Wednesday, April 14, 2010

left...not right

I hadn't really given it much thought...until I heard a documentary the other day about left handed people. One in ten of us are left-handed. But five of the last ten US presidents have been left-handed. How interesting!

In our immediate family it is one in fourteen...at this point. Right from the get-go...she preferred to use her left hand!

Did you know that there are stores out there that cater to the left-handed minority?

We had fun checking out this boutique at Pier 39 in San Francisco last fall...

...which included many fun items for our backwards friends. It also carried plenty of tools to make life simpler for them...things like left-handed scissors and can openers.

I picked up a gift for my left-handed friend...who happens to be celebrating her birthday this week. It's a mug...to remind her that she is unique...special...and in good company. Many very creative and talented people are/were left-handed...like Michelangelo, Julius Caesar, Mark Twain, Queen Victoria, Helen Keller, Babe Ruth, Beethoven, Paul McCartney, and Bob Dylan to name a few.


If you happen to be one of the left-handed few...know that you are in good company!

14 comments:

  1. We have no left-handed people in our family that I know of. Let's see...I'd have to know who the left-handed presidents have been. Ha! (Oops, is that too controversial?) Ranen is so obviously exceptional. Look at that architectural design!

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  2. We're all right-handed with the exception of my dad, who is ambidextrous - the result of being left handed when he started school, and having this hand tied to his side so that he was forced to use his right hand.
    That shop looks like a fun place to visit!

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  3. So sad that back in the day they'd try to force Leftys to change their ways. What a fun gift for your friend...

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  4. Two lefties in our family - my husband and our eldest daughter. Teaching my daughter to crochet was almost impossible - finally her grandmother was patient enough, and once she got the hang of it - no problems.

    I think lefties have something special to offer the world - a new perspective on the way things are done.

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  5. I wonder what the stats are on being ambidextrous .. we realized when our son started playing Tball that he plays his sports with the left hand. . and everything else he does right handed.

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  6. Hey... we are also 14 and have one left-handed grandchild. Well, to tell the truth my hubby was forced to go right handed at school... so it does seem to come from him.
    I'd like to get to that store sometime.Kind of interesting to note who has been left-handed over the years.

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  7. My sweet grandson is a lefty. It always intrigues me to watch him. It seems so different, yet so natural to him.

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  8. I've read that lefty women are even more rare than lefty men.

    My FIL, late BIL and son: Lefties one and all. Bernie plays golf left handed though.

    Here's the fun part: the formal portrait of my husband's ancestor painted in 1670 shows that he was a lefty because of the side that he wore his sword. No one on my side of the family is left handed.

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  9. That is a very nice mug with so many famous left handed people named on it --your friend will love it!

    My husband's sister was left handed but many years ago in Italy that was considered bad luck so in school they tied her hand and made her use her right hand. Now she writes right handed but does everything else left handed

    My dad was left handed but broke his fingers as a child and had to use his right hand to write in school ad found he was ambidextrous and could write very well with either hand.

    We're all right handed so far ...not sure as yet what my grandson will be!

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  10. in our family of 6, 2 of us are left-handed and my husband is ambidextrous

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  11. I had to stop and think about this. I think we would be 1 in 13 in our family. Our youngest daughter is left handed at most things. However when she played softball in highschool she was right handed. I never saw a store like yours though. Your friend will appreciate that clever mug you bought for her. Happy birthday to her!

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  12. I've heard that about left-handed Presidents. I always love watching left hand people write, it looks sooo graceful to me - maybe because my favorite aunt is left handed with beautiful handwriting.
    Have they come up with a left-handed computer keyboard? smile

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  13. My hubby and daughter are south paws and it looks like one of our peeps may be. What a fun store...will have to look for it on our next trip south. Kathy (MGCC)

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  14. Very interesting facts about left handed presidents. I'll have to show this post to my husband as he is a lefty. He was just complaining about a pair of scissors I have being hard to use. Since I have no problems with them, I think it has to do with him using the wrong hand :-).

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'The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.'
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson