the sinister hand2 - fwquestclub.com3 “the sinister hand” by marilyn moran -townsend april 20,...

The Sinister Hand: Left-Handedness in a Right-Handed World

By Marilyn Moran-Townsend

Delivered at Quest Club April 20, 2012

1 “The Sinister Hand” by Marilyn Moran-Townsend April 20, 2012

Welcome to my world. I roll out of bed to begin the day. I push the bathroom door open by moving my

left hand across my body; and do the same weird body cross to open the vanity cabinet. The vitamin

bottle lid screws clockwise, as does every lid, making it challenging for a left-hander. Childproof lids are

difficult for everybody, but nearly impossible for lefties. The flush handle of the toilet is designed for a

seated right hander; as is the location of the toilet paper roll. The inward-opening bathroom door

means I pull the door knob and the door into my body before I can exit.

I travel downstairs, with the banister on the right, and into my modern kitchen, filled with right-handed

conveniences: The measuring cups, the ladles, the pots with lips, the can opener, the serrated knives,

the potato peeler, the refrigerator door, the kitchen cabinet door handles, the hand mixer and on the

list goes.

I get in the car and wrestle with an ignition key that is blocked for a left-hander by the steering wheel.

So is the gear shift.

At work, the computer mouse is for a right-hander, as are the scissors, the paper cutter and the

automatic stapler. If I need to use a digital camera or camcorder in my work, I will struggle with all the

controls, which are positioned on the right side.

On my way home, I might stop for a nice bottle of wine; and later, I’ll entertain my guests as I try to

open it with a right-handed corkscrew. At the checkout

counter, the sales clerk will helpfully position the credit

card receipt for a right-handed signature. My signature is

unreadable anyway, because my elementary school

teacher tried her best to switch me to write, well, right.

She failed but so did my penmanship, probably because I

was attempting to master an alphabet in which the letters

are supposed to be formed left to right without smearing

or smudging the paper. And my childhood frustration was

made worse as I attempted the alphabet from a right-

handed school desk.


If I were to consider a second act career, there are dozens of jobs for which I will require specialized

work tools: Surgeon, assembly line worker, carpenter, auto mechanic, hair stylist, chef, police officer or

seamstress, to name a few. In fact, many of these jobs might be dangerous for lefties. One ominous

study of Canadians in 1980 reported that left-handers died younger, presumably because they suffered

mishaps in a right-handed world.� While that study proved to be false, another research study

revealed that left-handers disproportionately demonstrate greater creativity than right-handers,

perhaps because from an early age they learn to navigate in a right-handed world.� It is significant that

left-handers are twice as likely to qualify for membership in Mensa.�

In this paper, I hope to give you some insights about those whose arms have been put on backwards, or

so the derogatory among us say. We will begin by defining handedness. Next we will discover who is

left-handed (the list is sure to surprise you). Then we will learn the origin of the phrase “the sinister

hand” and how our language shapes our thinking about left-handers (or perhaps vice versa). We will

take a run through the history of left-handedness, including some insights into the role of lefties in war

and sports. We will peek inside the brains of lefties. Then we will examine the role of genetics in our

handedness. We will step on sacred ground and the turf of indigenous people as we consider what it

means to be left-handed in religion and culture. We will conclude with a story that defies all logic, so of

course it comes to you out of left field.

To begin, how many of you are left-handed?

Not so fast. How do you really know? There is no definitive last word on who is left-or-right-handed,

ambidextrous or what will likely be a new term for many of you, mixed-handed. Must you use one hand

exclusively for single-handed tasks to be left-handed or right-handed? Are you left-handed if you write

with your left hand? Are you right-handed if you catch or throw a baseball with your right hand? What

if you do some tasks with one hand and other tasks with the opposite hand?

After years of trial and error with self-reporting of one’s handedness, there are now two tests that are

considered the most reliable to identify your handedness: The Edinburgh Handedness Inventory and the

Purdue Pegboard.

