# Left-handed



## jorge_val_ribera

Hi, everybody!

So, I don't know much about this, but it would be nice to hear opinions from different parts of the world. How is left-hand...hm...is there a word for it? Left-handity? Left-handism? Well, you get what I mean, how is that seen in your culture? 

I've recently heard (I don't know if it's true) that some years ago many American parents used to force their children to use their right hand when writing, because the other way was "wrong". I've also heard this used to be like that (and possibly still is) in Japan. 

I'm suprised by this, because here it is totally unimportant which hand does one use to write. 

Maybe you have personal experiences, please share them with us!

I've also added a poll to see the percentage of left-handed, right-handed and ambidextrous people in the forum, just out of curiosity. 

Thanks a lot in advance for your participation! Bye!


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## zebedee

The word is "left-handedness".

Both my father and mother are left-handed and, out of the four children they had, I'm the only completely left-handed one and I have an ambidextrous sister, which seems about on par for a recessive gene.
(As a child, she was impossible to beat at tennis, as she just used to swap her racquet to the other hand and demolish my backswing.) 

I've heard that forcing left-handers to write with their right hand can lead to dyslexia and learning difficulties. As a child, my father was encouraged to learn to use a spoon with his right hand but allowed to write with his left hand. My mother was allowed to use her left hand for whatever she wanted. Later, when she first started using a mouse she had to change the configuration of the left and right buttons every time in order to fit her left hand, but she ended up learning to use her right.

There are now shops selling left-handed can openers, scissors etc but I don't know how successful they are.

Left-handedness has gone from being considered the dark side in Roman times ('left' = 'sinistra' which is where our word "sinister" comes from) to being a foible usually commented on along the lines of: 
"Oh, you're left-handed."
"Yes, I am. All the best people are left-handed. Didn't you know?" 

Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix & Eric Clapton are/were all left-handed superb guitarists. So there you go...


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## timpeac

My grand-mother was forced to write with her right-hand at school, and today she couldn't write with her left hand even if she wanted to, but she has always been embarrassed about her (right hand) hand writing which is quite messy. She says they used to get hit on the back of the hand with a ruler if the teacher saw them writing with their left hand .

She does all other things "left-handedly", favouring her left hand to catch something thrown etc.


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## DDT

I was basically right-handed, but my right arm (and hand   ) was seriously out of order three times so I had to learn to use the left one...nowadays I am almost fully ambidextrous, I still write with my right hand but I can write with the left one as well (but please do not ever try to decipher, my left handwriting is even worse than the right one...a real catastrophe      ), and I normally accomplish many actions indifferently with the right or the left hand

DDT


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## walnut

My father is a corrected left-handed and totally lost his "left hand abilities".

I'm ambidextrous but I can use both hands only for writing, painting, etc. while for other situations my hands got "specialized" (I mean: I can use one or the other, but not both): for example, when I was a child I could use scissors only with my left hand, now only with my right one. It is probably a bit less difficult for me to interchange hands use than for a "strongly" left or right handed person.
I use my left hand for writing on paper but I generally use my right one for creative or personal writing: the sensation is really different and calligraphy too. I use a mouse with my right hand.
It's impossible for me to write on a blackboard with my right hand. 
I catch objects with my right one. 

 Walnut


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## Outsider

In Portugal too, teachers used to try to make lefthanded pupils switch to the right hand. I expect it doesn't happen much, now.


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## Kelly B

My mother-in-law was naturally left-handed, but learned to write with the right hand when she grew up in Egypt. I have the impression that the left-hand taboo was quite strong there. She still performed any tasks requiring strength with the left, though - cutting with scissors or knives, etc.
My daughter is left-handed for fine motor skills such as eating and writing, but right-handed for some gross motor skills like dribbling a basketball. She cannot decide yet which hand to use for many other sports, and according to zebedee's experience it sounds like she should be encouraged to switch back and forth if she's still comfortable with both.
I'm just an ordinary righty. snore.


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## GenJen54

True left-handers, by default, tend to be more ambidextrous than most right-handed because we're having to "adapt" to their world! 

Count me in as a member of the dark side, a true _sinistra_! However, what hand I use for things is a direct result of the technology available to me to complete a task. 

In general, I write, eat and play tennis as a lefty.
I cut (scissors), use a computer mouse and play golf/softball as a right-handed player.

I also tend to use my right hand to drink, but mostly because the glass "belongs" on the right side of the table setting, so I just pick a glass up with my right hand instead of crossing over with my left. 

Overall, though, the news for us lefties is fairly bleak.   Our average life span is shorter (by a few years) than those of right-handers because we are:

a) involved in more traffic accidents (except in coutries following UK driving system);
b) involved in more industrial accidents;
c) involved in more household accidents...

all because we have to "adapt" to a predominately right-handed world! 

Of course, we're brilliant, funny and intensely creative folk, in general so being a lefty definitely has its advantages. No one in my immediate family is left-handed. I'm a bit of an anomoly (a great-uncle was a lefty), but I also married a lefty, so if/when we have a kid, it will be interesting to see if he/she is left or right-handed.

The best thing about being left-handed?  

We're the only ones in our RIGHT MINDS!!!


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## cuchuflete

I'm still wondering where the rest of Kelly B's mother-in-law grew up.

"...with the right hand growing up in Egypt."

My father is ambidexterous.  I thought I was a righty until I began to hit as a lefty, about the time my hair started turning gray.  Now I hit a baseball from either side of the plate. I lean to the left in politics, sometimes, and hold a fork in either hand, but generally not in both at the same time.  

This used to be a 'big deal' topic in the US.  Now it is largely a point of indifference.


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## Vanda

> I've recently heard (I don't know if it's true) that some years ago many American parents used to force their children to use their right hand when writing, because the other way was "wrong". I've also heard this used to be like that (and possibly still is) in Japan


. 

Of course I'm not an expert in anything, but I tend to think this was a habit everywhere many years ago. I remember teachers and parents forcing left-handed children to write, eat, etc with their rights hands. Some of them for superstitions reasons, but I 'd like to think they were worried about the future, too. In those days, everything was designed for right-handed and children would had to face a hard world to cope with being different. Our modern world has improved the conditions for all types of persons, take, for example, handicap ones, modern buildings are planned to deal with their situations having ramps, adapted bathrooms, etc, and old buildings are being adapted  to cope with it, too. But what I intended to say is, as during our parents' time they couldn't think of these improvemments to come, probably, they were trying to make things easier for their little ones. Just an idea!


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## *Cowgirl*

I usually hear them called "leftys"


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## Hakro

My father (born year 1900) was basically left-handed. In school, when he was 7 years old, he was forced to learn writing with his right hand. The result was that he wrote equally with right or left hand. But in later years he said his right hand writing was too much used, so he had to use his left hand to write nicer letters.

As you can see, in the first part of the 20th century this kind of forcing was very common in many countries.

About 5-10 % of the people are left handed. Boys are more often left-handed than girls.

The history tells that on Celebes islands the majority of people were left-handed. The archaeologist say that about 25 % of the stone things seem to be made by left hand.

Have you noticed that movie actors seem to be more often left-handed than right-handed?


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## masked_marsoe

Lefthanded males (like me) have different brain pattern to righthanded males don't they (maybe this is just myth). From what I remember:

Righthanded males: One large patch of brain is used at a time
All Females: Many small patches of brain are used at a time
Left handed males: Several medium patches of brain are used at a time


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## Willi

My aunt was left-handed and she was forced to use her right hand when she was a child but couldn't use it very well. I'm left-handed too, but when I began to write my teachers tried to force me to use my right hand (not many years ago, I'm 28) because they said it was just a whim.
My mother became furious  and told them to let me use the hand I wanted.


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## Roi Marphille

I think most of the World's best football and tennis players are left-handed..


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## Whodunit

In the past, people of Germany were forced to use their right hand, even if they were left-handed. My aunt was one of those. Today, she can write and eat ambidextrously. I can eat with my left hand, since I had broken my arm and it was plastered, so I learned to play throw the ball and eat ambidextrously. However, I can't write with my left hand ... it looks somehow crazy.


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## I.C.

There might be an overrepresentation of lefthanders in subjects or professions heavily relying on mathematics. Not sure.
Lefthanders can have a competetive advantage in physical competition, they are more used to dealing with righthanders than vice versa. But left-handers can have a harder time in some formalised systems of instruction to learn movements and grasp tactics in the first place, I would think.

A link to a hypothesis concerning the stability of lefthandedness due to individual advantages in fighting:
http://www.bioteach.ubc.ca/quarterly/?p=74


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## annettehola

An ex-boyfriend of mine is left-handed, and very good at mathematics.....it could be, I.C. has got a point here. It could also be, of course, that this about the right and left part of the brain and the ways they determine our talents and strong/weak points is exaggerated. My granny is left-handed. She is not particularly good at mathematics but she's a very systematic character that likes clear rules and routines. But to ascribe this to her left hand? Hmm...seems a bit bla-bla to me, honestly.
But I don't know enough about this theme to say anything with heavy determination.
Annette


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## Mei

Hi there,

I'm right-handed but when I used to play soccer I shooted with my left leg, oh and my good eye is the left one (you all know we have one that you use more than the other), it's curious, don't you think? My brain is divided!

I like so much looking at left-handed write, and sometimes I try it myself, but it's seems like is an 4 years old girl writing,  ...

Cheers

Mei


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## Tino_no

When I was a child, my teacher (and my parents) forced me to use my right hand because they said that that was the way it should be, but now i'm 16 and I'm left-handed, it's curious but when I play soccer I use to shoot with my right leg.


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## frequency

Basically I'm left-handed but my mother let me use the right hand. Now I use the right hand when writing and using chopsticks, but I use the left for basket dribbling, knife, the key when I open the door.
When I was injured in my right hand, I started using the left hand and I could write alphabet in a month. Finally I couldn't master writing kanji by left hand at all.


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## whatonearth

I'm left-handed, but practically the only thing I do with my left hand is write. I play tennis with my right hand, open doors with my right hand, hold my glass in my right hand...etc. It's quite odd I suppose - I also play football with my right leg. 

I don't consider myself to be ambidextrous because I think that the only way you can be TRULY ambidextrous is if you can write equally as easily (and legibly!) with both of your hands...as it happens my writing with my right hand is awful!

There are certain urban-myths about being left handed - that left-handed people tend to be more artistic, things like that - but I'm not sure how much truth is in them. That said, it is scientific fact that left-handers brains operate differently to right-handers', and there was a study that showed that many left-handers have faster reaction times (only split-seconds though), which is why there are a lot of the top tennis players are left-handed...

Shakespeare was left-handed too - a little interesting fact there! ;-)


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## formidably_confused

Yes, I'm right handed  
But that didn't stop my teachers from telling me I was writing wrong.
I can't hold a pencil "properly" because I only have one joint in my thumb, everyone else usually has two, but by some genetic quirk (my dad has it too), the joint closest to my hand on my thumb is "frozen".


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## nichec

Hello to all and happy new year:
In Taiwan, kids are forced to use their right hands as well. But the funny thing is I thought that there aren't so many left-handed people in Asia than in Europe or US ( of course I can be very very wrong )  
I believe I heard something like the left-handed are smarter than the right-handed back in my country ( too bad if it's true coz I'm a right-handed through and through )


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## luis masci

Primeramente felíz año nuevo para todos.
I’m left-handed too. I was not forced to use my right hand during my school days (although I know children were forced in Argentina, at least until early XX century). 
However being a left-handed is inconvenient. I remember being a child I have had to write lifting my hand to avoid spread the ink. Also when I was sitting aside another school mate we usually bother each other writing (according to the position).
Besides you have not forget all things were thought for right- handed (desks-guitars- cars etc) so although I’m not an ambidextrous I’ve learnt to use my right hand quite well. I think all left-handed do it. It’s necessary for us as a way fitting with everything we need handling.


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## mjscott

The right side of your brain controls the left side of your body. Does that mean that left-handers are the only ones in their right minds?

Thanks, c. Cleared the caches.


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## Daz

I'm right-handed, though the only things that I almost exclusively use my right hand (and leg) for are things like writing, kicking a football, holding a tennis racket (haven't played in ages though), etc. 

Otherwise, I use my right and left hand indiscriminately -- though I have noticed that when opening bottles/jars/etc I _always _use my left hand to twist the cap/lid. I'm not quite sure why that is.


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## SweetMommaSue

Both of my parents are right-handed. All 4 grandparents are right-handed.
I am primarily right-handed, though I can write legibly with my left due to frequent tendonitis, as a teen, in my right wrist that forced me to learn to write with my left hand (way before the computer age). I can use either hand to twist off lids, but favor the right. In sports, I always favor the right side.
I have one brother who started off being left-handed, but was forced by the teachers to write right-handed. He´s pretty much ambi now.
My other brother and 2 sisters are right-handed.
My forera sister is left-handed.
My husband is right-handed. Not sure about his parents nor grands.
My oldest son is left-handed, middle son is right handed, and youngest son is tending towards right-handedness, too. He copies off of both older brothers, so he´s a bit ambidextrous right now.


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## marinax

Hakro said:
			
		

> Have you noticed that movie actors seem to be more often left-handed than right-handed?


 
i've heard that in the US the majority is left-handed... maybe that's why.

i'm right-handed. my mother is now ambidextrous because she was (as many said here) forced in school to use the right hand. she had 4 girls, and the first was left-handed as her. and then, my left-handed sister, had 2 girls one of which is left-handed (so you inherit that... who knew)


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## Outsider

Hakro said:
			
		

> Have you noticed that movie actors seem to be more often left-handed than right-handed?


That's because their pictures get reversed on the screen.


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## KingSix

I'm right-handed but I can do a lot of things with my left hand.  Except writing, which is terrible with left or right 
Anyway I believe if a right-handed person practiced on writing with his left hand he really could train himself to be ambidextrous.


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## blancalaw

I heard everyone in the world was born right handed, but only the lefties were able to overcome their handicap. 

I write with my left, eat with my left, look with my right eye, and cut with my right hand (only because I got tired of looking for leftie scissors) While I was in the university taking notes and getting hand cramps, I got this bright idea to learn how to write with both hands so if one hand got tired, I could use the other as a back up. So for a couple of years I determined myself to learn how to write with my right hand. Surprisingly I was able to manage quite well although I can't write as well as my left. I can fool people though. Therefore I voted myself as ambidextrous.


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## GenJen54

blancalaw said:
			
		

> look with my right


Just curious how you do this?  Do you have eyes on your hands?


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## JazzByChas

I am naturally, of the sinister/left-handed dextrocity, I believe. That said, I think I have always been rather ambidextrous. I was taught to everything with my right hand. I throw and do all things sporting with my left hand, write with my right hand, lean to the right conservatively (big surprise!  ), and play "air guitar and other virtual instruments left-handed). I belive I am left-voiced, as well... .

My father and his mother, and one of my mother's sisters were naturallefty's. Only my aunt is truly left-handed. All the others are ambis.

I believe, like GenJen, that us lefty's have to learn to adapt more, because this world is dominated by right-handers. But most of the genius in this world was left-handed or ambidextrous: (the musicians mentioned above), Michalengelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Kim Novak, among others.

Here's to thinking in one's right mind, and using several medium patches of brain at a time! 

Cheers.


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## Mutichou

I am right-handed.


			
				jorge_val_ribera said:
			
		

> I've recently heard (I don't know if it's true) that some years ago many American parents used to force their children to use their right hand when writing, because the other way was "wrong". I've also heard this used to be like that (and possibly still is) in Japan.


In France, pupils had to write with the right hand many decades ago...


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## RDavidd

One of the reasons that left handed people were shunned by society in the past is that before the advent of toilet paper, the left hand was commonly used to clean oneself after using the toilet. As a result, extending the left hand to shake was considered rude and people who used their left hand to eat or perform other daily tasks were considered “dirty”. 
 
American Joseph Gayetty invented toilet paper in 1857. His new toilet paper was composed of flat sheets. Before Gayetty's invention, people tore pages out of mail order catalogs - before catalogs were common, leaves were used. Unfortunately, Gayetty's invention failed. Walter Alcock of Great Britain later developed toilet paper on a roll instead of in flat sheets. Again, the invention failed. However, in 1867, Thomas, Edward and Clarence Scott, brothers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, were successful at marketing toilet paper that consisted of a small roll of perforated paper. They sold their new toilet paper from a push cart and this was the beginning of the Scott Paper Company. We also know that in 1880, the British Perforated Paper Company created the first paper advertised in mass publicly to be used for wiping after using the toilet. This paper did not come in roll form, but it came in boxes of small pre-cut squares. The modern toilet-paper in roll form that we are familiar with now did not come into common use in America until around 1907.


