Quotes Lefties have a higher recovery rate from strokes since they share more from both sides of the brain. Lefthandedness is primarily inherited. Twice as many males as females are lefties. Twins have a high percentage of lefthandedness. Lefties usually favor their left foot also. 15% of the population is lefthanded and 80% of them are born to right-handed parents. And mothers giving birth after age 30 are more likely to produce a lefty. Lefthanded people are a high percentage of over-achievers. One study shows lefties have a good sense of distance and proportion, and adapt better to visual distortion because they have receptors on both sides of the brain. Because lefties have been forced somewhat to conform to a right-handed world, they are believed to be more emotionally independent, more determined, more apt to have an "I am my own person" attitude. People in feudal societies tended to walk on the left of the road so their weapon was between them and a possible opponent. Jousting knights held their lances in their right hands, so that opponents were passing on each others' right. Left-handed French general Napoleon Bonaparte forced his armies to march on the right so he could keep his sword arm between him and the advancing enemy. And from Napoleon's time on, any part of the world colonized by the French set up the same system for traveling. Lord Baden Powell chose the left hand for the scouting handshake--was it because the left hand is nearer the heart or because using the non-weapon hand is a sign of trust? The term "southpaw" comes from a time when baseball parks were built with home plate in the west corner of the field. When a left-handed pitcher faced the batter, his left arm--the pitching paw--was on the south side. Because their rudders were attached to the right side, ancient sailing vessels were docked to the left. This side became the "port side." Today left-handers are sometimes called "port siders."