Questions out of the left(handed) field

[Jervoise]

From alt.lefthanders Frequently Asked Questions:

There exists in the world a very special group of individuals who are left handed. This group has had to spend its life conforming to a world that was not designed for its benefit. In addition, this group has had to put up with insults and derogatory comments aimed in its direction. The intent of this document is to provide a source of information for the left-handed population and to serve as a consciousness raising tool about issues of special concern for lefties for the population in general. It is sincerely hoped that it serves its goal.

Pshaw! I’m left-handed and I want answers, dammit! However, the FAQ I linked to is pretty darn poor. So should I turn to to fight my ignorance about the very condition which affects so many aspects of my life? I hear dis 'ere Straight Dope has der answers, wot?

Question the first: why am I left-handed?

Information I can find: (1) no, left-handedness is not inherited; (2) well, maybe it does run in some families; and (3) maybe it’s brain damage!

From Scientific American

Some researchers argue there is evidence for cases of “pathological” left-handedness related to brain trauma during birth. And many researchers trace the cause of handedness back to pre-natal, interuterine developmental processes, back to the time when the fetal brain is first developing distinct cerebral hemispheres.

Years ago, a medicine student I was drinking with observed how I tilted my beer and slurred that the reason I used the ‘wrong hand’ was that my unborn brain had suffered some critical deprivation of oxygen at some stage and had developed ‘on the wrong side’. I scoffed - my medical friend was pretty far gone at that stage… and he was only a third year student - but I see an echo of his words (if an echo can be more coherant than the orginal sound) in the above quote.

Negligible evidence for the genetic theory: my father and my brother are also left-handed.

Question the second: who else is left-handed?

I’ve heard 5%, 10%, 13%, 30%… this kind of ambiguity calls for an IMHO poll! I’ve set one up in that forum to settle the score.

Moderators: I’ve carefully considered whether this constitutes cross-posting. On balance, I decided to launch both threads: this one in GQ for the strictly factual questions and another in IMHO for the polling. I hope this is okay… I simply didn’t want to turn what is a thread posing questions of fact into a survey. I believe both threads fall within the descriptions of the respective forums in which I have posted. :: grovel, grovel ::

Question the third: is there a link between left-handedness and homosexuality?

A touchy area perhaps, but I was intrigued to read that a disproportionately large proportion of gay men and women are left-handed. The article I saw (which I shall endeavour to dig up) cited only empirical evidence. Has anyone come across a more solid basis for a link, if indeed one exists?

Question the fourth: do left-handed people die younger than right-handers

Stanley Coren, who is the author of “The Lefthander Syndrome” found statistical evidence of this, and didn’t believe it for the longest time. However, he remains unable to disprove it. He was able to demonstrate a possible reason for this might be that a left hand startle reflex would be much more dangerous when driving a car on US or Canadian road since the car would end up pointing against traffic while a right hand startle reflex would simply cause the car to drive of the road.

As a double check, Coren did find a statistical difference in left handed traffic fatalities in countries where they drive on the left, such as Great Britain or Australia.

Ack! Again the conversations of the past come back to haunt me! Back in primary school, a rather dim-witted boy I sat with sought to distract from my brilliance. He would fortell an early death for me, citing my left-handedness as cause. Foolish rightie, I would reply; but did dim Alan have something on me? Preposterous, no?

[Gary_T]

Here’s my take on it:

Question the first: why am I left-handed?
Because, like me, you are blessed.

Question the second: who else is left-handed?
I’ve always heard 9% of the population.

Question the third: is there a link between left-handedness and homosexuality?
Not in me.

Question the fourth: do left-handed people die younger than right-handers?
Well, I’ve been a lefty all my life, and I ain’t dead yet, so I guess not.

[iampunha]

My take on it, based on things I’ve read (but can’t cite because … it’s one of those things that "I read a while ago):

1. Why am I left-handed? God made me that way, I dunno? My parents used to put things evenly between my hands. I’ve often enjoyed doing things the opposite of others, so maybe I saw their (my parents’) use of their right hand and decided to be different. Or maybe it came naturally; I was a very neat baby. My sister, OTOH, who is also a lefty…

2. Who else is left-handed? I think somewhere around 15 to 20 percent of the SDMB is, based on some polls I’ve seen (do an IMHO search for long enough and you’ll probably get similar numbers). However, as we all know (unfortunately:(), the SDMB is not exactly demographic heaven (in the sense that we don’t have a “normal” statistical sample of all walks of life).

3. Is there a link betwen left-handedness and homosexuality? Well, I will say this: I don’t use my middle hand;) My best guess would be that people who are left-handed recognize that they aren’t the norm, so to speak, and as such are perhaps more willing to accept that other things about them might not be as they are with most others?