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## Stéphane89

I'm left-handed and so are one of my cousin and my best friend. Now, it makes no difference at all. People are always suprised when they see I write with my left hand but that's all.

But my grand-father was forced to write with his left-hand when he was a child whereas he was left-handed. His teachers and parents used to attach his left-hand behind his back when writing,eating or any other activity in which he would have needed his left hand. Now, he is completely right-handed though his writing is terrible.

As for my father, who was left-handed and forced to use his right hand too, it hasn't gone that nicely. Though at his time left-handedness was becoming more and more accepted, his mother didn't see the things like that. She went and told the teachers to force my father to write with his right hand. He had to keep his left hand flat on the table all the time. So, now his writing has not evolued and he still writes like a 10 years-old pupil. A very beautiful writing, with well-formed letters and everything but it doesn't look like an adult's writing and he writes quite slowly too.

But, what surprised me a lot is that he didn't seem to have understood because he tried and force me to become right-handed when he discovered I wasn't. He made me write everyday in a notebook with my right hand. But though I finished by writing quite acceptably, I never wrote as well as with my left hand. And I gave it up at about 11.

As for why left-handedness was considered evil before, the reason has been given above. The left side had always been considered as devil's side. I watched a documentary on the matter, many exemples were given: Christ sits on God's right side. Many paints show a real tendancy to put wrong things on left side and good things on the right side. ...

In the Middle Ages, the left-handeds even had their hand cut. To make sure they wouldn't go stealing and murdering for the left hand was the hand of mischieves.


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## Outsider

StefKE said:


> In the Middle Ages, the left-handeds even had their hand cut. To make sure they wouldn't go stealing and murdering for the left hand was the hand of mischieves.


That's very extreme! What is your source?


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## natasha2000

timpeac said:


> My grand-mother was forced to write with her right-hand at school, and today she couldn't write with her left hand even if she wanted to, but she has always been embarrassed about her (right hand) hand writing which is quite messy. She says they used to get hit on the back of the hand with a ruler if the teacher saw them writing with their left hand .
> 
> She does all other things "left-handedly", favouring her left hand to catch something thrown etc.


 
The same with my grand-father. Everything but writing he did with his left hand. I take after him, but I was lucky to be born some time later, so I wasn't forced by anyone to write with my right hand. 
When I started to go to school, my mother said this to my teacher, and asked if there would be any problem because of that. My teacher said: "Well, she can write with her feet, I really don't care, as long as she learns how to write." There was only one teacher who asked me to try to write with my right hand. He was a teacher of mathematics, and I really did not like him very much, not because of asking me to write with my right hand, but because he was a real jerk. But anyway, he did not force me, since in happy days of YU socialism he did not have any right to do it even if he wanted to. He only suggested me to try to put chalk into my left hand while writing on the board. If I was seated in my place in the classroom, he did not mind at all which hand I would use to write in my notebook. And that was about all. Apart of this case, nobody ever asked me to write wit my right hand, as amatter of fact, nobody even noticed it, except if they saw me with a knife in my left hand, cutting bread. to other people, it looks a little bit wierd, and if they mention it, it is because they have the impression I would hurt myself... As a matter of fact, I too, am so used to see right-handed people writing, eating, cutting bread etc, that even when I see a left-handed person doing something, it looks a kind a... wierd...



> "All the best people are left-handed. Didn't you know?"


 
I use the other one: "All very intelligent people were left-handed. Didn't you know?"


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## englishman

whatonearth said:


> I'm left-handed, but practically the only thing I do with my left hand is write. I play tennis with my right hand, open doors with my right hand, hold my glass in my right hand...etc. It's quite odd I suppose - I also play football with my right leg.



Wow, I am precisely the same, except that I use my left hand for all small tools where precision is required (soldering, painting, etc) - I thought I was the only person in the world like that - I have no idea how it came about, though. I certainly was never beaten with sticks to give up my left-handedness, so it's not clear to me why I am right-bodied for everything else.

