Many fans of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Hobbit noticed that Elf Legolas Greenleaf, played by actor Orlando Bloom, carries his famous bow in his left hand. Is Orlando Bloom left-handed?
It appears that Orlando Bloom is ambidextrous. We’ve drawn this conclusion based on instances where he’s been seen using both his right hand and left hand for tasks like writing and holding a Bow & Arrow.
As with everything in life, there are some exceptions. Some people use a bow based on their eye sightedness, as opposed to their dominant hand, as they feel they get a more accurate shot when their better eye is overlooking the bow.
Studies Show
While being left-handed is rare, with less than 10% of the overall population being a lefty, being a female who is left-handed is even rarer. Out of left-handed people, men are 23% more likely to fit the category than women are.
There have been many studies conducted over the years regarding handedness. Many believe that studies for handedness are filled with ambiguities, one reason being that as many as 8% of older generations of right-handed people may actually be left-handed, but were forced in their younger days to use their right hand.
These studies have also looked at the difference between preference and performance when one uses a hand. In most cases, the preferred hand is also the better performer, but this does not happen in all cases, so some people may be categorized incorrectly.
In addition to looking at dominant hands, or preferred usage with hands, studies are being conducted on other lateral experiments as well, such as eye dominance, foot dominance, and the direction the hair in your crown swirls.
Right Brain Left Brain
We know that the brain is split into two hemispheres. Though they look a lot alike, they aren’t the same, nor are they independent of each other. We told you the brain was complicated, but it’s also fascinating.
It is generally accepted that right-brained people, those who are left-handed, tend to have better imaginations, intuition, rhythm, daydreaming, and other areas. They also tend to be better in the Arts, with things like painting, dancing, sculpting, etc.
In addition, left-brained people, those who are right-handed, are accepted to have more linear thinking, are good at math and sequencing, and need facts and logic. This often tends to be your scientists and engineers, folks who live by rules and may not be as flexible.
In reality, however, only a third of people with a more developed right brain is actually left-handed. While it is still generally thought that right-handed people use their left, analytical brain and left-handed people use their right, artistic brain, there is a lot of overlap.
Left-Handed Statistics
There are many scientific and interesting facts about left-handers, from the fact that there is an actual phobia, sinistrophobia, of people who are left-handed to the fact that left-handed men make 15% more than their right-handed counterparts.
Many left-handed people have had to adapt to a right-handed world. Only 50% of left-handers claim to use a computer mouse with their left hand.
Some bad news for lefties; they’re more apt to develop problems with alcohol, PTSD, and psychosis. On average, left-handed people tend to live 9 years less than right-handed people.
But it’s not all bad news! They have their own day, August 13th, they tend to recover quicker from strokes, and they’re able to multi-task better than righties. Aside from recovering from strokes quicker, I’m not sure if the others balance out the fact that lefties die, on average, nine years sooner.
One thing is for sure, Orlando Bloom is a right-handed piñata whacker. And really, getting to that candy the fastest way possible is what matters.