The Edinburgh Handedness Inventory surveys your

preferred hand for 10 simple tasks such as writing,

throwing, using a spoon or striking a match. The results

are quantified in a laterality quotient and each of us fits on

a continuum ranging from plus 20, if you are completely

right-handed, to minus 20 if you are completely left-

handed. Yes, even the handedness test places lefties in the

minus column.� If you prefer one hand for some tasks

and the other hand for other tasks, you will be identified as a mixed hander.�


The Purdue Pegboard was first developed by Dr. Joseph Tiffin, an

industrial psychologist at Purdue University, in 1948. According to Dr.

Tiffin, the Purdue Pegboard is a test of manipulative dexterity

designed to assist in the selection of employees in such industrial jobs

as assembly, packing, operation of certain machines and other routine

manual jobs of an exacting nature.� It is still widely used and it was

easy for me to buy one on Amazon.com. I don’t know if Dr. Tiffin or

his estate gets royalties, but the cheapest I found was $144.

The Purdue Pegboard has two parallel rows of 30 holes. First, you are tasked with putting pegs in one

row of holes with one hand, while being timed. Then you fill the second row with pegs, using the other

hand. Your dominant hand will typically perform better in these timed tasks.

What if your scores are comparable for either hand? You could

be ambidextrous, meaning you possess equal dexterity with

either hand. Ambidexterity is very rare – only one-to-two

people in a thousand. The word ambidextrous, by the way,

comes from Latin and literally means two rights. �

University of Toledo psychology professor Stephen Christman

argues that “the differences we should investigate are not

between left and right-handers, but between strong-handed

and mixed-handed people”.� Considering it this way, our

differences may not be so much about direction, but degree of handedness. Many mixed-handers who

write, eat or throw with their left hand may have been coaxed or coerced out of their strong left-

handedness by parents, teachers and coaches in the society in which they lived. Here’s one telling

example. In the first edition of his guide to parenting in the 1940’s, Dr. Spock advised parents to

encourage right-handedness. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that Dr. Spock changed his advice to parents,

recommending a more laissez-faire attitude toward handedness.� Incidentally, children usually sort

out their handedness on their own by age 5.��

With the tenuous nature of handedness definitions in mind, the count of left-handers is also suspect.

However, most researchers believe that left-handers comprise 10 – 12% of the world’s population,

slightly more men than women.��


Curiously, they appear in far greater proportions at the top

of power, wealth, celebrity and sports. Political and

military lefties include Alexander the Great, Charlemagne,

Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Queen Victoria, Prince Charles and

Prince William and 5 of our last seven United States

Presidents (Gerald Ford, who only wrote left-handed when

sitting down, but used his right hand to play golf or write on

a blackboard; Ronald Reagan, who was converted from left

to right in childhood and was considered ambidextrous; George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack

Obama). Interestingly, left-handedness was not inherited by George W. Bush.

In business and invention, there is Ben Franklin, who described his childhood as miserable

because he was bitterly rebuked as a left-handed child. Other lefty inventors and business

leaders include Henry Ford, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Steve Forbes and Michael Bloomberg.

Then there’s composer JS Bach, and entertainers George Burns, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Angelina

Jolie, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Harpo Marx, Dick Van Dyke, Marcel Marceau, Charlie Chaplin, Carol

Burnett, Tim Conway, Richard Pryor, Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller, to name a few.

Michelangelo, the left-handed genius behind the fresco on the

ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted a left-handed Adam accepting

life from the right-handed God. Other artistic greats include

Leonardo da Vinci and Escher.

Giants in sport include Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson,

Reggie Jackson, Ted Williams and Stan Musial in baseball; mixed-

handers (left and right) Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Bill Walton and LeBron

James in basketball; Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner; Phil Esposito in hockey; Oscar de la Hoya

in boxing; and Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe and Monica Seles in tennis. The

world’s richest woman, Oprah Winfrey, and the richest man, Bill Gates, are both left-handed.

��, ��, ��, ��

Researchers theorize that lefties succeed disproportionately because they spend their entire lives

bucking the norm and seeing themselves as different, which are qualities characteristic of most leaders.

