Lefties
From the Sunday Times: “Left-handedness has reached record levels, with a more than threefold rise over the past century in the proportion of those using their left hand to write. A large-scale historical study of handwriting down the ages by academics at University College London (UCL) has found that the proportion of left-handers has gone up from 3% among those born more than 100 years ago to 11% today.”
What does this mean?
a) The apocalypse is nigh.
b) It’s a good time to open a store selling merchandise for left-handed people (wrenches, desks, etc) like Ned Flanders did in an old Simpsons episode.
c) There’s just too many people in the world.
d) You can expect to get your ass kicked more often on the tennis court by some lefty with a monster forehand.
e) “Wala lang.” That’s for my friend Danton, who gets bonkers when he asks his English class to speculate on the motives of a fictional character, and he gets this answer. “Really? Well your recitation grade for the day is…wala lang!”
f) Hey, there’s a party list. The Left.
You can train yourself to write with both hands, but you have to start early. I used to practice during class—not only do the hours zip by, but the look of concentration on your face is usually mistaken for “studiousness”. When you get bored you can do mirror-writing.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
September 17th, 2007 at 21:59
I’m a lefty. I sometimes irritate my seatmates because I tend to write and copy my notes on the edge of their desks. One of them told me in a rather crude manner that I should “DIE” because I was a lefty. I told him that it would be impossible because we were now slowly becoming extinct. Now that I heard this news, I’m walking on my toes. There’s a chance he could’ve heard this.
September 18th, 2007 at 11:04
I am not sure if it was NatGeo or Discovery Channel that featured a documentary on left-handedness.
As narrated, left-handed soldiers’ risk of getting killed first in battles is higher than the rigthies’. Why? Think first before I give out the answer.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:56
I think one possible reason why the sudden increase of lefties, is because before lefties were considered spawn of the devil, associated with the negative side, in most cultures like in China, left-handedness is repressed, so it is possible that if a lefty is born in that era, he’d be forced to train his right mitt just to escape pessimistic social stigma. Now a days being a lefty is less likely to be discriminated, ergo, everyone’s out in the open.
I’m a lefty, and proud of being one :)
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:45
*Raises right hand* hehehe… i do mirror-writing… very entertaining… and stupid people, stupider than me that is, cannot read ’em… as if i am a genius.. harhar… i tried writing with my left… ouch… not yet ready for that… hehehe… i’m just too lazy…
September 24th, 2007 at 01:31
Hurt my right hand pretty bad, underwent surgery; can’t use it for the past two weeks. had to learn immediately to write with my left. it was semi-legible; i could read my daily journals, but it looks like a Grade 1 pupil wrote it. (my right hand writing is quite good.) I hope to perfect my left hand writing. its also quite unnerving to suddenly have to use your left hand alone when showering,dressing up, tying shoelaces, eating (!) and playing the piano. with a heavy padding, at least i can shift gears so i could still drive and go places. the worst part is when my back suddenly itches and i can’t reach it.. aggggghh! sheer agony.