Author |
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Karen
Member
09-07-2004
| Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 11:06 am
Wow, there's a lot of lefties here, hey? I guess since they stopped believing that lefties were posessed, we've been crawling out of the woodwork in droves! I've never noticed too many complications being a lefty -- I write, play sports, do almost everything left handed, except those things that require extra equipment that require me to do it righty, like a computer mouse. I've tried to use a lefty mouse, and I can't do it at all. My sewing machine, designed for a righty, no problem. Stick shift, no problem. A corkscrew for a wine bottle, I've got problems there. I've never noticed righties switching fork/knife back to the right. That must be awkward! I do claim the end seat at the dinner table, and blame it on my left-handedness, but really, I think I've lived so long in a righty world, it wouldn't pose a problem to be in the middle somewhere, I just don't like being squished between two others. (oh no, to other lefties... I think I just let our secret out!!) Never noticed heightened clumsiness in me, I do believe that lefties are wired differently than righties... we use different parts of our brains in a different way. Proud to be a South Paw!! Thanks, Biloxi!!
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 11:44 am
What interests me the most about left-handedness is the fact that some leftys process things backwards/mirror. At my work(restaurant), the touch screens we use to order can be made for a left or right handed person. I use the right handed way, but some leftys prefer the screen set up in reverse. I'd love to see a study that finds out WHY some leftys process one way, and some in mirror image. All of you mouse-users: Do you have the mouse to the RIGHT of your keyboard? Or just configured so the buttons are the default way, and it is on the LEFT. Mine is on the left, with default(right) configuration. I'm useless with the mouse on my right side. It's kind of weird, but about 50 - 60 percent of the people I work with are left handed about 20 leftys at least.
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Nancy
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 11:51 am
i use my mouse on the right hand side--configured the 'normal' way..I think a majority of what i do actually IS right handed accept for writing and eating.. I agree about the desks at schools--man i used to hate that LOL.. I also don't switch utensils from hand to hand.. 
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Jewels
Member
09-23-2000
| Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 11:56 am
What constitutes someone as left handed? I have always said I am left handed, but in reality, I only eat, write and brush my teeth left handed. I guess our mouse is on the left too, but that is mostly because my DH is left handed and I just got used to it being on that side. EVERYTHING else I do right handed. I can't throw a ball, or do any other sports with my left side to save my life. I am totally uncoordintated on my left side. I remember because I wrote with my left hand in school teachers would always give me left handed scissors and I hated those things, my fingers couldn't coordinate the right way to use them. I also write like a right handed person would write, with my wrist straight. I never liked the question "Are you left or right handed?" Because if I said left, then I would get the wrong golf clubs, snowboard, glove, scissors, or whatever. Drove me crazy. I have deduced that I only do three things left handed because those were things I learned to do early in life when my brain wanted me to be left handed. At some point it switched, probably just because I lived in a right handed world and it was easier that way. Am I weird? Am I really left handed? I have no idea.
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Schoolmarm
Member
02-18-2001
| Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 12:17 pm
I have a track pad. I have just noticed that I use both hands for it, but use the right hand a bit more...probably because of getting used to the mouse on the right side. One advantage to being left handed is when I would mirror things for my students. I had no problem. I find that my students need to practice being a mirror when they are ready to teach. We show patterns for the instruments in a mirrored way and also if you are showing something for reading or reading music, you have to point along from right to left. No problemo! I also have "left-right" impairment when I'm giving directions. I REALLY have to think of which is which direction. If I'm in a car I will say "your side" or "My side" to help because I can't think fast enough to say which way to turn. My first grade teacher taught us that "The hand that you write with is your right hand, the hand that is left over is your left hand." LOL! Of course she was brought out of retirement to teach my class back in the late sixties....so she had probably "changed" lots of lefties. There were FOUR lefties in my class. We all have troubles giving directions with left and right in them! I knit funny. But again it is easy for me to teach someone else to knit or crochet because they can just mirror me. That is how I learned from my Mother. Speaking of learning from Mom, I also decorate cakes left handed. She was a pro at that! So glad that we aren't "sinister" anymore!
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Calamity
Member
10-18-2001
| Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 12:41 pm
Biloxibelle: I'm an only lefty too so I can relate to your son. Both of my parents as well as my brother are...*shh*...right-handed. I try not to hold that against them. Oh I kid! Well, not really. Like almost all lefties, I'm fairly adept at using my right-hand for many tasks. Although a few years ago I took an online quiz and scored as "strongly left-handed". Anyway, to be truly ambidextrous, one has to be able to write using both hands and I can't do that. I can write backwards and upside-down with my left-hand but if I try to simply scrawl my name using my right hand, it ends up looking like an alien alphabet. I do use my right hand when handling scissors and controlling my computer mouse. It's just more practical because most people don't have left-handed scissors and nearly all mouses that are labeled to be "for right or left hand" really are designed for righties. P.S. In additon to left-to-right writing (remember when Dave Barry worried that ink absorption might be the cause of lefties' reported shorter life spans?) and those evil school desks, another major inconvience is changing gears when driving a manual transmission car (unless you're in England or Australia or such other such places, LOL).
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 2:09 pm
Lefty's usually have a left dominate eye, so the generally prefer things the opposite way. Although some lefties and righties have the op. dominate eye. Heres how to tell which eye is dominate With both eyes open, pick an object across the room. Hold up your thumb, as if you were hitchhiking, and block the item out of you vision with your thumb. Keeping your thumb in that position, close each eye separately. Your thumb will be completely covering it up with your dominate eye open. Dominate leg: To determine your dominate leg, stand up straight with feet together, have someone gently nudge you forward, whichever leg you catch yourself with to prevent you from falling is your dominate leg. Don't fall down, please.
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 2:12 pm
I can write clearly with both hands, but naturally quite a bit better with my right. You can read my left handed writing just fine, but it isn't as fine tuned as my right. I can only shoot pool left handed, but I can only bat right handed. Otherwise, I can eat either way, shave my legs either way, etc.
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 3:28 pm
I'm a lefty for everything but scissors. Some kitchen tools I had had to buy left-handed replacements. My computer has a touchpad, which I use with my left-hand. My handwriting is normal looking. I am wondering if the reason I had trouble learning to knit and crochet is because the instructions were for right-handers. The kits DH bought me for Christmas have lefty instructions--so maybe I have a chance!
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Shadoe
Member
11-04-2004
| Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 4:58 pm
I'm a lefty in most things. Alot of things I was shown right handed, like scissors. I keep my knife in my right hand. My mouse I use my right hand. Bowling, my right hand. that dominant eye thing - seems to be my left. I think I am pretty much a mish mash of left/right. My daughter is a lefty and my grandmother said she was a lefty but made to use her right hand. I was wondering about whether leftys run in families? And there must be varying degrees- and how likely is it for a lefty to truly be trained to be a righty. I would certainly be interested in any test that determines whether I am a lefty. I will leave it to Eeeyoreslament to educate me on this subject.
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Spygirl
Moderator
04-23-2001
| Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 8:35 pm
I'm left handed. I think it is a huge advantage over right handed because it teaches flexibility and challenges one's ability to do things in a variety of ways. I am a strong right handed batter (baseball/softball), but can switch hit. I catch and throw left handed. I drive (golf) right handed but putt left handed. I shoot a basketball left handed, but my right hand is my dominant dribble hand. I use right handed scissors, but eat left handed. I don't have a dominant hand to brush my teeth. I bowl right handed but can do either (though I suck at both!). The list goes on and on like that. Whatever happens, parents need to make sure that left handed kiddos learn to tilt their papers correctly so that they don't have to turn their hands completely over to make their letters slanted. My mom was quick and figured that out when I was learning.
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Springer
Member
03-12-2004
| Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 9:08 pm
I am left-handed when I write, eat and brush my teeth but am right-handed in all sports that I have tried. I remember one time, when I was in 5th grade, I got caught chewing gum in class and had to stay after school until I wrote, 100 times, on the blackboard, "I will not chew gum in school". Well, my hand got so tired that I tried changing to my right hand for a while and was so surprised to find how easy it was. Actually, with the larger movement, my writing was prettier and much more free flowing......but later, when I tried to use a pencil in my right hand....it was almost impossible to read what I had written. When I was a young mother, I sewed a lot of clothes for my kids. I loved it....but it was so painful to cut out those patterns using right-handed scissors in my left hand. Years later, my son saw some left-handed scissors and bought them for me. They are so wonderful to use. Boy, I wish I had had them back in those days.
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Biloxibelle
Member
12-21-2001
| Friday, January 14, 2005 - 6:47 am
Thanks again for joining in here. I have been saving the posts for my son to read. He is having fun reading it. Since he is the only leftie he knows all his friends are also right handed. He is a total leftie. The only thing we're not sure about is golf. My husband and my golf clubs are right handed so those are what he messes around with here at home. They don't use chalk anymore in school they use dry eraser markers and he does complain about erasing while he is writing. I can remember when I was in school a boy who was left handed. He was one of the smartest boys in class. I can remember him going home almost everyday in the 4th grade in tears because the nuns decided he needed to use his right hand. About halfway through that year he left and went to another school. Now that I'm older I hope it was because he parents refused to let the nuns bully him.
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Zachsmom
Moderator
07-13-2000
| Friday, January 14, 2005 - 12:56 pm
I am a lefty! I do most all things left handed. The only thing I do right handed is use my mouse with my right hand. That's because when I first started using a mouse the company I worked for only had 1 central computer that had a mouse, the others didn't have one (this was many years ago). Since it was a central computer I had to adapt if I wanted to use that particular computer. I could probably use the mouse left handed but I haven't tried. I like using my right hand for the mouse as I can write and use the computer at the same time. I do find that I am extremely clumsy in certain situations. I feel 'off' in some rooms that are created for a right handed person. Cooking the first time in a kitchen created for a right handed person is a little frustrating. Opening cans with a hand held can opener is painful, as are using sissors that are not left handed sissors. I am the only lefty in my family, except my great aunt, she taught me how to crochet. In school, there was usually only me and maybe one other person in my class that was a lefty. My teachers never tried to convert me, but my handwritting was never very good. Printing, if I really concentrate, I can do very well, but cursive writing is back-slanted, no matter how hard I try. I do remember having perpetual inkstains on my left hand from writing. I can't think of anything else at the moment.. Sea left me a saying in my folder and I love it... "Everyone is born right handed...some of us are able to over come it" or something like that..lol
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Karen
Member
09-07-2004
| Friday, January 14, 2005 - 1:00 pm
"Everyone is born right handed... only the greatest are able to over come it." that's how I was taught when I was little and wondering why I was 'different'.
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Zachsmom
Moderator
07-13-2000
| Friday, January 14, 2005 - 1:02 pm
LOL That's it Karen, I knew someone would get it right! (or is that left?) LOL
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Friday, January 14, 2005 - 2:22 pm
That's what my dad told me too! LOL
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Friday, January 14, 2005 - 10:45 pm
Oh, I find that I am COMPLETELY incapable of holding a cup in my right hand.
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Mssilhouette
Member
07-11-2001
| Monday, January 31, 2005 - 3:07 pm
I'm a lefty as well! I use the mouse on the right side with my right hand mostly because my left hand is such a strong typist that I don't think I could do without using it primarly for the keyboard. I use sissors in my left and as well as a knife. I also brush my teeth with my left hand as well as brush my hair. It is true about lefties and music. I was taught to play the piano/keyboard, flute and violin. I also do photograhy, writing and am teaching myself how to draw. I write with my wrist straight and turn the paper towards the left. I hold the pen like a standard righty. I also dial the phone with my left hand. Sissors are a pain in the butt have been since school. The most trouble you'll find is with gadgets and tiny annoying things that will make you go "grrr" but other than that us highly adaptable lefties function quite well in a world not really made for us. Does anyone know if any presidents were/are left handed? Or what place produces the most left handed people? I'm just curious.
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Mssilhouette
Member
07-11-2001
| Monday, January 31, 2005 - 3:10 pm
LEFTY BRAIN-TEASERS http://www.left-handersday.com/tour9.html
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Needmylifeback
Member
08-14-2000
| Monday, January 31, 2005 - 5:05 pm
I use the mouse either right or left... When I used to work in budgets and cost... I would mouse with my right and use the calculator with my left...up'd my productivity over all those right handed people who had to stop using the computer to use the calculator! .... I use right handed scissors... but do pretty much everything else left handed! ... I also grab the end of the table and blame it on my handedness ... wonderful excuse for the best seat in the house!
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Monday, January 31, 2005 - 5:08 pm
I swear I am a lefty, but I took that quiz and it says I am not! LOL
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Needmylifeback
Member
08-14-2000
| Monday, January 31, 2005 - 5:22 pm
Left Handed Presidents: George Bush Bill Clinton Gerald Ford James A. Garfield Herbert Hoover Thomas Jefferson JFK Ronald Reagan Harry S. Truman
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Monday, January 31, 2005 - 5:25 pm
well, at least it's a nice blend so no one can draw snarky conclusions! LOL
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Monday, January 31, 2005 - 7:05 pm
spygirl just made me realize that i dribble a basketball with my right hand, too. well, and sometimes i dribble out my mouth when i sleep LOL
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