Now, let’s talk about left language. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the word “left” is

derived from the Old English “lyft”, which means weak or worthless, with a first-known usage in the 13th

century. The Latin word “sinister” is of later origin. Sinister comes from “sinus” or “sinistra”, meaning

left or pocket side since the Roman toga always had the pocket on the left side. By the Classical Latin

era, left took on the meanings of "evil" or "unlucky", and this double meaning survives in European

derivatives of Latin, and in the English word "sinister". Our modern dictionaries include insincere,

indecisive and malevolent to define left-handed. Roget’s Thesaurus lists as synonyms oblique, clumsy

and insulting. ��


This is not just an English or American language barrier to associating the left hand with anything good.

The French word gauche ("left") means clumsy, graceless or awkward, and adroit (related to droit,

"right") means "dextrous". In Chinese culture, the adjective "left" (Chinese: ; pinyin: zuǒ) sometimes

means "improper" or "out of accord". For instance, the phrase "left path" (Chinese: ; pinyin:

zuǒdào) stands for unorthodox or immoral means. ��, ��

Where did all this malevolence and insult come from? Carl Sagan hypothesized that the association

between left and bad emerged because of the left-hand’s usage for hygienic purposes before the

invention of toilet paper.�� This theory makes sense. If the majority of people used their right hand to

eat, their left hand served as their unsanitary hand.

Whatever the thinking was behind the original usage, negative connotations for left-handedness are

woven into the fabric of our language:

A left-handed wife is a mistress.

Protestants have been known to call Catholics left-footers.

Bad dancers have two left feet.

Snowboarding stances are labeled “regular” for righty style and “goofy” for lefty style.

Left-handed wisdom is faulty reasoning.

McCarthyites used leftist as a description for Communist

sympathizers.�� Today, leftist means a liberal extremist. Meanwhile,

right is synonymous with correct, as in this sign posted over the winter

outside a Fort Wayne church.

Let’s now take a quick trip through history. Archeological evidence demonstrates that early humans had

no particular hand preference. But beginning with the late Bronze Age, a significant increase in right-

handedness is evident in the tools.�� Since then, handedness has been a key differentiator between

humans and all other species. Although a few controversial studies say otherwise, the prevailing science

is that all other species have a 50-50 split between righties and lefties, while the human split is roughly

90-10.�� One documented exception is the parrot, which has no hands but does have a 90-10

favoring of the left foot.��

Why the lopsided bias toward the right for humans? Neurophysiologist William Calvin has offered a

provocative theory. He suggests that females were the principal hunters and that they carried their

babies in their left arms, where the sound of the heart would soothe and quiet the infant. Whether or

not Lucy hunted with babes in her left arm, it is likely that handedness must have had a survival

purpose.�� And yet, if the forces of evolution work against negative traits, why have lefties remained

steady at about 10% of our population throughout time? One theory is that the lefties became

proficient rock throwers, capable of knocking down their prey. Accurate, forceful rock throwing offered

a competitive advantage for survival.�� In the Old Testament (New International Version), this


capability proved highly useful in warfare. The Benjamites, descendents of Ben Yamin, which means son

of the right hand, assembled an elite fighting force. From Judges 20:16:

“Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who

were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not

miss.”

They must have been very accurate since the Tribe of the Hand killed 26,000 Israelites.

Fast-forward to the 15th century on the border between Scotland

and England, where the Scottish Kerr (pronounced Carr) clan built

a castle known as Ferniehirst. For the left-hander, it is Mecca.

The stairs spiral counterclockwise so that when you descend, the

right side of your body is pinned against a stone wall, leaving the

left side free to defend your position from on high. Andrew Kerr

was a legendary left-handed sword fighter, immortalized in this

poem, “The Raid of the Kerrs”

But the Kerrs were aye the deadliest foes

That e’er to Englishmen were known,

For they were all bred left-handed men

And defence against them there was none.

