13 August 2009

About International Lefthanders Day

Did you know that today was International Lefthanders Day? I've just discovered.

About International Lefthanders Day:
On 13th August 1992 the Club launched International Left-Handers Day, an annual event when left-handers everywhere can celebrate their sinistrality and increase public awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of being left-handed. This event is now celebrated worldwide, and in the U.K. alone there were over 20 regional events to mark the day in 2001- including left-v-right sports matches, a left-handed tea party, pubs using left-handed corkscrews where patrons drank and played pub games with the left hand only, and nationwide 'Lefty Zones' where left-handers creativity, adaptability and sporting prowess were celebrated, whilst right-handers were encouraged to try out everyday left-handed objects to see just how awkward it can feel using the wrong equipment!


I've done most things left-handed most of my life, and at the age of 16, when I took an interest in the subject, I started doing a few more things left-handed (like holding a knife and fork). The activity I found most disadvantageous for left handers was playing hockey. Driving trolley buses, with the power pedal on the left and the handbrake on the right, seemed to come more easily.

I've just discovered that one can get left-handed cheque books -- in Britain, anyway, but I can't imagine what conceivable advantage they would have. On the other hand, I wish they would make computer keyboards with function keys on the left where God intended they should be.

4 comments:

CherryPie said...

My brother is mostly left handed. I think the most obvious problem was writing with an ink pen and not smudging his work.

Steve Hayes said...

CherryPie,

I've never had that problem, as I've always held a pen straight, so my hand never goes over what I have written. I know some left-handed people curl their hand around, and write upside down as it were, but I've never done that.

Yewtree said...

Hi Steve,
I didn't know you were left-handed (I am too). I did know it was International Left-Handers' Day though.

Which hand do you cross yourself with? When I was exploring Orthodoxy I was actually quite offended when I was told not to do it with my left hand. (I could guess the symbolism, and I didn't like it.)

the booklady said...

Steve,

Thanks for this info!

I was naturally a leftie, but my mom thought it would be a disadvantage to me so she forced me to learn to do things (write, eat, work) right-handed. Interestingly, the only thing I retained of my left hand is praying the rosary, something usually done with the right hand. I have to switch hands to make the sign of the cross, but I don't feel comfortable holding the beads with my right hand. ☺ My mother-in-law and second daughter are both lefties. ☺ ☺ ☺

I consider myself a leftie ... deep down.

Peace!

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