S. Presidents: James A. Garfield (1831-1881), Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), Gerald Ford (1913-2006), Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004), George H.W. Bush (1924-), and Bill Clinton (1946-).

--Officials in Mensa - the high IQ society - believe as many as 20% of their members are left-handed.

--Studies have shown that left-handers are more likely to have allergies than right-handers.

--In Japan, there was a time when a wife being left-handed was grounds for a divorce.

--On a carousel, the brass ring is always on the rider's right side.


Don't forget to celebrate International Left-Handers Day on August 13th.