Left-handed Redheads Beware...

Rána Eressëa · 01-31-2003, 08:40 PM

In psychology class today, we were discussing heredity when my teacher mentioned there was a reason for us having so few redheads---and left-handed people---today.

In the past (not sure what years - she didn't say), if you were born a redhead they considered you a Devil's child and killed you, leaving the redhead genes to just a small population.

The same was for left-handed children. If you were born left-handed they thought you were possessed by a demon, and so they would force you to write with your right hand, and those who couldn't were murdered.

This sort of scared me for a moment, realizing I had red hair (though dyed it is) and was holding my pencil in my left hand---my writing hand.

I was wondering if anyone has heard these things before, and if they could confirm or deny them. I'm curious as to which cultures did this, if it is true.

Wayfarer · 01-31-2003, 09:01 PM

Eh, stuff happens.

Sounds like the kind of thing that went on in medieval europe.

Comic Book Guy · 01-31-2003, 09:06 PM

I suppose asking your teacher instead was out of the question.

Rána Eressëa · 01-31-2003, 09:31 PM

She said she didn't remember where she had gotten it from, so I thought I'd ask here, while skimming the net to see if I could surface anything interesting to add.

Rána Eressëa · 01-31-2003, 09:53 PM

Weird site about left-handedness...

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro.../lefthand.html

Arathorn · 01-31-2003, 09:55 PM

Now, with popular left handed ball players, lefties will make a comeback in the caucasian gene pool.

Silverstripe · 01-31-2003, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rána Eressëa
Weird site about left-handedness...

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro.../lefthand.html

Very weird site. I'm a female lefty with two right-handed parents. I am trying to calculate what (statistically speaking) my chances of being left-handed should have been.

Wayfarer · 01-31-2003, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Medical literature reports that lefties more accident prone, are more likely to have their fingers amputated by power-tools, suffer more wrist fractures. Lefties are more susceptible to allergies, auto-immune diseases, bed-wetting, depression, drug abuse, epilepsy, hypnotism, low birth weight, schizophrenia, sleeping disorders, suicide attempts, and certain learning disabilities. Lefties are six times likelier to die in an accident, and four times to likelier to die while driving.

No way!

In that case, Rogue Elf, will you do me a big favor and start using your right?

***azalea*** · 01-31-2003, 10:48 PM

I think my son is left handed, even though my husband and I are both right handed (my grandfather was a lefty, and there are a couple on my husband's side in the extended family).
As a teacher, I found it interesting that redheads had a way of standing out behaviorally. I never had a red headed boy that didn't have some kind of behavior issue, and the red headed girls would either have behavioral issues or be particularly precocious or chatty, etc. I had two friends as a child that were redheads, and they both fit that mold. so now I always watch redheads closely to see if they fit the mold as well

. There's a cool Norman Rockwell painting that shows a redheaded boy's family tree, and there are redheads that he descended from on his mother's side, and they all have a big grin or certain look, and the other side of the family all have these stern faces, it's funny.

Dúnedain · 02-01-2003, 12:34 AM

I also read that they also thought the majority of left-handed people were homosexuals as well. Crazy people...

Gwaimir Windgem · 02-01-2003, 02:52 AM

The Dark Ages were a wierd time indeed.

Uh-oh, I'm left-handed! I better not drive...

BeardofPants · 02-01-2003, 04:51 AM

IIRC, the red headed gene is only a fairly recent development... about 35,000 BP, I think. This, combined with the fact that it's a recessive gene, makes for a small gene pool.

Elf.Freak · 02-01-2003, 07:30 AM

my friend's a red-head...i'll keep an eye on her

Millane · 02-01-2003, 07:56 AM

i know that any Samurai that were left handed had to hold there Katana in the right hand and it was innacceptable to use any sword (cept wakasashi) in left hand... thats all i know
as for Blood-nuts well i always thought they were shifty folk and i always keep two eyes on em... but maybe thats just my normal paranoid self

Elenka · 02-01-2003, 09:20 AM

I think whoever wrote that site was trying to cause left-handed panic. Maybe some of it's true but I dunno about most of it. After all, I'm right handed, accident prone, and I've broken my wrists three times!!

Arathorn · 02-01-2003, 11:29 AM

When I went to Indonesia 10 yrs ago, I found out that the muslims there eat only with the right hand (they don't use utensils).

The left hand is considered unclean. The next thing I heard was that the left hand was reserved for washing their privates.

Rána Eressëa · 02-01-2003, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Elenka
I think whoever wrote that site was trying to cause left-handed panic. Maybe some of it's true but I dunno about most of it. After all, I'm right handed, accident prone, and I've broken my wrists three times!!

