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 agree with the other lefties, I hold the phone to my right ear so I can use my left hand for writing. It should also be noted that the world is set up for right- handed people. Lefties have learned to adapt to the right-handed way. Think about notebooks. The spirals are on the left making it difficult to write with your left hand. I usually open it from the back to avoid the hassle.
The telescope and turning pages questions should factor in the average multitasking that creative lefties do…. Like writing stats at the same time. Duoh! I’m just saying my score is skewed a bit and should have been higher than 90%.
When I was growing up we had to use right handed scissors that was all we had in those days. I actually cannot throw a ball with either hand so do I get an extra mark % or two ? I only play golf right handed as when I started I used a couple of his golf clubs I didn’t know a left handed golfer in those days. \I still putt left handed.
I was reared with much too-do as a left-handed kid. It was not popular in 1950 to be left-handed with the nuns. They tried to make me write right handed (I could have, but it wasn’t my dominant mode of writing) so I got labelled LEFT HANDED in all things, sports and everything, but I knew I was dominant throwing with right hand, hammer with either, screw driver either, fork either, etc…and I knew I was ambidexterous. This test prooved it to me. I got a score of 57%, which is not a statistical average for me, but actually how ambidexterous I am. Now, becasue I write left handed, I love these left handed pens and products for left handedness. I can hit the nail with either hand but to drive it in straight I use right hand, and left hadn gets screwing in straight. I found using both hands enhances my productivity in the real world. I was sort of disappointed I didn’t get MORE left-handed a score. I identify as left handed because I had to fight so hard to be left-handed in school with the Irish nuns.
I agree with other comments re folding arms and answering the phone (need to take notes etc.)
I also shoot a bow or a gun – and do just about everything else – ‘left handed’,but there are s few notable exceptions which I think derive from common sense and early teaching; e.g. I mount a push bike or motorbike from the left, therefore lifting up my right leg, but as we drive on the left in England I was probably taught this early on as a safety measure. The most noticeable thing is that as a string player (musician) I hold a guitar and violin as a right-handed person would. I was no doubt taught to hold the violin in this manner from the age of 8 onwards, but nevertheless when I began to play the guitar I found it natural to grab the fingerboard and do all the most ‘complicated’ stuff with the left hand.
I think I am probably more left handed than your survey suggests – in the top 10%
I answered the question about eating with a spoon as right handed but that was the way I was always made to use it.
Interestingly (I think!) I use a knife in my right hand if I’m eating with knife and fork, but to butter bread or cut something with a knife alone I use my left hand.
I did grow up in a “right handed world”. I used to use scissors upside down, and when I did purchase leftie scissors, I couldn’t use them! I was never made to change, but others who were younger than I, were.
I was told when I went to Uni to train as a teacher, that I’d be made to write right-handed on the board= didn’t happen. I did have some problems smudging the chalk, and later, white board markers. I use a computer mouse with my right hand…. don’t know why really. Guess that’s one of the reasons I’m in the 85%? I love that irons are now made with the cord coming out the middle ( NOT that I love ironing!) When I was younger, and learning to iron, the cord got in the way. For those of us who would be classified as oldies, the lefties just got on with it and adapted to a right handed world. I CAN however, do excellent mirror writing. My students were amazed. My Mum taught me to knit left handed, but my Gran gave up on the crotchet.
Just a comment on the ‘scissors’ question … I use scissors right-handed, but I think this is down to not having any alternative growing up, so it’s a learnt behaviour that’s overridden any natural preference. And many left-handed friends and colleagues say the same. As a result I’d debate that scissor usage is a very accurate measure of left-handedness.
As an archer I get on pretty well as have a dominant left eye as well as being left handed. Everything is lined up on my left side. Lots of right handed people are left eyed (and vice versa)which makes them a tad more clumsy.
I squeeze the phone beneath chin and shoulder on the left side when I need to have my left hand free to take notes. Anhthing else feels weird.
Scissors were only available as right-handed when I was young and with right-handed parents only adjust and adapt was possible (at least we’ve gotten more freedom – my lefty granny was punished in school when attempting to write with her left hand)