Left-Handers Club Newsletter - September 2005

Welcome to the September issue of your Left-Handers Newsletter. We hope you celebrated Left-Handers Day in style last month and a big thank you to all of you who emailed us about your activities on the day. The press certainly loved your “Is it me?” contributions, which sparked off debates on left-handed quirks in radio stations and newspapers around the UK, and worldwide as far as New Zealand! Keep them coming – we love hearing your anecdotes, and are constantly adding new comments to the website.

Mind Your Language! - Left-Handed Dialects

Regional dialects are flourishing in England, according to a new project by the BBC - and they have discovered a whole host of words for "left-handers" across the country. Despite concerns that the bland uniformity of estuary English used by the mass media is spreading to all regions of the UK, researchers have found that regional dialects are actually flowering, with an increase in local terms for everyday items since the last research was published 50 years ago. The map to the right show distribution of the term "Keg Handed" - mainly in the UK Midlands area

According to a website study of 32,000 respondents by the BBC Voices project there are now 240 terms for "left-handed" compared to just 84 regional variations in the 1950s. Expressions for left-handed include "cuddy-wifter" from Northumbria,"gammy" in Cumbria and "keggy" in the east Midlands. Nowhere is the variety richer than in Scotland, according to Simon Elmes, author of Talking For Britain.

Elmes says "Within a 50-mile radius in Scotland I actually counted 14 different variations for someone who is left-handed. Some people said it was corry-handed, corrie-fisted, Kerrie-fisted, cloddy-handed and so on. There was a laird of Ferniehirst Castle in the Scottish Borders who was left-handed and only ever employed left-handed knights to fight his enemies in battle. A lot of these names for left-handers came from the Kerr family who lived in the castle."

You can find more names for left-handers and other lefty language information here:
http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/lefty_language.html

To use the clever BBC wordmap that shows which parts of the UK use different words for left-handed, visit their WordMap page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/results/wordmap/
Select a theme of "Getting personal" (scroll down to it) and a concept of "left-handed"

We are always interested to hear about more terms for left-handed from around the world, so please get in touch if you have any that are not on our web site.

Mouse Button Swapper

Mauricio Tejada in Japan has produced a clever utility that allows you to instantly swap the mouse buttons for right- or left-handers. If you share a computer with a right-hander this will allow you to change the left and right button over by just pressing Ctrl-F12 instead of going through the Windows Control Panel.

You can also configure the "hot-key" settings to your own choice and set whether the pointers should automatically change or not. This clever programme is completely free and you can download it (only 461K) here
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/mtpsoft/swapmousebuttons/

Many thanks to Mauricio for making this available to us.

Higher breast cancer risk among left-handed women?

New research suggests that left-handed women may be more at risk from breast cancer. The study, published online by the British Medical Journal , found left-handed women were more than twice as likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer as non-left handed women. Although further research is needed, this would suggest that left-handedness is a valuable signal to encourage early screening.

Emma Taggart, director of policy and campaigns at charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "Women who are left-handed should not worry about these findings. Although this is an intriguing study, it doesn't give us enough evidence to link left handedness with breast cancer."

To read our full report and Left-Handers Club comment, visit
http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/lefty_research_current.html#breastcancer

Left-Handed golf book at 30% discount

We have just taken delivery of the latest edition of Steve Anderson's great left handed golf book. Steve is a Class A member of the PGA of America and the sole left-hander among the elite group of only 43 golf professionals in the USA to have "Advanced Certification in Instruction". This book covers all parts of the game from fundamentals through swing mechanics, correcting bad shots and "Playing Lessons". There is a great section at the end with 100 golf quotes, phrases and words of wisdom. Paperback 154 pages A lot of left-handers (like Keith) actually play their golf right-handed. If you are the same, this book is still a great read and will definitely help your game. Steve has studied hundreds of Tour professionals and distilled the common parts of their game into some simple basics that anyone can learn to copy. Keith says "Steve's book has really helped my understanding of the golf swing and his advice on chipping and putting has improved my game already"

When the books were delivered to us, the outer carton had been slightly squashed and some of the books have been slightly bent on one corner. The publisher has offered us a 30% discount on these books and we are passing that on to you. Click here to order your discounted book and lower your scores Click here to see more information about Steve and his book Click here to see our other resources for left-handed golfers

2006 Block calendars and Diaries now available

This calendar is tailor-made for us lefties. To make it easier to use, it features planning pages on the left side of each weekly spread and ample space for notes. The right side features an interesting fact about left-handedness. The calendar also recognizes the birthdays of famous left-handed people. 52 double-page spreads, one for each week of the year. Size: 7 x 9 x 0.5 inches; 178 x 229 x 13 mm Priced at £9.99, we are sure this would be greatly appreciated by any left-hander
This is the twelfth year for The Left-Hander's Day-to-Day Calendar. Each page features a little known fact, legend, anecdote, or trivia about left-handedness or a famous left-handed person. It also recognizes the birthdays of famous left-handed people. It has 365 tear-off pages, each with room for your own notes and appointments. Size:4.5 x 4.5 x 1.7 inches; 114 x 114 x 43mm Priced at GBP 9.99, this would make an unusual and interesting Christmas gift. Click here to order your 2006 block calendar

Left-Handers Day competition winners

Congratulations to all of you who submitted entries for the Celebrity Hunt and Sinister Quiz competitions. We have had a draw for the winners and a total of 50 members will be receiving free Yoropen Executive ballpoints or refillable pens as prizes - you have all been notified by email.

If you did not win, commiserations and thank you for taking the time to enter. If you want to reward yourself with a Yoropen, you can find out all about them here http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/l-yoropen.html

 

Best wishes to you all and we will be in touch again soon with more news

Keith and Lauren Milsom
and all at the Left-Handers Club

We enjoy receiving your emails but regret that due to the number received we cannot answer them all personally. We do read every one and consider them for inclusion in future newsletters or the web site.

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