If you haven’t completed the left-handed test yet, you can use this link to go to the survey form (it contains 12 Left/Right questions and will only take you a minute to complete).
This page gives our analysis of the surveys completed so far. By 27 May 2015 34,271 people had completed the survey and they declared their handedness as:
| Do you consider yourself to be left or right handed? | ||
| Left | 25,317 | 74% |
| Right | 3,127 | 9% |
| Both | 5,398 | 16% |
| Not answered | 433 | 1% |
| Total | 34,271 | 100% |
Of the people that consider themselves to be left-handed this is the percentage that answered each question “Left”:
| Question | % Left |
| Writing hand (we assume that the other 3% of people who consider themselves left-handed but said they write right-handed were forced to change their writing hand when they were young and have not changed it back) |
97% |
| Cutting with scissors (a lot of people mentioned that they use scissors right-handed because that was all that used to be available and they have never changed) |
70% |
| Holding a bat (one handed) | 78% |
| Eating with a spoon | 94% |
| Holding a toothbrush | 92% |
| Brushing hair | 89% |
| Eye (using a telescope) | 74% |
| Ear (using a telephone) (some people mentioned that they hold the phone to their right ear to leave their left hand free for taking notes. LHC’s Keith just gets in a tangle, holding the phone to his left ear with his right hand so he can still write with his left!) |
79% |
| Foot (kicking a ball) | 64% |
| Folding arms, which is on top | 68% |
| Clapping, which hand is on top | 81% |
| Clasping hands behind back, which hand is doing the holding | 77% |
| Throwing a ball | 77% |
| Turning the pages of a book | 74% |
| Using a bat or club two-handed (hand on bottom) (this question cause a lot of confusion with people thinking about “bottom” differently if they were holding the bat or club down, e.g. cricket or golf, or up for e.g. baseball. What we meant was the hand on the bottom being the one nearest the hitting end of the bat. If this is your left, you will be facing to your right looking over your right shoulder to see the ball coming) |
65% |
The percentage of people who consider themselves left-handed who were graded at each of our levels were:
| Grading | % of total |
| Seriously Left-Handed (>90% score) | 46% |
| Mainly left-handed (60-90% score) | 44% |
| Left but mixed-handed (40-60% score) | 7% |
| Probably a Right-Hander! (0-40%) | 3% |
The overall average score for people who consider themselves left-handed was 83%
And the number of people who scored 100% was 3,710 (15% of all the left-handers)
Of the 5,398 people who consider themselves “Both handed”, 60% use their left hand to write, 30% to cut with scissors and 67% used a phone on their left ear. Their overall weighted score was 55%.
Please add your own comments or interpretations as comments at the bottom of this page.
If you haven’t completed the left-handed test yourself yet, you can use this link to go to the survey form
I have been left handed.. this survey has made me think that it is a mental learning adjustment. I am a lefted right hander. I hope i am not disqualified.
In school the nuns tried to convert me to no avail, generally if I use one hand for a task I use the left, 2 hands right (golf,rifle, baseball bat). My wife is also a lefty, we have 2 children, both right handed.
Handedness is more complicated than people think. Because everybody in my family is right handed I was taught to do a lot of things right headed. But as I got older I did end up switching to mostly using my left hand. My right handed husband even told me that I set up our kitchen in a more left handed friendly way. I guess you can’t change mother nature.
As I was growing up, I noticed that when my dad was helping me learn who I was, I ate drank and wrote with my left hand. As I started sports everything felt good with my right hand, exact opposite from my dad? He ate drank and wrote with his right hand, but all of his sports left handed. Opposite but the same.i have always enjoyed telling that story…
My similarity to your story is that when learning to cut food on a plate I would mirror my mom( who is also left-handed). Consequently, I mirrored her left hand with my right and naturally eat “continental style” now
95% leftie, my right eye is my dominant eye. So looking down a rifle scope is nearly impossible, since I still favor my left shoulder and left hand trigger finger. Oh well guess I’ll never be a sharpshooter 😂
I have found a measuring cup that has the numbers on the correct side so when I hold it in my left hand, I can read the measurements. Also, I can only sweep and shovel with my left hand on top. Basically, if I was taught to do something, I do it with my right hand. If I learned on my own, I do it with my left hand. To this day, I hold my toothbrush in my left hand and switch to my right just before brushing. Must have been from being told to switch hands (which happened often).
Of all the questions that were asked the question of how you use a knife was not asked. I cut with my left hand which makes it difficult because of the serrated blade. Is that something that should be added to your test?. Another is cleaning with a dust cloth. Do you use the left or right hand. I use both. Just curious.
Having a proper left handed knife makes life SO much safer & easier for lefties – see https://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/knives – if you need a more detailed explanation of the difference, look at any of the products listed & the “more info” tab gives even more info 🙂
I’ve cut my own hair for very many years. I had to learn to use right handed scissors as a boy. They were all that were available.
I bought LH scissors (from you) and it makes hair cutting so much better now that I use them in combination with RH scissors.
Oh, the trick is to make use of two angled mirrors to help cut hair at the back of the head
Another test I took years ago asked which hand is uppermost when sweeping with a long handled broom. I didn’t know so found a broom. Turned out it didn’t matter to me. I’d never been conscious before of having no preference. I am, per your test, 73% left handed.
I have been ‘trained’ by the world to use RH tools, so can’t cut with LH scissors. However, I can saw, hammer etc with both hands which is VERY handy!
At school I was fairly ambidextrous ( I like to say central left handed!) and was made to pick a hand – I chose left but they didn’t make a fuss about it, kids just a few years older than me had their left hand tied behind their back at the infant school!
I still can’t find a METAL LH ruler (for work), I’m not a school kid using a plastic ruler. They are available, I just don’t want to buy ten at a time! Can’t you source and sell on? I’m sure they would sell like hot cakes to engineers and tradesmen.