Why are left handed people so rare?

Question

I'm left handed and when I was looking for a guitar, there were very few in the shop (the only one there was very expensive) and I had to get it from a catalogue. Also there are a lot more right handed guitars which are cheaper than left handed ones. There are also more right handed scissors than left handed ones so WHY DO LEFT HANDED PEOPLE APPEAR TO BE SO RARE

Don't forget right handed computer mice

Answer 1

It is genetic. I'll explain it as easily as I can:

The human body is composed of long strings of DNA, and on each string are smaller sections that are called genes. Each section codes for a certain characteristic, where a visible charateristic is called a phenotype. There are many alleles for a certain characteristic, such as 3 alleles for hair color would be blond,black or brown. Just like for your main hand movement, left-handed people have the gene coding allele of being left handed.

To continue on, why are they so rare? Well, certain alleles are dominant and have a higher advantage of occuring as a characteristic. Right-handed alleles are dominant genes and so occur more often.

Hope I'm right with this, only learnt it in Biology...

Answer 2

I'm not so sure they are rare. I'm one. well actually I'm ambidextrous. But I can tell the time better with a left handed watch or clock an do alot of things backwards IE sewing. It's got something to do with how your brains wired up. You can buy loads of things for left handed people of the Internet - scissors ,clocks,watches etc. My husband is left handed and so was my son. But it's difficult when you go out for a meal and you sit by someone who's right handed - you keep bumping elbows.

Answer 3

About 10% are left handed - inlcuding ME! Herbert Hoover, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Cinton were all left-handed presidents. Prince Charles and Prince William, Paul Simon, Jimi Hendrix,.
The Mona Lisa was painted by da Vinci's left hand. Michelangelo and Raphael were also left handed. Brian Lara batted left handed (with a right handed bat haha!)

My advice for buying a guitar is to play right handed, do whatever you can as a right handed person would. Right handed guitars are easier to find, and right handed tutors are easier to find. We left handers are very good at doing right handed things - as for a guitar it really maks little dfference since left or right handed, BOTH hands need to be doing something. I have happily been playing right handed guitar for 20 years.

And playing cricket, I bat right handed and bowl left handed. If I play golf I use right handed clubs. All left handers are ambidextrous to some extent.

Answer 4

I once heard there was a theory that left handed people started off life in the womb as one of twins, specifically mirror twins (i.e. twins who are a mirror image of each other), but that the right handed twin didn't fully develop leaving only the lefty. If that's true that has to be a rare occurance, so it might explain it.

Answer 5

I'm left handed =]
My best friends left handed.
My manager is left handed.
And a girl in my class at college is left handed!

I know what you mean, although, I've managed to find left handed guitars in shops near me!

Answer 6

there are fewer of us, but we are still great in numbers.
i would not call us "rare". three of the five females in my family are left handed. it is much harder for left handed people to get around in a right handed world.

P.S.
when i bought my guitar and stared lessons i was told not to even try to learn left handed. that learning right is much easier. left handed people must change the cords, and finger placement is harder. everything is backwards. after just a short time it felt natural. i had to teach myself to crochet and knit as the stitches come out backwards. right handed people have not a clue as to the difficulties we overcome. we are usually more talented and crafty though.

EDIT: i love it when people see me writing and ask if i am left handed. lol i just tell them "no i am just doing this to mess with your mind"

i can write with my right hand too, however it does not look quite as nice, but looks better than many right handers writing. i tend to be somewhat dyslectic also, with such things as knowing which way to turn faucets, working a screwdriver, or locking and unlocking doors. my husband makes fun of me for these things. right handed people just haven't a clue. even the keyboard on this puter is backwards if you think about it.

Answer 7

It's actually not at rare as you think. More and more lefties are around these days. Because, it used to be stigma to be left-handed and so parents/teachers forced children to use their right hand. But now anything is OK so there are more lefties.

Answer 8

Yes this is true, I'm proud to say I am left handed too!!
( I know when my uncle was in school back in the 50's he was left handed too, and it was seen back then as a bad thing, they tied his left hand behind his back and made him write with his right hand ) He developed a stammer shorty afterwards. (This was in the West of Ireland)

When I was in school, i was the only lefty in my class and the teacher wasn't able to teach me how to sew!!!

Answer 9

i'm left handed also.. but played golf using right handed clubs , also played guitar right handed

it's 1 in 10 people.. that normally are..

i think jimi hendrix was also , he used to play the guitar upside down.

i used to get s*** off a teacher about using scissors.. so know all about it.

we use the other side of our brains, so a lot of lefty's are creative you will find.. left peoples dominatant side is right .. right peoples is left side of the brain.

http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/

i think they are the same people who had the shop in brewer street that is now closed though.

i used to get headaches for messy writing also from people.. ah well.. some people aren't so nice

as for guitars have you tried denmark street off charing cross road? if your in london

i play keys mainly these days , so don't really effect me =)

Answer 10

I'm left-handed but since having a broken wrist in my childhood am Ambidextrous now. I can use both but left is neater!