Lefties?

[TheRuleofThirds]

I've been working on a theory that left-handed people are more inclined to be artistic and well..."different" than righties. I'm basing this off history.

Matt Groening
Adolf Hitler
Robert Redford
Mark Twain
HG Wells
Jimi Hendrix
Robert Plant
Robert Deniro
Jerry Seinfeld

http://www.indiana.edu/~primate/left.html

There's more people on the list.

I'm left-handed and I've found that I'm usually the horse of a different color. Righties are the norm and they perpetuate the norm, but lefties, no matter how hard they try to do the norm, always seem to be different. I think too much to be normal, but I'm also a LOT more creative than a lot of righties--like my parents.

Anybody else agree? (I guess this goes on another board here, but I never go to them myself. Plus, I guess this does have an entertainment slant, so...it fits...)

[nganok]

I got an equally long list of great rightees. My sister is left handed but I'm light years ahead of her creatively. You may want to examine a recent theory of mine, Isolation. If your treated different - you will become more comfortable with being different and by being so you are more open minded and creative. Many of those people on your list fall deeply into that category too. Most lefties are treated so differently too. Just a theory.

[pconsidine]

That's old news, Rule. Haven't you seen all those coffee mugs and T-shirts proclaiming that "Lefties are the only people in their right minds"? Science seems to have located most of the "creative" functions on the right hemisphere of the brain - which is also the same side that left handed people use for fine motor control. Theoretically, that means lefties have easier access to those creative centers. I think it's BS, myself.

For example:
My dad's born lefty. He's a physicist.
My mom's born righty. She's a musician.
I'm ambidextrous. I'm a writer, musician and painter.

If it means anything at all, I'll leave it to you to figure out what.

[dpaterso]

This would have made a good Star Trek episode.

"Are you blind? He's LEFT-HANDED. I'm RIGHT-HANDED. I insist you detain this Lefty in your brig at once, Captain. Whatever you do, keep him away from musical instruments."

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

[Writer1]

I've been working on a theory...

Wow! Can't wait until you publish the results of your study!

[GonnaBeFamous]

I got an equally long list of great rightees. My sister is left handed but I'm light years ahead of her creatively. You may want to examine a recent theory of mine, Isolation. If your treated different - you will become more comfortable with being different and by being so you are more open minded and creative. Many of those people on your list fall deeply into that category too. Most lefties are treated so differently too. Just a theory.

I agree, thats why I made a poll to see how many writers are introverted, apparently twice as many are introverted approximately then extroverted.

[TheRuleofThirds]

What's up with all the heckling? Geez. I just wanted to see if anyone agreed with me, not if they thought I was an idiot.

[icerose]

I have a left handed sister who is a writer and painter and I have a right handed sister who is a writer and I am a writer and sketcher who loves to dabble in all forms of art. I would say we are all equally creative. I think it has more to do with how you are raised, your personal experiences, and how you just are. I can't live or even breath without creativity so I don't agree. I also took drafting, wood shop, plastics, metal shop, anything I could do with my hands and create.

I have two brothers who are left handed as well. One is a computer guy and the other is a mechanic/frabricator who loves wood and metal projects and also took all the same above classes. I don't think what hand you write with determines who you are, I think that is made of much deeper stuff.

JMHO

Sara

[GonnaBeFamous]

I can't stand creating stuff unless it's a movie script, so I don't understand why a lot of these writers do other stuff like wood shop and painting and music. I've played music instruments but could never "understand" music at a theoretical level nor could I ever learn it that well. Maybe it's a sign of no creativity, but if you saw my scripts, you would say that there is some bizarre stuff that happens LOL. I have a knack for watching movies and really absorbing certain aspects of things on screen and I have a wild view on movies are more fascinating then LIVING life itself at times, probably the only reason why I can even attempt writing a movie script not because of true creativity inborn in me.

[maestrowork]

right, now who's left...

[Vanessa]

...But what about those of us who uses both hands? You know the lefty/righty..
Personally I think that the hands in use don't determine the brain function of an individual. I think it's just who you are and how you were raised and who were born as. I can equally do lots of things with both hands and I too draw, play piano, write and well you get the idea. I also find that I am very creative, but I have lots of lefties in the family who are a mixture of being smarty pants and not so smarty pants. I think being a lefty as opposed a righty is the same as having blue eyes while another has brown. It doesn't determine the personality or character of a person. That's my lil' change on this.

