In the ancient world, lefties got a bad rap; suspicions of treachery stuck with the Latin word for leftie: sinistra.
Today, left-handed batter Barry Bonds isn?t helping the word?s image.
On the other, er, right hand, the Latin dextra gave us dexterous in English, which means skilled. Today, August 13th, is International Left-Handers Day.
While it may not be the most celebrated day of the year, it is a fun one that aims to “celebrate the strengths and advantages left-handers possess, and dispel many of the superstitions that have surrounded left-handedness in many cultures for hundreds of years,” according to lefthandersday.org.
In 2006, researchers and Johns Hopkins and Lafayette College discovered left-handed men who graduate from college are 26 percent richer than their right-handed counterparts. Some experts claim lefties? brains are built in a way that widens their range of abilities.
The genes that make you left-handed also control the language centers of the brain.
Only 8 to 15 percent of the adult population is left-handed, and there seems to be a high tendency for left-handed people to be high achievers: think Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Bill Clinton and Link ? the main character from the “Zelda” video games.