I have another bizarre use for my quasi-lefthandedness - I use it to remember left from right, as I've never been able to remember them - if I'm driving a car and my wife says "turn left", I often have to remind myself which hand I write with to know which way to go.


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## natasha2000

englishman said:


> if I'm driving a car and my wife says "turn left", I often have to remind myself which hand I write with to know which way to go.


 
Same here... And not only when driving a car, but in everything when I have to do something on left/right side. I heard that this is the characteristic of left-handed people. They usually mix up what's lef and what's right.


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## englishman

natasha2000 said:


> Same here... And not only when driving a car, but in everything when I have to do something on left/right side. I heard that this is the characteristic of left-handed people. They usually mix up what's lef and what's right.



I'd heard that it was a characteristic of astoundingly gifted individuals, whose intellects tower above those of the common run of mankind


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## natasha2000

englishman said:


> I'd heard that it was a characteristic of astoundingly gifted individuals, whose intellects tower above those of the common run of mankind


 
Oh really?   You make me blush...


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## Heba

I am right-handed

My mother is left-handed. During her schoold days, teachers forced her to write with her right hand, and the result is that she became capable of writing with both hands. Now, she can use both hands when she writes, but she uses her left hand when she does anything else

During my school days, left handed students were not forced to write with their right hands, and left-handedness was not considered a taboo. Now, there is a general belief that left-handed people are smarter.


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## Sallyb36

I'm a lefty, but rubbish at maths.  I eat right handed though and my right arm is stronger than my left.  both my boys and their Dad are right handed.  My Dad was a lefty.


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## Sallyb36

natasha2000 said:


> Same here... And not only when driving a car, but in everything when I have to do something on left/right side. I heard that this is the characteristic of left-handed people. They usually mix up what's lef and what's right.



That's how I learnt the difference between left and right.  I have a 35 year old right handed friend and she still can't tell her left from her right!!!!


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## natasha2000

Sallyb36 said:


> I'm a lefty, but rubbish at maths.


 
It is said that lefties are more oriented to social sciences and art, than to natural sciences...


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## natasha2000

Sallyb36 said:


> That's how I learnt the difference between left and right. I have a 35 year old right handed friend and she still can't tell her left from her right!!!!


 
So another myth bust the dust!


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## danielfranco

I'm left-handed to write ("zurdo", in Spanish), but that's about it. Everything else I do in life I do it mostly with my right hand...
Except a few personal things that I still do much better with the left hand...
Like...
Erm...
...
...

Scratching by back! My left arm reaches a lot lower!!!!!
Ha! You guys, no naughty stuff, alright?
Oh, and I type better with my left hand...
Okay, sorry, that was plain stupid...
I lied: I'm typing with my right hand.
Fine.
Left bye-byes.


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## janek

My all family is right-handed, except for me. I'm a lefty, but a mixed-up one  - in some activities I'm fully ambidextrous (try and make me set up the table for the dinner), in some areas left-handed and in others - right handed. I play guitar like a 'righty', and flute like a lefty. I'm a right-handed tennis player and left-handed bowman. I write with my left hand. Unless it's keyboard 

I'm really bad with maths. 

As to competitions, I found having an advantage of being ambidextrous and strongly left-legged in karate sparrings. Gives you the element of surprise


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## venenum

Hi! I'm just a plain ole righty (my left hand is used only to carry things, and only if the things aren't really heavy, and to hold things while I do the actual work with my right. I'm a left-hand disabled person   ), but my family's quite interesting. My dad's a complete lefty (the status of his right hand is similar to the status of my left), and mom is partially ambidexterous - that is, we suspect she's a partially "healed" lefty (grandparents won't admit it) - she writes with her right hand, but everything else, from cutting bread to holding scissors, she does with her left). My sister's also a righty, but with a tendency to use her left hand often and well - as a kid she started to use her left hand dominantly, and with a lefty in the family, we weren't surprised, but she switched to her right hand after a while.