[KTC]

I'm left handed. The first time I visited my local writing circle I was sat at the newbie table with 3 other first timers. During the course of the meal we each realized that the person sitting beside us was left handed! All four of us. We had a huge discussion at the time and all agreed in the left handed creative thing. For me, it was just weird not bumping elbows with the person beside me for once! I paint, draw, play guitar and write. (I sing too...but have been banned from doing it in public...a court order!)

[nganok]

...But what about those of us who uses both hands? You know the lefty/righty..
Personally I think that the hands in use don't determine the brain function of an individual. I think it's just who you are and how you were raised and who were born as. I can equally do lots of things with both hands and I too draw, play piano, write and well you get the idea. I also find that I am very creative, but I have lots of lefties in the family who are a mixture of being smarty pants and not so smarty pants. I think being a lefty as opposed a righty is the same as having blue eyes while another has brown. It doesn't determine the personality or character of a person. That's my lil' change on this. guess your just extraordinarily weird

[Vanessa]

guess your just extraordinarily weird

I can respect that. That's cool. but I don't feel weird. I seem "normal" to everyone I've come across. Some think it's interesting when they know I use both hands and most don't know it unless they've been around and know me very well. Many times most don't notice it.

I easily eat with either hand, sometimes changing through the course of a meal and not realizing it. I can write very easily with both hands, only changing when one gets tired. I can draw, easily pitch a baseball or bat with both hands. I never thought of it as weird, it's just natural for me. And i've met a couple of folks in my lifetime who are the same way. My niece is a known leftie, but she plays softball and pitches with her right hand. She says she's uncomfortable pitching with her left. She eats with her left hand and writes with both hands. And her mom is a righty all the way!

[Joe Calabrese]

I'm a lefty. Both my parents and sister were right handed. I am the most artistic in the family.

[TheRuleofThirds]

My parents are creative, but it's more like an after-thought. They're unintentionally/accidentally creative. Me...I know it and use it.

My mom writes poems for church all the time (lame ones, but they rhyme like you wouldn't believe). My dad made me a Darth Vader costume for Halloween in 4th grade that was sublime. In a costume contest at a sci-fi convention that year, it took a family of Klingons to beat me. Dad went to Radio Shack and bought all the boxes and LEDs and switches. Then he made a buckle that looked identical to the real one--even the ones on the $2,000 costumes at the store. Of course we ordered the helmet through the Lucasarts catalog. That's creativity, for you. But Dad's a factory worker, not an artist. That's been like the only artistic thing he's done in the past 11 years.

[Mac H.]

I've been working on a theory that left-handed people are more inclined to be artistic and well..."different" than righties. I'm basing this off history ...


This is starting to make Scientology look scientific !

If you aren't interested in accuracy, then the way you are doing it is fine.
But if you want it to have a meaningful result, then you need to make some serious changes.

For example, you have listed a pile of SUCCESSFUL, FAMOUS and supposedly CREATIVE people, and observed that there are more left handed people on that list than should be observed by chance alone.

Fine. But you may equally argue that being left handed makes you SUCCESSFUL rather than CREATIVE.

If you want to do it scientifically :

1. Define a way of measuring 'creative' for the purpose of this theory.
It doesn't need to be a fancy definition, just listing 'creative' professions
might be good enough. As long as you stick to the definition and are clear
about it. Professions which involve creativity are clearly things like
architecture, engineering, pre-school teaching and writing. If you want to measure how
'creative' the individual person in the 'creative' profession is, you could look
at the number of patents granted in their name, or the number of Oscars
they've won, etc. Or get people to do a 'creativity' test of some kind.

2. Produce a list of people, and give each people a score for 'creative'ness.
This could simply be separating them into two lists. BUT THIS MUST BE
DONE BY SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW IF THEY ARE A LEFTIE OR A
RIGHTIE.

3. Then compare your results with whether they are a leftie or a rightie.
Simply looking at your 'success' rate isn't a true measure of your theory -
you need to separate it into your 'success' rate for the two different
groups. (It's a fairly simple reason why, but beyond the scope of this
discussion)

Then you'll have to look at the results, and consider ways of eliminating other theories. For example, in our Western culture, it is a cliché that left handed people are more creative than others, so they are probably more likely to choose occupations that are considered 'creative'.

