From scissors to ATMs, everything is designed for right-handers. To celebrate International Lefties Day, Alix Norman asks what it’s like to be a rare left-hander in a world that wasn’t designed for you

Just eight per cent of Greeks are left-handed, significantly below the world average of 12 per cent. In the UK, 12.24 per cent of people are lefties; in the States that rises to 13 per cent, and in the Netherlands 13.2 per cent of the population are left-handers – the highest proportion of any nation.

In Cyprus, there are no official statistics. But that shouldn’t stop us celebrating the southpaws amongst us on International Lefties Day on Sunday! If you’re left-handed, you’re certainly rare – especially if you’re female; women are far less likely to be left-handed than men. But you’re in good company: da Vinci, Einstein, Hendrix, and Queen Victoria were all lefties, as are Obama, Oprah, Bill Gates and Lady Gaga.

Of the three men on the moon – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins – two are believed to be left-handed, a chance of less than 5 in 100. Five of the last nine US presidents favoured their left, including Clinton, George HW Bush, Reagan and Ford. And both Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick are lefties – the likelihood of two left-handed people marrying is less than three per cent. And, even should two lefties have a child, there’s still less than a 1 in 4 chance they’ll follow suit. In fact, generations can pass before a left-hander pops up again…

“Neither my sister, my parents, five directly-related aunts and uncles, six cousins, nor any of my grandparents were left-handed!” says Simos, a 50-year-old consultant from Limassol. “I’ve always been the odd one out; the one struggling with things other people find simple. If you’re right-handed, I bet you’ve never thought about things like scissors or ATMs, can openers or computers – all designed for a predominantly right-handed world!”

Hand tools, sports equipment, classroom setup – all have been conceived for the roughly 82 per cent of right-handers. “Even at the age of 50,” says Simos, “I’m still knocking things off the kitchen counter: to me, the handle on the kettle always faces the wrong way, and the cutlery is all the wrong way in the drawer! My wife has set everything up for herself and our two right-handed daughters. It sucks to be the only left-hander in the whole family. I do suspect my paternal grandfather was naturally left-handed,” he reveals. “But, growing up in a village 80 years ago, I think that it was knocked out of him.”

Simos raises an interesting point. In the past, being left-handed was frowned upon. Even the nomenclature is damning. Sinister originally meant ‘on the left’ in Latin; today, it has a more ominous meaning. Gauche, from the French for left, now describes someone awkward or lacking social grace (while adroit, from the French for on the right, refers to someone who is skilful or nimble). And a ‘left-handed compliment’ may appear positive on the surface, but is actually an insult.

To this day, certain societies still suppress natural left-handedness. In India, just 5.2 per cent of the population identify as left-handed, falling to 3.5 per cent of Chinese, and 2 per cent of South Koreans – much of which might be put down to forced right-handedness.

But it wasn’t so long ago that the same practices were employed in developed countries: in North America, just six per cent of over-65s identify as left-handed, compared with a whopping 15 per cent of under-30s. And a generational study of the same area saw those identifying as lefties soar from two per cent in the year 1900 to 12 per cent at the turn of the millennium.

“To the day he died, my father would burst into tears every time he had to write a letter,” says 75-year-old Limassolian Yiannis. “Like me, he was a natural lefty. But whereas I was allowed to be left-handed, he wasn’t – he grew up in the 1930s, and once told me that the teacher would whack him with a ruler for writing with his left. It obviously left a huge psychological mark: he was a very bright man, but incredibly shy; I think being forced to use his right hand destroyed his self-confidence.”

Raised in the 60s, Yiannis himself experienced no stigma. “Though I did struggle with copperplate writing, which leans to the right – I’d turn the page through about 60 degrees, but it felt like I was writing over my own writing! But other than that, it’s never bothered me except when I was in the Middle East, where eating with your left is frowned upon. In fact, I think being left-handed made me more of an individual. Because it’s rare, it makes you a bit different, and I like that.”

Although many of the myths involving left-handers have now been debunked (lefties are no more likely to demonstrate intelligence, creativity, or clumsiness than their right-handed counterparts, nor do they have shorter lifespans or higher earnings), one thing is for certain: men are far more likely than women to be left-handed. Which makes 25-year-old Maria exceedingly rare…

“I’ve only ever met four other left-handed women in Cyprus,” she reveals. “I mean, I know there are loads more, but it’s really not common, is it? As for being a lefty in a right-handed world, well, it’s good and bad I guess.

“For instance, I’ve never been able to use spiral-bound notebooks because they cut into my left hand, and I learnt early on that fountain pens were a no – I’d smudge the slow-drying ink as I wrote. I also have to move the mouse every time I’m on someone else’s computer, and even then, it has buttons that are designed for right-handers.

“But overall, being left-handed is good,” she admits. “I played competitive tennis for a while; right-handed rivals never saw my shots coming! It’s also a nice conversation starter, especially when you meet other left-handers: there’s a sort of camaraderie, like we’re all in this wonky world together. And being a lefty makes me feel unique,” she concludes. “I once looked it up: nobody knows why, but less than 1 in 200 women are left-handed across the entire world. That makes me super special!”