Your Letters
16:56 UK time, Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Ralph (Monday letters), you're not the only one to remember that ad, but the question is, do you say the word the way the man said it? High note on the Phil, low note on the Trum - the pronunciation has been stuck in my head for many a year. Couldn't tell you what the ad was for though - may I award a little bit of kudos for your excellent memory? Go on Monitor, pleeeease?
Jude, Melbourne, Australia
Re Tuesday letters , handedness is yet to be understood properly and we do not know with certainity if this is genetic or not.
Joel: Even monozygotic twins have different finger prints and DNA sequences. So that is not a valid factor to determine if left-handedness is genetic or not.
Rob: If left-Handedness is genetic and they are more fearful, it is possible that they didn't hunt as well as right handed people or try new food sources when earth was colonised. Or the under-representaion might have been caused by the founder effect.
Bala Dwar, Leamington Spa
Qasim, Joel, there is a theory that there is a genetic element to handedness. A so-far unidentified "right shift" gene would select for right-handedness. In the absence of such a gene, an individual's handedness would be random - if that were the case identical twins who do not have this RS gene could indeed be of opposite handedness.
Tim, London
Joel and Qasim, (Tuesday's letters) your reasoning is flawed. While handedness may not be directly genetically determined, the prevelance of left handedness in the population may be (according to the wikipedia entry, there is evidence to link handedness to genes). Where Rob's reasoning goes awry is assuming that being more fearful is beneficial. Fear is only an aid to survival if it is proportionate to risk, as anyone with a phobia can tell you. Ironically, Joel's example of challenging someone to a duel is an example where a left-hander ought to be *less* fearful, because left-handedness confers a distinct advantage in fencing, and in single combat in general.
Ray, Turku, Finland
Ooh, I do love the flumps. Bring back Pootle!
Libby, Coleford, Somerset
On American fuel prices "Of course it's hurting, it's $1.25 more than a year ago. I'm considering buying a bike and cycling the four miles to work." Cycling the four miles to work? that's preposterous, that could take up to 20 minutes!
Edd, Maidenhead
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