Once upon a time, I was left handed. This was imposed upon me because I developed what is called a trigger thumb on my right hand which made it unusable for the sort of tasks you take for granted.
Like crumbling an Oxo into a pan when making gravy. (I like gravy). Or shaking hands.
This often brought me funny looks when I offered my left. Try it. It looks like your holding hands rather than shaking, which is not very manly. And when I explained to strangers: “I have a trigger thumb”, there were those who may have thought I was a hitman taking care of my professional digits.
Being naturally right handed, I found it difficult at first but easier with practice. I was capable of using the left for many things although I never attempted to write with a pen. I used a computer keyboard and typed with two fingers.
I recall this three or four month period because this is Left Handers Day, which has been celebrated since 1976. The need for such a day may be viewed as slight until you realise that most items are made for the 90% of us who are right handed: scissors, tin opener, guitars, golf clubs, rulers and lots more, and because prejudice remains, unnoticed, in our vocabulary.
The French word for left, for instance, is gauche which also means awkward. A left handed compliment is one that can be interpreted as derisive.
People may say someone who is clumsy has two left feet, which is an attribute some football teams would love to discover in a player. Usually a player favours either his right or left foot and uses the other one only to stand on.
The prejudice has been around for a long time. In some societies, being left handed was viewed not just as a disability, but as a mark of Satan.
Italian Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909), the father of modern criminology, said it was a sign that a person had biologically regressed to a more primitive and savage mentality.
“Left-handedness, united to many other traits, may contribute to form one of the worst characters among the human species.”
By heck, condemned for being a Southpaw.
Historically, left handed children were beaten to force them to use their right. In school, their left was often tied behind their back to encourage right handedness. There are reports that this still happened in the West as recently as the 1960s.
The Left-Handers Club was formed in 1990 and provides a help and advice line, promotes research into left-handedness and development of left-handed items.
And the 10% who are lefties, should take comfort from the fact that many of their number have been high achievers, from Alexander the Great to Barack Obama (inset), Michaelangelo to Paul McCartney, Tom Cruise to Angelina Jolie. Not forgetting, of course, Kermit the Frog. And in The Simpsons, Bart Simpson is a leftie and Ned Flanders actually runs a shop called The Leftorium.
I still occasionally offer my left mitt for a handshake. It’s worth it for the funny looks I get from startled men.