Naturally you'll want to included people across different cultures, language groups etc. This will also assist you in eliminating cultural influences.

The odd thing is that how do we measure how 'creative' somebody is? Certain 'creative' ways of thinking can be learnt very easily, which would swamp the effect of whether somebody is 'naturally' more creative than somebody else.

Consider this: The expert on creative thinking is Edward de Bono. He has written over 62 books - on exactly the same subject. How can you write 62 books on ONE SUBJECT and still be considered creative !?!?!?

Mac.

[WritingFool]

Im ambidextrous myself, and i did alittle test, to see if I could teach my nephew to throw a ball with both hands, at a young age. He favored his left, but now is just as ambidextrous as I am. Can Play all sports with either hand from baseball, basketball, hockey to boxing.
All it is is when you were young, and learning, you preferred one hand over the other, and how that was developed over time, but you can always change how a child develops, so I really cant see the relevance as its connected or not to what hand you favor for a specific task.
Anyone can learn a skill on either hand with time and the right devlopment, and they are more suseptible as a young child, so what does it truly prove?

Dont know, but knock yourself out.

[TheRuleofThirds]

Mac, I'm a filmmaker, not a sociologist. I'm a hillbilly, not an academic.

[Boo_Radley]

I'm ambidexterous. That means I have twice the potential of all you shmucks.






















*IT'S A JOKE!

[GonnaBeFamous]

Like I said, I'm right handed and I don't have an ounce of creativity in me. However there is plenty of left handers that don't either. My opinion is your odds of having creativity are higher if your left handed, but I don't think its the end all be all.

[P.H.Delarran]

i've read you can learn to tap into either side of your brain no matter which hand you tend to use naturally. there are many excercises that encourage dexterity in your "other hand", playing a musical instrument and sports have already been mentioned here. i have two sons both naturally left handed, neither one is particularly creative but they both tend to look at things "outside the box". does it have anything to do with their left hands? i have no clue, but it sure adds an interesting perspective to our lives. :)

[pconsidine]

He favored his left, but now is just as ambidextrous as I am.

There is some evidence that it's far easier to train a lefty to be a righty than the other way around. We never knew my father was born lefty because he went to a parochial school in the age when they were still training left-handedness out of their students and by the time he had kids, he more typically used his right hand.

He had a great party trick though. He was able to write the same sentence forward with his right hand and backward (mirror imaged) with his left hand simultaneously. He could also write the same sentence in French with his right hand and English with his left at the same time, but not for very long. Apparenly, James Garfield had the same talent.

Still don't know what that has to do with the conversation, but it's interesting nonetheless.

[Joe Calabrese]

Interesting tidbit.

Most castles, the stairways favored a right handed swordsman, yet one castle (in Scottland I believe.) went the opposite direction because the family was left handed.

[Joe Calabrese]

Lefty Facts

Ancient Customs

In ancient times, Aztecs gave medicine for kidney problems with the left hand, and medicine for liver problems with the right hand.

When a Mayan wanted to know the future, they would visit a soothsayer who would rub both his legs. If the right leg twitched, the future was good. If the left leg twitched, doom was coming.

In Chinese tradition, the yin, or right side, lives in harmony with the left side, the yang. Neither side dominates the other.

In medieval heraldry, a "sinister bend" or a left-handed stripe across a coat-of-arms was the mark of a bastard, a "son of the left hand."

In Japan, there was a time when a wife being left-handed was ground for a divorce. Today the prejudice against lefties has lessened.

Native American's used to discourage left-handedness by strapping the left hand of an infant to their cradleboard, while leaving the right hand free.

The Egyptians thought it was good luck to enter a house left foot first.

Some biblical texts claim Eve was made from Adam's left rib.

In ancient Peru, it was believed by the Incas that being left-handed was a sign of good luck.

An old Irish saying states, "The left hand of a dead man dipped in a milk pail causes cream."

Wearing a medal on the left side of the body became a custom thanks to the crusaders. They chose to wear their emblems close to their hearts.

Word's for the Lefties
In ancient Rome, the word meaning "left" was "sinister."

The English origins of the word "left" come from the Latin "laevus" meaning "the shield" or "lucky side."

The Latin word for "lefty" is "scaevola," the last name of Caius Mucius, who when he failed to kill an enemy, burned off his own right hand.

The Italian words for left and left-handed are "mancino and mancini" which translate to "defective and deceitful."