I bet they probably were. I don't believe all that accident stuff. Everyone gets hurt equally the same, it's just that lefties are so few, they make out like they hurt themselves more than righties. If 50% of lefties died from accidents and such and 50% of righties as well, the left-handed poplation would dramatically drop "seemingly" more than the right-handed one, even though they're still losing the same percentage.

I've hurt myself a lot, but they were always little things. I've never broken my wrists at all. My two right-handed brothers have had more health problems than I've ever had.

And people seem to think if you write with your left hand, you do all the other main things with your left hand - like catch/throw balls, hold a sword/staff, etc... I do all that other stuff with my right hand. I guess I'm just weird.

I can write okay with my right hand. I practice writing with it ocassionally just to see if I can do it, and it takes longer, but I'm actually fairly good at it.

Wayfarer · 02-01-2003, 01:58 PM

Heh, I'm exactly the opposite, rogue. I write with my right hand (after spending ten years working on ledgible handwriting, I'm not about to switch!) but I do other stuff with my left.

Inderjit Sanghera · 02-01-2003, 02:28 PM

Maedhros was red haired ,or to be specific, reddish-brown haired. He was also left handed, after his rescuing by Fingon that is.

Imagine him being tried as the spawn of Satan. Unless you think Feanor, is satan, as many do. (But I don't, as he kicks ass.)

Wayfarer · 02-01-2003, 02:34 PM

Hey, that's right! Go maedhros!

01-31-2003, 08:40 PM	#1
Rána Eressëa The Rogue Elf Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 1,722	Left-handed Redheads Beware... In psychology class today, we were discussing heredity when my teacher mentioned there was a reason for us having so few redheads---and left-handed people---today. In the past (not sure what years - she didn't say), if you were born a redhead they considered you a Devil's child and killed you, leaving the redhead genes to just a small population. The same was for left-handed children. If you were born left-handed they thought you were possessed by a demon, and so they would force you to write with your right hand, and those who couldn't were murdered. This sort of scared me for a moment, realizing I had red hair (though dyed it is) and was holding my pencil in my left hand---my writing hand. I was wondering if anyone has heard these things before, and if they could confirm or deny them. I'm curious as to which cultures did this, if it is true.

01-31-2003, 09:01 PM	#2
Wayfarer The Insufferable Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 3,333	Eh, stuff happens. Sounds like the kind of thing that went on in medieval europe. __________________ Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned

01-31-2003, 09:55 PM	#6
Arathorn Bard of Mangled Songs Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: West of Middle Earth...oh alright...Manila Posts: 2,679	Now, with popular left handed ball players, lefties will make a comeback in the caucasian gene pool. __________________ Power attracts the corruptible. Absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible. -Missionaria Protectiva, Frank Herbert *Accio, Ash Nazg!* Elennuru s?la lúmenn' omentielvo* (The Death Star shines on the hour of our meeting) - Darth Arathorn Put aside the ranger... Start looking for Mumakil action figures...

02-01-2003, 12:34 AM	#10
Dúnedain High King of Númenórë Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Númenórë <--United States of America Posts: 1,947	I also read that they also thought the majority of left-handed people were homosexuals as well. Crazy people... __________________ 'Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta!' - And those were the words that Elendil spoke when he came up out of the Sea on the wings of the wind: 'Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.' 'Then Tuor arrayed himself in the hauberk, and set the helm upon his head, and he girt himself with the sword; black were sheath and belt with clasps of silver. Thus armed he went forth from Turgon's hall, and stood upon the high terraces of Taras in the red light of the sun. None were there to see him, as he gazed westward, gleaming in silver and gold, and he knew not that in that hour he appeared as one of the Mighty of the West, and fit to be father of the kings of the Kings of Men beyond the Sea, as it was indeed his doom to be; but in the taking of those arms a change came upon Tuor son of Huor, and his heart grew great within him. And as he stepped down from the doors the swans did him reverence, and plucking each a great feather from their wings they proffered them to him, laying their long necks upon the stone before his feet; and he took the seven feathers and set them in the crest of his helm, and straightway the swans arose and flew north in the sunset, and Tuor saw them no more.' -Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin "Oh. Forgive me, fairest of all males of Entmoot...Back down, all ye other wannabe fairest males! Dunedain is the fairest!" --Linaewen

02-01-2003, 02:52 AM	#11
Gwaimir Windgem Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, CA Posts: 10,820	The Dark Ages were a wierd time indeed. Uh-oh, I'm left-handed! I better not drive... __________________ Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle

01-31-2003, 09:06 PM	#3
Comic Book Guy Best Ex-Administrator ever Join Date: May 2001 Location: Ireland Posts: 60,547	I suppose asking your teacher instead was out of the question.