The Kerrs did indeed produce a disproportionate number of left-handers. The Scottish still use the term

kerr-handed to describe a lefty; and Kerr is the 31st most frequent surname in Scotland today.��

Swordplay may have been ideal for lefties, but the right-handed majority may be the reason the British

drive on the left side of the road. Ancient travelers on horseback generally rode on the left side of the

road and held the reins with their left hand in order to keep the right hand free, either to offer in

friendship to passing riders or to defend oneself with a sword if necessary.��

As the implements of war and organized combat developed,

they no longer favored the left-hander. When a row of right-

handed soldiers positioned their shields in front or above

them in their left hands, they created an impenetrable

barricade. But a left-handed solider in the ranks would

create a gap in that protective wall, risking his own life and

the lives of the soldiers behind him.��


In modern warfare, the rifle was designed for right-handed soldiers. If you were to pull the trigger with

your left hand, the explosion of hot gas would eject into your face. Even though there are left-handed

rifles, the military favors all right-handed rifles so that any member of the force can pick up the gun of a

fallen soldier and fire away.��

Sports, as in war, offers both advantages and disadvantages for the lefty. In football, a left-

handed quarterback would confuse the football roster over exactly where the blind side is. And

playing polo left-handed is forbidden because of the risk of getting cracked in the head with the mallet.

In baseball, left-handed batters are a step closer to first base. Left-handed pitchers throw a curve ball

that befuddles the batter.�� Speaking of baseball, the term “southpaw” is believed to come from the

sport, most likely used at the old Comiskey Park in Chicago in the late 19th century. Left-handed pitchers

faced west, so the arc of their arm and delivery of the ball originated from the south. I would be remiss

if I didn’t mention that some say the term Southpaw was originated in boxing.��

In a 1995 French study of mano on mano sports, half the men and one-third of the women who reached

the quarterfinals of the world championship of fencing between 1979 and 1993 were left-handed.��

A 2000 study conducted by a team of Greek scholars found a surplus of southpaws among university-

level athletes in boxing, fencing, football, basketball, tennis, judo, karate and volleyball. They found that

the closer and more confrontational the physical interaction of the opponents, the greater the number

of left-handers. This did not hold true in the non-combat sports of cycle racing, running, diving,

gymnastics or skiing. They concluded that lefties have the strategic advantage of coming at opponents

from unexpected angles and directions.��

David Holtzen, PhD, clinical psychologist and instructor at Harvard Medical School, suspected that the

sports advantage was more than a matter of surprise. In 1999, he teamed with colleagues at Cambridge

University to see if left-handed athletes have exceptional visual-spatial, whole body motor and

attentional visuo-motor skills. They studied tennis because it requires all three. What they found in a

32-year span (1968-1999), was that the rates of left-handed pro tennis players were two to five times

higher than expected. Since this was the pro’s, the left-handed advantage of surprise should have

receded. The researchers concluded the left-handed advantage must be rooted in their distinct

neurological arrangements – specifically their superior three-dimensional processing and motor-

planning skills, which are situated in the right hemisphere.�� So let’s logically take a peek inside the

brain.


Blue

Our brains are asymmetrical, first described by

French surgeon Paul Broca in 1863. Broca proved

that each hemisphere has different and localized

functions.�� Researchers believe a more

developed non-dominant motor headquarters in the

brain may have an evolutionary purpose. In the

event that half of the brain or body becomes injured,

the other half is better able to take over.��

As the neurological research progressed, it was proven that left-and-mixed-handers

are more likely to have a larger corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers that

connect the two brain hemispheres, which creates greater hemispheric cross-

talk.�� This cross-talk can easily be seen in today’s imaging technologies.

In this functional mri study of both right-and-left-

handers performing the same tasks, right-handers

clearly use their left hemisphere, while left-handers

access both sides of the brain. �� Hemispheric cross talk has its

advantages. A 2002 Canadian study found that left-handers were

substantially better at detecting deception than right-handers. Left-

handers relied more on visual cues to gauge credibility.�� This visual

sensitivity would have also made early humans valuable to their tribes

because of their ability to detect anger from another tribe or an animal about to attack.��

However, hemispheric cross-talk isn’t always good. Lefties and mixed-handers sometimes

struggle with tasks requiring independent processing. In a study in which the word “blue”

was written in green ink, lefties struggled to sort the color of the letters from the meaning

of the word, suggesting that the visual and semantic collided in their overly-integrated brains.�� A

1993 study of professional musicians found that this crosstalk is detrimental to piano players whose

hands must act independently. Consequently, professional pianists are more likely to be strongly

handed, either right or left, while mixed-handers gravitate to instruments that are cooperatively played,

such as string and wind instruments.��

Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule.

Two legendary guitar players happened to be left-

handers: Paul McCartney turned his guitars upside-

down; and Jimi Hendrix restrung right-handed guitars in

reverse.��


Before we leave our peek inside the brain, here is one other

interesting fact. The brain has the capacity for language, even if

you can’t output it through the mouth. Our brains apparently

don’t care, which is why we also have the capacity to talk with our

hands.��

My quest to understand left-handedness next took me into genetic research. The most widely-

accepted genetic model for handedness is called the Right Shift Theory, first introduced by

Marian Annett in 1972. A single gene, designated as R+, drives the left side of the brain to become more

developed for speech and fine motor skills, leading to a favoring of the right hand. Thus the R+ gene is

called the right shift gene. The other form of the gene, R-, is carried by left-handers. Our genes come in

pairs, one from each parent. We can be born with one of three combinations: R+ R+, R- R-, or R+R-.

According to Annett’s theory, those who receive two R+ genes are likely to have a strong tendency

toward right-handedness – about 1/3 of the population. Half the population gets an R+ R- combination,

giving them a mild tendency toward right-handedness. In the remaining 20% of the population, they get

two R- genes, making the direction of their handedness completely random – half will be left and half

will be right. Why do we have the R- gene to begin with? Annett believes the R- gene prevents the R+

gene from neatly organizing everything in the left hemisphere. Language and motor skills are allowed to

distribute more randomly. Annett’s hypothesis is known as polymorphism. In this model, left-handers

don’t inherit their handedness; they do inherit a lack of neurological bias to shift to the right.��

According to work by Chris McManus from the Psychology Department at University College in London,

two right-handed parents have a 9.5% chance of having a left-handed child. One right and one left-

handed parent have a 19.5% chance of having a Southpaw; and two left-handed parents have a 26.1%

chance of having a left-handed child.��

So far, we have covered historical and scientific facts and theories of left-handedness. Beyond these

theories lie deep-seated beliefs about left-handedness. These beliefs span all religions and cultures.

Here are but a few.

In Christianity, from the many depictions of the eternally

lost on Judgment Day, the left side of God is not where

the faithful want to be.�� 21 biblical verses refer to the

right as the favorite hand. Another 29 refer to the right

hand of God.�� This excerpt from Psalm 118, verses 15

and 16 is an example (New International Version):

“The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!

16 The LORD’s right hand is lifted high;

the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!”


Some Catholics believe that to cross oneself left-handed is blasphemous.��

Orthodox Jews wrap their left arms in the strap of tefillin, according to Rabbi Lawrence

Kurshner, to say “Here I am standing with my dangerous side bundled, ready to

pray.”��

In Buddhism, the path to Nirvana is forked. The left-handed path is to be rejected.��

Among indigenous peoples, the Maori of the South Pacific believe the right side

represents life and the left side death. Women are required to weave ceremonial cloth

with their right hand or be killed.��

The Zulus put a child’s left hand in boiling water so it cannot be used.��

In the Dutch East Indies, the left arm was completely bound to render it

useless.��

Left-handedness was also considered to be an outward sign of witchcraft. Here

is an excerpt from the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, ultimately leading to the

burning of Mary Barker.

“The Examination and Confession of Mary Barker of Andover.