Skateboarders that are left-footed are called "goofy-footed."

In North American sign language, a raised right hand means "powerful" and "brave." A left hand place over a right hand means "burial" and "death."

An insult or a put down is known as a "left-handed compliment."

In sailing terms, a "left-handed ship" means the ship in considered unlucky.

In Australian terms, a "molly-dooker" is a "sissy-fisted" lefty.

The Spanish word for left-handed is "zurdo" or "wrong."

Ambidextrous taken to mean "able to use both hands equally," really translates as "having two right hands."

British slang for left-handed are: kefty, scrammy, and wacky.

In German, a left-handed person is called "linkisch" or "clumsy."

The Irish word for left-handed is "ciatog." Many superstitions are linked to lefties in Ireland. Often times they are thought to be treacherous and evil.

In Hindu, "khabbalabra" means "left."

Once there was a disease in olden times called lyft-adyl or "left disease." It turned out to be paralysis.

Lefties in the United States are called: southpaws, wrong-way drivers, and portsiders.

The German word for left is "link" which means "awkward." The word for right is "recht" which means "true, good, and just."

In the Oxford English Dictionary, left is defined as "the distinctive epithet of the hand which is normally the weaker of the two."

Once the French word for left, "gauche," meant "bent." Now it means "socially inept" or "awkward."

A promise you have no intentions of keeping is called a "left-handed oath."

In France, "passing the weapon to the left" means to die.

The Famous
Left-handed brains can often handle music easily, but have trouble with language. Bob Dylan, a lefty, wrote the music for "Blowin' in the Wind" in less than five minutes, but it took him a month to write the lyrics.

Only 5 presidents of the United States have been left-handed: James Garfield, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, George Bush, and Bill Clinton.

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

Ronald Regan was born left-handed, but he was forced to switch to his right hand.

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

When painting the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo used both hands to paint.

Sportswriter, Charles Seymour, coined the term "southpaw" when he noticed left- handed pitchers threw from the south side of the mound.

Animals
In studies, 45% of toads tended to have a preference for their left forelimbs.

The fish, turbot, is a "left-eyed" flounder and the halibut is a right-eyed flounder. Lobsters are also subject to handedness. If the left claw is bigger than the right, it's left handed, and vice versa.

Mice and rats are equally divided into lefties and righties, regardless of breeding. However, they will easily switch paws if it makes obtaining food easier.

The left tusks of Arctic whales can grow to be 9 feet long and spiral in a counter clockwise direction.

In zoo research, apelike animals, like lemurs and galagos, are primarily left-handed.

Miscellaneous
Of the five people that designed the Macintosh computer, four were left-handed.

The left hand contains 27 bones, 28 muscles, 3 main nerves and 2 major arteries. So does the right hamd.

It is easier for a lefty to try "mirror writing" then a righty. This was a skill mastered by left-handers Lewis Carroll and Leonarde da Vinci.

There are other ways to test for handedness than by which hand you write with. Without thinking about it, draw a circle with your right hand. Then draw one with your left hand. If you drew the circle clockwise, chances are you're left handed.

In handwriting analysis, there is little difference between left and right-handed writing. The only consistent difference is how the t's are crossed. Half of lefties cross right to left, while most righties cross left to right.

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

When hanging the United States' flag, it must fly to the left of any other flag when you look at it head on.

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

Most champion fencers are left-handed.

The hammered dulcimer calls for the left hand to play a lead role in carrying the melody.

Twenty percent of all Mensa members are left-handed.

England's Queen Victoria was left-handed. She also had the longest reign in British history, 63 years.

In 1811, the first recorded set of Siamese twins was born. They were called Chang and Eng, "Right and Left."

A lefty is less likely to be able to roll their tongue than a right-handed person.

When typing, the left hand does most of the work, as the most popular letters (a,e,r,s,t) are on the left side of the keyboard.

When looking at Michelangelo's David, look at the hand David held his sling in. It seems David was a lefty.

Miss Manners declares that while food is properly served to the left of a guest, it is ok for a left-handed person to request to be served from the right.

The official Boy Scout handshake actually uses the left hand, not the right. The founder of the Scouts was ambidextrous, but he chose the left hand because it is closer to the heart.

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

On a standard "qwerty" keyboard, there are 1,447 English words that are typed solely with the left hand. There are only 187 words typed with the right hand alone.