Although there is a wide range of invaluable left-handed products available via The Left Handed Site, we want to see far more choice on the market. After all, left handers make up 10% of the population, so there's a big demand out there.
London, UK (PRWEB) August 10, 2008
International Left Handers' Day is on Wednesday, August 13. It is the one day in the year designated to promote awareness of the inconveniences facing left handers in a right-handed world.
Carole Seawert from The Left Handed Site said: "The objects we pick up and use in our daily lives - from cameras, can openers and computer keyboards to bread knives, cheque books and tape measures - are designed for right handed people and we left handers have to adapt and muddle along.
"International Left Handers' Day was launched 16 years ago by the Left Handers Club and one of the reasons behind it is to encourage manufacturers to design left-handed versions of their products in order to make our lives that bit easier, " she continued. "Although there is a wide range of invaluable left-handed products available via The Left Handed Site, we want to see far more choice on the market. After all, left handers make up 10% of the population, so there's a big demand out there."
Five out of six left-handed US presidents
Another objective of Left Handers' Day is to celebrate the superiority of left handers over the right-handed majority. For example, just 10 per cent of the population is left handed but four of the last five US presidents were left handers: Ford, Reagan, Bush Snr and Clinton. Soon it will be five out of six, as Obama and McCain are both southpaws. Al Gore is left handed, too, so, if George Jnr hadn't become president, there would have been 32 years of uninterrupted left-handed rule at The White House.
Left handed tennis champions
It's not just the White House where left handers dominate, 40% of the world's tennis champions are southpaws. Famous left handers include Rafael Nadal, John McEnroe. Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, Roscoe Tanner, Goran Ivanisevic, Greg Rudesksi, Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, and Ann Jones - Britain's only left-handed Wimbledon champion.
Left-handed factoids
- A recent study carried out by Johns Hopkins University in the States concluded that left-handed men who attended college for at least a year earn 13% more than right-handed men. And those who completed four years at college earn, on average, 21% more than similarly educated right-handed men.
- Cats tend to use their left paw more than their right.
- Man only developed a preference for right-handedness during the Bronze Age. Tools found from Stone Age times were sharpened equally for left and right handed use.
- There are more left-handed golfers in New Zealand, per head of population, than anywhere else in the world.
- Latin for 'left' is 'sinister'. In French, left is 'gauche' which also means 'awkward' or 'clumsy'. In German, 'links' (left) is also synonymous with 'awkward' or 'clumsy'. In Italian, left handed is 'mancino' which has additional meanings of 'treacherous' or 'dirty'. In Spanish 'left handed' is 'zurdo'. There is also a phrase 'no ser zurdo' which translates literally as 'not to be left handed' but actually means 'to be very clever'. Similarly, Portuguese for left handed is 'canhoto' or 'weak'.
About The Left Handed Site
The Left Handed Site is an information and shopping portal especially for left handed people. It was launched by left hander, Carole Seawert, in February 2008, and provides a wealth of information on all matters left handed and access to all kinds of left-handed products, from artists' palettes to guitars.
For further information, call Carole Seawert on +44 7770 740620 or visit: The Left Handed Site
###