01-31-2003, 09:31 PM	#4
Rána Eressëa The Rogue Elf Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 1,722	She said she didn't remember where she had gotten it from, so I thought I'd ask here, while skimming the net to see if I could surface anything interesting to add.

01-31-2003, 09:53 PM	#5
Rána Eressëa The Rogue Elf Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 1,722	Weird site about left-handedness... http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro.../lefthand.html

01-31-2003, 10:48 PM	#9
*azalea* Long lost mooter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Florida Posts: 3,342	I think my son is left handed, even though my husband and I are both right handed (my grandfather was a lefty, and there are a couple on my husband's side in the extended family). As a teacher, I found it interesting that redheads had a way of standing out behaviorally. I never had a red headed boy that didn't have some kind of behavior issue, and the red headed girls would either have behavioral issues or be particularly precocious or chatty, etc. I had two friends as a child that were redheads, and they both fit that mold. so now I always watch redheads closely to see if they fit the mold as well . There's a cool Norman Rockwell painting that shows a redheaded boy's family tree, and there are redheads that he descended from on his mother's side, and they all have a big grin or certain look, and the other side of the family all have these stern faces, it's funny.

02-01-2003, 04:51 AM	#12
BeardofPants the Shrike Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: San Francisco, CA <3 Posts: 10,647	IIRC, the red headed gene is only a fairly recent development... about 35,000 BP, I think. This, combined with the fact that it's a recessive gene, makes for a small gene pool. __________________ "Binary solo! 0000001! 00000011! 0000001! 00000011!" ~ The Humans are Dead, Flight of the Conchords

02-01-2003, 07:30 AM	#13
Elf.Freak Orli's lil fan Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Sugar World/Orlando Bloom Cloud Posts: 464	my friend's a red-head...i'll keep an eye on her __________________ >>--elven arrow--> ~ Give a man a fish and he'll feed for a day, give me a fish and you'll only get it back! ~ I've gotta new avatar! looks kinda like me...anime style! ~ LOST: Orlando Bloom. If found, please send him straight to Elf.Freak

02-01-2003, 07:56 AM	#14
Millane The Dude Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: at the altar of my ego Posts: 1,685	i know that any Samurai that were left handed had to hold there Katana in the right hand and it was innacceptable to use any sword (cept wakasashi) in left hand... thats all i know as for Blood-nuts well i always thought they were shifty folk and i always keep two eyes on em... but maybe thats just my normal paranoid self __________________ Ill heal your wounds, ill set you free,

02-01-2003, 09:20 AM	#15
Elenka The Negative Soul of Entmoot Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: The Middle Distance Posts: 651	I think whoever wrote that site was trying to cause left-handed panic. Maybe some of it's true but I dunno about most of it. After all, I'm right handed, accident prone, and I've broken my wrists three times!! __________________ W00T for the M00T!! War doesn't determine who is right - war determines who is left.

02-01-2003, 11:29 AM	#16
Arathorn Bard of Mangled Songs Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: West of Middle Earth...oh alright...Manila Posts: 2,679	When I went to Indonesia 10 yrs ago, I found out that the muslims there eat only with the right hand (they don't use utensils). The left hand is considered unclean. The next thing I heard was that the left hand was reserved for washing their privates. __________________ Power attracts the corruptible. Absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible. -Missionaria Protectiva, Frank Herbert *Accio, Ash Nazg!* Elennuru s?la lúmenn' omentielvo* (The Death Star shines on the hour of our meeting) - Darth Arathorn Put aside the ranger... Start looking for Mumakil action figures...

02-01-2003, 01:58 PM	#18
Wayfarer The Insufferable Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 3,333	Heh, I'm exactly the opposite, rogue. I write with my right hand (after spending ten years working on ledgible handwriting, I'm not about to switch!) but I do other stuff with my left. __________________ Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned

02-01-2003, 02:28 PM	#19
Inderjit Sanghera Elven Warrior Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Wolverhampton, England. Posts: 260	Maedhros was red haired ,or to be specific, reddish-brown haired. He was also left handed, after his rescuing by Fingon that is. Imagine him being tried as the spawn of Satan. Unless you think Feanor, is satan, as many do. (But I don't, as he kicks ass.) Last edited by Inderjit Sanghera : 02-01-2003 at 02:33 PM.

02-01-2003, 02:34 PM	#20
Wayfarer The Insufferable Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 3,333	Hey, that's right! Go maedhros! __________________ Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned

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