4. Link between being left-handed and having a shorter life span … again, best guess would be that this is a society predominantly built for people who are right-handed.

Re: brain damage “causing” left-handedness, I would say that if the left side of one’s brain were damaged, the right side (and thus the left hand, unless I’m making a bad link here with sides of the brain and handedness) would take over.

[Chronos]

From the highest authority: Do left-handers die young? His conclusion is that it might not be true, but if it is, it’s likely due to accidents using tools of various sorts designed for righties. Being a southpaw himself, Cecil has written much on left-handedness: You might want to look through the archives.

I suppose, meanwhile, that some forms of brain damage could cause a particular handedness, but that can’t be the predominant cause. If it were, you’d see a strong correlation between left-handedness and decreased mental ability, and that doesn’t seem to be the case.

[Mona_Lisa_Simpson]

Hi

Just my two cents…
Im leftie… my dad is rightie but bats, golfs, and plays hockey leftie…my mom is a rightie with 3/9 siblings being leftie. Recessive genes? Of my moms family one left handed uncle is schizophrenic and two cousins (not children of that uncle…and not siblings) also left handed and schizophrenic. I have 8 out of 22 first cousins who are leftie, and all of them except the schizophrenic ones have college or university degrees. No schizophrenic right handers in the family at all. 5/14 right handed cousins have post secondary education.

Does anyone else know of any links between shcizophrenia and lefthandedness?

[Merhouse]

Hmmmm…

Why am I left handed? It certainly wasn’t because of my parents, both of whom are right-handed. As I remember things, they kept putting things like pencils and stuff in my right hand, and I couldn’t do anything with them. It wasn’t until first grade that the girl sitting next to me watched me struggle with my pencil in my right hand, switched it to my left hand, and well, as bizarre as it sounds, the rest is history! (Thank you Connie. Wonder where you are now? :D)

For whatever reason, I only write and eat with my left hands, but I still do consider myself a lefty. Most sports I play as a right-handed person, which I firmly believe is at least part of the reason I am a dedicated couch potato who is totally non-athletic.

I’m one of those gay left-handed people too, and while I don’t have a cite about this, many of the gay people I know are left-handed also. I wonder whether it’s because we’re right brain dominant, but I truly don’t have the foggiest idea.

Since I’m still alive, I don’t know whether or not we die younger than right-handed people, but I can certainly see the logic of managing to kill ourselves with “things” made for a right-handed world. Since I guess I manage to use those right-handed things (like scissors) as a righty, maybe I have a chance after all

Mike

[Stinky]

Hi I’m a lefty as well, and I’ve always felt that being a lefty is genetic sense about 10% of all demographics are lefties,or so I’ve heard. It would make sense for hunter gratherer socities to have someone who could go around the other way and flush some game. As to clumsiness I grew up on a skateboard, not a sport for the clumsy. I also feel that I have above avarage intelligence and am a little crazy:D . But being above avarage isn’t saying much (execpt around here that is). I have found that I,as well as other lefties I’ve known, tend to have quite a differant outlook on things than my right handed friends.

[Bryan_Ekers]

I’m a good ol’ lefty, myself, but sadly, I have allowed myself to be assimilated in some ways.

Well, only one way, actually. I can use computer mice with either hand and I’ve never even bothered trying to switch the arrangements of the buttons. It was just easier to conform to the majority on this one than have to rethink my mousing on the variety of computers I must use at work and school.

The “we’re so special” writing of some left-handed websites strikes me as loopy and dumb, much like the writing that appears on some MENSA websites. I’ll admit there has been persecution and forced assimiiation of lefties in generations past, and in many Eastern countries even now (first sign of an evil government: hassling people for things over which they have no control), but stop whining about it. All I want is a good pair of scissors, not a seat on the bandwagon.

Earlier today I was told by someone that I was “left-brained” (contrary, I believe, to being left-handed) just because I wanted her to put a list in writing instead of having her prattle on. It wasn’t because I’m a "visual’ person, it was because she wouldn’t shut up.

Most left-handed people are jerks, only because most people are jerks.

I gotta go to bed.

[Jervoise]

*Originally posted by Chronos *
**I suppose, meanwhile, that some forms of brain damage could cause a particular handedness, but that can’t be the predominant cause. If it were, you’d see a strong correlation between left-handedness and decreased mental ability, and that doesn’t seem to be the case. **

From the NY Times:

Left-handedness is closely identified with mental illnesses like schizophrenia and language difficulties like dyslexia and stuttering. If scientists knew the connection, they might be better able to deal with the problems.

It goes on to report that a larger percentage of left-handers have psychological and emotional problems. No hard data, though. I’ll have to dig around a bit more, methinks.