The “American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language” cites the conventional wisdom that the word “southpawIn boxing and some other sports, a southpaw stance is where the boxer has the right hand and the right foot forward, leading with right jabs, and following with a left cross right hook. It is the normal stance for a left-handed boxer.https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Southpaw_stance
Sometimes people who are left-handed are called “Southpaws”.
Most of the current research suggests that left-handedness has an epigenetic marker—a combination of genetics, biology and the environment. Because the vast majority of the population is right-handed, many devices are designed for use by right-handed people, making their use by left-handed people more difficult.
It's also known as hand preference. So, if you naturally use your right hand to perform tasks, you're right-handed. If you naturally use your left hand, you're left-handed. But if you can use both hands to perform tasks, you're considered to be ambidextrous.
Special or not, lefties are born, not made: Genetics are at least partially responsible for handedness. Up until last year, it was assumed that hand preference comes from asymmetrical genes in the brain—two hands, two brain hemispheres, one is dominant.
“When we're left-handed, our right brains are usually dominant, and that's where creativity and intuition are centered. So it's often easier for us to be creative than logical.
They found no difference in IQ levels among left- and right-handed people, but left-handers appeared to be more likely to have an intellectual disability. However, this study indicated that people who were intellectually gifted or following typical development were also just as likely to be left-handed.
In their analysis of 144 handedness and brain laterality studies—accounting for a total of nearly 1.8 million individuals—University of Oxford psychologists Marietta Papadatou-Pastou, PhD, and Maryanne Martin, PhD, found that males are about 2 percent more likely to be left-handed than females.
A 2011 study from the American College of Chest Physicians suggested that left handers have significantly higher chances of developing periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD). This disorder is characterized by involuntary, repetitive limb movements that happen while you sleep, resulting in disrupted sleep cycles.
Although the percentage varies worldwide, in Western countries, 85 to 90 percent of people are right-handed and 10 to 15 percent of people are left-handed. Mixed-handedness (preferring different hands for different tasks) and ambidextrousness (the ability to perform tasks equally well with either hand) are uncommon.
using the left hand more skillfully than, and in preference to, the right. 2. done with the left hand. 3. clumsy; awkward.
Noun. mollydooker (plural mollydookers) (UK, Australia, slang) A left-handed person.
Wright and Hardie (2012) found that left-handers reported higher levels of state anxiety but there was no difference in trait anxiety. They also demonstrated that when Trait Anxiety was controlled for, left-handers still showed a higher level of state anxiety compared to right-handers.
Lefties get angrier
A study in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease suggested that those who are left-handed are more prone to negative emotions. It also found that when processing emotions, lefties have a greater imbalance in activity between the left and right brains.
It's linked to a risk of mental health problems
Studies have also found links between non-right-handedness and dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and some mood disorders.
Left-handed and ambidextrous people are more susceptible to negative emotions, including anger. A small study published last year in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease found that the brains of lefties process emotions differently than those of righties, with more communication between the brain's two halves.
In support of this, many studies have found that left-handed men are overrepresented among modern professional fighters, but studies typically find no difference in fighting success between left and right-handed fighters.
For example, if both parents are right-handed, there is a 1 in 10 chance of having a left-handed child. If the father is left-handed, the odds are 2 in 10. If the mother is left-handed, the odds rise to 3 in 10.
Left-handedness occurs in about 8% of the human population. It runs in families and an adoption study suggests a genetic rather than an environmental origin; however, monozygotic twins show substantial discordance.
The DNA of every organism on Earth is a right-handed double helix, but why that would be has puzzled scientists since not long after Francis Crick and James Watson announced the discovery of DNA's double-helical structure in 1953.
Lefties make up only about 10 percent of the population, but studies find that individuals who are left-handed score higher when it comes to creativity, imagination, daydreaming and intuition. They're also better at rhythm and visualization.