“After severall questions propounded and negative answers returned, she at last

acknowledged that Goody Johnson made her a witch, And sometime last

summer she made a red mark in the devil’s book with the forefinger of her Left

hand….”��

Superstitions didn’t adjourn with the Salem Witch Trials. To this day, people

throw salt over their left shoulder to placate the devils that lurk behind and to

the left.�� And the wedding ring is placed on the third finger of the left hand, not just because it is

supposedly closest to the heart, but because this is the charm finger of superstition, and a precious

metal on this finger enhances the power to ward off black magic.��

Throughout human history, the sinister hand has had a tight grip on any rational thought.


To conclude as promised, completely out of left field, hear

the tale of John Evans of Decatur, Illinois. In the summer of

1994, Evans attempted to cross the railroad tracks in the

downtown when his foot got stuck in the rail. He wasn’t

drinking. He was hit by a 122-car freight train. Dr. Richard

Brown of the Southern Illinois University’s Institute of Plastic

and Reconstructive Surgery was paged to the ER, where he

found Mr. Evans’ left arm had been completely severed at

the shoulder and was mutilated beyond repair. But the left

hand at the end of his lost arm was intact. On the other

side, Evans’ right hand was completely mutilated. So Dr.

Brown salvaged the left hand from the orphaned left arm and

attached it to Evans’ right wrist. This was only the third attempted transfer surgery in the United States.

To pull it off, the surgical team crisscrossed the most critical tendons and nerves. Of course, it is quite a

sight: Evans’ thumb is on the outside of his hand and his pinky finger is closest to his body. But Evans is

able to remain independent because of the attached left hand on his right arm. He even has decent

penmanship. Here’s the kicker. Evans’ left brain hemisphere is controlling the left hand as if it was his

right; and yet, when someone touches Evans’ left shoulder socket, he feels it in his left hand, which is

literally brain hemispheres apart. Doctors can’t explain it, but Evans insists the sensation is real.��

It has been my pleasure today to share a portion of what I’ve discovered about the language, the

celebrity, the history, the science and the lore of left-handedness. Mark your calendars now: August

13th is International Left-handers Day.

Should you wish to study this topic further, you

don’t have far to go. You may be pleased or

chagrined to know that one of our own public

universities, Indiana University, is home to the

Handedness Research Institute, established in

2001 to advance the scientific understanding of

handedness and, according to its website, “help

alleviate the social and educational discrimination

of left-handers worldwide through research and

education”. The purpose of the Handedness

Research Institute is “to contribute to both the scholarly and the social understanding of the ancient

human condition of majority right-handers co-existing with left-handed and ambidextrous

minorities”.��

In the meantime, should you have any doubt about the rightness of my research, consider the source: A

mixed-handed Southpaw and proud of it.

###


References

� Halpern, D.F., and Coren, S (1988). “Do right-handers live longer?” Nature, 3(33):213.

� Coren, S. (1995) “Differences in divergent thinking as a function of handedness and sex,” American

Journal of Psychology, 108(3): 311325.

� DeKay, JT. The Natural Superiority of the Left-hander. New York: M Evans & Co, 1979.

� Oldfield, R.C. (1971). “The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh Inventory.”

Neuropsychologia, 9 (1): 97-113.

� Wolman, D. A Left Hand Turn Around The World. Da Capo Press, Perseus Books Group, 2005. e-

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�� Wilson, FR. The Hand. e-reader location #2713.


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�� Christman, S.D. “Handedness in musicians: Bimanual constraints on performance” Brain and

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�� McManus, C. “Right Hand Left Hand: The Origins of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms and

Cultures” (Cambridge, MASS. Harvard University Press 2002), 157.

�� Hans Memling's “Day of Judgement”, 1467-1471.



�� Wolman, D. A Left Hand Turn Around The World. e-reader location #157 – 158.






�� DeKay JT. The Natural Superiority of the Left-hander. New York. M Evans & Co., 1979.

�� Fincher J. Lefties. Putnams, NY: Perigee Books (1980): 38.

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�� http://handedness.org/

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