Left-Handed: Facts, Myths & Fun Polls

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The discussion centers on the experiences and characteristics of left-handed individuals, with participants sharing personal anecdotes about their handedness and its implications. There are mentions of health claims regarding left-handedness, including increased susceptibility to certain diseases and a potential link to higher IQs and autism. Participants also explore the concept of ambidexterity, noting how many can perform tasks with both hands, albeit with varying levels of proficiency. The conversation highlights the fascination with left-handedness and the cultural differences in terminology, such as "southpaw" versus "cuddy wifter." Overall, the thread reflects a mix of humor, curiosity, and shared experiences related to being left-handed.

Are you left-handed?

  • Yes, I'm left handed (or ambidextrous, and that doesn't count anyway)

    Votes: 20 33.9%

  • No, I'm right-handed

    Votes: 39 66.1%
  • Total voters
    59
  • Poll closed .
  • #31
I am left handed in writing on paper but right handed in just about anything else. This is because my mother was paranoid when I was little that being left handed would handicap me later in life (I'm the first lefty in the family) so she tried to make me switch over. I could write well enough with my right hand by first grade but I hated it so when my first grade teacher was left handed that was the end of that.
All in all now that my mom's not looking over my shoulder I've got an interesting mix between right and left handedness. For example I'll throw a baseball right handed but bat with my left and play tennis holding the racket in my right but in raquetball it goes to my left (my right hand is stronger then my left but the left is more accurate if that makes sense). I write left handed on paper, which comes in handy cause I've yet to mess up regarding the right hand rule in physics!, but whenever I write on a chalkboard I'll write with my right hand without thinking about it. It's only after someone says "hey, whose handwriting is that?" I realize I was using my right hand because the handwriting style is completely different.
 
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  • #32
Andromeda321 said:
I write left handed on paper, which comes in handy cause I've yet to mess up regarding the right hand rule in physics!

LOL! It's the funniest thing to walk past a classroom where a physics exam is being held and watch for the people trying to do the right-hand rule using their left hand! But, hey, if you got all the way to college without knowing your left from your right hand, you deserve to get those questions wrong. :smile:
 
  • #33
Moonbear

I do everything with my left hand. I write left-handed, however I do hold my pen/whatever like a right-handed person in my left hand. I had an early love for "ink" I suppose.

I do regret not learning to count on my right hand, because in my freshman year in HS i received an F in algerbra (i could only hang one quarter, they offered me an elective) I kept counting at home, and am now writing a book involving math. I will dedicate it to my then teacher, Mr. Pipes. I can still hear him, "Why you rintikker (sp), cornfoundit...can't you count?" ... I always wanted to ask him why he was teaching algebra if we were already supposed to know it. He never made any sense to me in conversation, so it made sense that I couldn't grasp his teaching of algebra. Step by step, inch by inch : )

I can understand why some lefties have a shorter life span. IF one is unable to accept the fact that life is meant to be lived backwards...early grave would make sense. No Depends about it. More like "through the looking glass" in 3d-ville.
 
  • #34
pssssst

Moonbear,

~~~> "It's the funniest thing to walk past a classroom where a physics exam is being held and watch for the people trying to do the right-hand rule using their left hand!"

in ten words or more what did you mean by the right hand rule? i don't think I've ever heard of that.
 
  • #35
"Lucy"

MK

Thanks for posting that link. Interesting. I hold a banana with my right hand so I can peel it with my left. I do (when I'm major stressed, and not excorcising it out) have bowels that act up once in a blue moon. I thought it was part of the human condition. I pretty much eliminated sugar because my system is sensitive, although my body doesn't mind dead animal juice. I did go vegetarian way back in the early 80's after reading The Vegetarian Alternative. After some time I forgot (typical of me, unless ...) what I read in the book and grabbed that piece of dead animal :devil:

Oh yeah, I have also flunked every IQ test I have taken. Except for one I picked up at Borders about a year ago. My "genius" husband (also left-handed) scored a few points below me He's a musican (profession), I just play guitar and paint (i do neither well - not putting me down stating fact) because I enjoy it and it forces me to sit in one place for a little while :smile:
 
  • #36
xck said:
Moonbear,

~~~> "It's the funniest thing to walk past a classroom where a physics exam is being held and watch for the people trying to do the right-hand rule using their left hand!"

in ten words or more what did you mean by the right hand rule? i don't think I've ever heard of that.

There are a few different applications in physics. It's a quick way to remember direction of things like torque.

Also handy for figuring out which way to turn a screwdriver.
 
  • #37
xck said:
I do regret not learning to count on my right hand, because in my freshman year in HS i received an F in algerbra (i could only hang one quarter, they offered me an elective) I kept counting at home, and am now writing a book involving math. I will dedicate it to my then teacher, Mr. Pipes. I can still hear him, "Why you rintikker (sp), cornfoundit...can't you count?" ... I always wanted to ask him why he was teaching algebra if we were already supposed to know it. He never made any sense to me in conversation, so it made sense that I couldn't grasp his teaching of algebra. Step by step, inch by inch : )

:confused: You were still counting on your fingers in high school? And it matters what hand you count on? I sure hope I'm just tired and missed something here, otherwise I'm very confused by what you're trying to say.
 
  • #38
I think you heard right MB. I'm still worried about the flunking an IQ test.
 
  • #39
I'm left-handed and the worst part of being left-handed is the fact that all spiral notebooks are made for right-handed people. So to improvise, all of my notes in spiral notebooks are read from the back to front. Other than the spiral notebook thing, I really have no issues with being left-handed.
 
  • #40
Cod said:
I'm left-handed and the worst part of being left-handed is the fact that all spiral notebooks are made for right-handed people. So to improvise, all of my notes in spiral notebooks are read from the back to front. Other than the spiral notebook thing, I really have no issues with being left-handed.

:confused: You are aware that every other page is left-handed, right? Yep, really. Open to the middle and lie it flat on the table. See...two pages, a left-handed one with the spiral binding on the right side, and a right-handed one with the spiral binding on the left side. :biggrin:
 
  • #41
lol, MoonBear hun, sarcasm doesn't suit you. You are supposed to be the sweet one.
 
  • #42
tribdog said:
lol, MoonBear hun, sarcasm doesn't suit you. You are supposed to be the sweet one.

LOL! You're right, I'm the intellectual and you're the entertainer of this couple. I'll try to remember that in the future. :biggrin:
 
  • #43
maybe the intellectual can explain exactly what the heck that's supposed to mean? lol
 
  • #44
with the poll standing at 33.33% lefties and 66.67% righties would you say 1/3 of the people in here are lefties, or 1/2 as many lefties? or twice as many righties?
 
  • #45
tribdog said:
maybe the intellectual can explain exactly what the heck that's supposed to mean? lol

I had a clever reply, but apparently if I put a lot of spaces between all the letters in my sentences to talk slowly, the spaces between words disappear! It was entirely unreadable! I'll just leave the sarcasm to you in the future, apparently even the forum software is telling me not to be sarcastic. :smile:
 
  • #46
Y o u   m e a n   l i k e   t h i s ? :biggrin:
 
  • #47
Cheating! I know you used ACME Instant Letter-Spacer. :-p
 
  • #48
plover said:
Y o u***m e a n***l i k e***t h i s ? :biggrin:

Hey! How'd you do that? It didn't work for me. What's the trick?

And where did those asterisks just appear from that weren't there a moment ago?
 
  • #49
I'm not entirely sure why the asterisks appeared, but I assume it is the PF software's way of indicating non-printing characters in the source text. The non-printing characters in this case being "non-breaking space" characters that HTML does not collapse like regular white space. The code for a non-breaking space is:  

So spaced text can be input like this:
s o m e   s p a c e d   l e t t e r s . . .
​
This can be slightly tricky to use in forum software, since when you preview a post that uses these codes, the preview will be correct, but the codes will have been removed from the text in the edit box—so you have to put them back in again before you can submit the post.