The most interesting person I ever met was my elementary school math teacher. The woman was completely ambidexterous - the choice between the left and the right hand depended on the pencil/chalk being nearer to the hand. She once told us she was born left-handed, but in school they tied her left hand behind her back warn: ) to force her to write with her right. (I think it's awful, but they actually did it some 50 years ago in Croatia, on a regular basis, they say) She didn't lose her left-hand ability because she broke her right arm twice and during the period she was allowed to use the left.

PS
Although a through and through righty. I couldn't tell right from left if my life depended on it. It's like: "It's on your left. No! The other left!"   I strongly believe it's also hereditary - my (right-handed) granny also can't distinguish right from left.


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## cesarynati

I am right handed and can't use my leftie for anything!!!
They said years ago that if you used your left hand you were "wrong" and from the witches and devils.
Can you believe it?'


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## Stéphane89

Outsider said:


> That's very extreme! What is your source?


 
A documentary I watched about 1,5 years ago. It was about left-handedness. It was very interesting, it treated the matter very seriously. It talked about scientific difference between right- and left-handed. The history of the hatred of left side before. They interviewed left-handeds from different circles and asked them how people felt about left-handedness in their environment,... I enjoyed it a lot!


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## unefemme1

masked_marsoe said:


> Lefthanded males (like me) have different brain pattern to righthanded males don't they (maybe this is just myth). From what I remember:
> 
> Righthanded males: One large patch of brain is used at a time
> All Females: Many small patches of brain are used at a time
> Left handed males: Several medium patches of brain are used at a time


 
Haha! Where'd you find that info from? I'm sorry but I laughed out loud as soon as i read it. Is it actually true? Whatever the source, I'm right handed. Boring aye? I wonder what its like to be ambidextrous though; must be handy for some things aye?  You could eat while writing something at the same time (it will be so handy for me since i'm doing one or the other most of the time!)

My brother is ambidextrous for some things, but he used to be able to use his left hand only, till he was taught to use his right hand. The rest of my family is rightie though. So nothing to see here really...


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## cesarynati

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A625501

Check it out. They say that the devil was left handed.


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## maxiogee

cesarynati said:


> http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A625501
> 
> Check it out. They say that the devil was left handed.



"They" say many things.
Have this "They" ever met the devil? — Or were they just loading all their prejudices onto him?


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## loladamore

I have left-handed grandparents, uncles and cousins on both sides of my family. My mum is predominantly right-handed, but uses her left-hand more than most right-handed people I know. It is also advisable to ask her to point rather than say 'left' or 'right'...

I am perhaps not 'truly' ambidextrous as I tend not to write with my left hand, but there are various things I _do_ do with my left hand, such as drink, iron, point, and I used to smoke left-handed, too (I've given up - smoking, that is, not using my left hand). I write on the board with my right hand but rub out with my left.
I type well enough with both hands, and I was told as a child that I played piano better with my left hand. Hmm. 

So I'd say my ambidexterity is analogous to my bilingualism - I do some things better with one hand/in one language, and others with the other, and for many things it doesn't make any difference - I'm quite ambivalent, or amphibious, as a friend used to say.


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## cesarynati

Please don't get offended!
I have nothing against left handed persons, my son is actually left handed.


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## LV4-26

My wife and my daughter are left-handed (gaucher/gauchères). My wife was forced to write with her right hand when she was a pupil. 
When my daughter started to write she would not only use her left hand but also write from right to left.

I'm right-handed (droitier) though I always pick up the phone with my left hand. I suppose my dominant ear is the left one.

How come nobody mentionned famous lefty John You-can't-be-serious Mc Enroe?


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## vikki

I am left-handed and so is my mother, my grandmother would have been left-handed too but she was forced to write with her right hand at school, as it was considered "wrong" to write with the left hand.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

LV4-26 said:


> I'm right-handed (droitier) though I always pick up the phone with my left hand. I suppose my dominant ear is the left one.


I too, always pick up the phone with my left hand... but it's because I prefer having my right hand free to do more interesting stuff during the call, like drawing geometrical figures on a paper for instance ! 
And I must confess at work, the phone is on the left side of my office... 


LV4-26 said:


> How come nobody mentionned famous lefty John You-can't-be-serious Mc Enroe?


Nobody mentionned the famous Henri I-want-to-say Leconte either ("J'veux dire" !) !


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## Stéphane89

And nobody mentionned Monica I-want-to-say Seles =D either


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