Similar codes are also generally the easiest way to get åççêñ†ëð and foreign characters—and also dashes.
 
  • #50
Is it possible to switch which hand is your dominant one? I.e., for a right-handed person to become left-handed (ambidextrous), or vice-versa?

How?
 
  • #51
Math Is Hard said:
Cheating! I know you used ACME Instant Letter-Spacer. :-p
Actually the ACME Instant Letter-Spacer usually produces
r e  s   u  l ts  l i   k  e  t  h i   s . .. :biggrin:
​
 
  • #52
rachmaninoff said:
Is it possible to switch which hand is your dominant one? I.e., for a right-handed person to become left-handed (ambidextrous), or vice-versa?

How?

In Britain in the old days, whenever left handed tendencies appeared in young schoolboys, the offending child had his hand tied behind his back until he learned to do things using his right hand. This worked, but often caused speech impediments later in life.
 
  • #53
Are we still counting lefties?
I'm a southpaw, like math and music, practise both the arts and sciences.

Although i have experienced a few disadvantages; pencil sharpeners are backwards, guitar is strung upside down, scissors don't fit correctly on fingers, fishing reel turns the wrong way :biggrin:

There are lots of advantages, playing tennis or ping pong, opponents mostly play right handers, so southpaws have the advantage. For bowling, i use the side of the lane which is least worn. It has more wax or oil on it, so i get a nicer glide on the ball. Playing baseball, pitchers face more right handed batters than left, so southpaws have advantage there and since i bat from right side of batters box (relative to the umpire), upon hitting the ball, I'm at least one step closer to first base than right handed batters.

I read a study that lefties are 1/5 of the population. If you check around the net, you'll find that number is still a good approximation.

Are there more lefties doing science? Well, as a grad student at Purdue, one of my my officemates, my advisor, the professor in the office next to mine, and our department head were all southpaws. All tolled, we had closer to 1/3 lefties in my dept. :rolleyes:
 
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  • #54
Ouabache said:
For bowling, i use the side of the lane which is least worn. It has more wax or oil on it, so i get a nicer glide on the ball.

LOL! You've never bowled with me...doesn't matter if I'm right-handed, my ball rolls down whatever side of the lane it darn well pleases. :biggrin: I thought the objective was to get the ball down the middle? Maybe that's what I've been doing wrong all my life. If I aim for the side, maybe it will wind up...oh, never mind, it's going to wind up in the gutter no matter where I aim. :smile:
 
  • #55
Moonbear said:
LOL! You've never bowled with me...doesn't matter if I'm right-handed, my ball rolls down whatever side of the lane it darn well pleases. :biggrin: I thought the objective was to get the ball down the middle? Maybe that's what I've been doing wrong all my life. If I aim for the side, maybe it will wind up...oh, never mind, it's going to wind up in the gutter no matter where I aim. :smile:

Yup, I hear ya.. I've thrown a few gutter balls when I started. :biggrin:
Got some helpful advice along the way, people telling me not to dip my shoulder when I release the ball, keep 'em straight.

The left side of the alley is not used too much. I start from left side and on the first roll, aim either slightly to the left or slightly to the right of the head pin. Mostly when I roll down the middle i'd get a split. I haven't bowled in a while though. I'm allergic to tobacco smoke and I haven't found any smokefree lanes.
 
  • #56
Few lefties are fully left. Most are partially or mostly right.

I am left-handed with some things - a pen, throwing, etc., but right-handed with others, such as sports.
 
  • #57
DaveC426913 said:
Few lefties are fully left. Most are partially or mostly right.

I am left-handed with some things - a pen, throwing, etc., but right-handed with others, such as sports.


True enough.. I do a few things with the right side naturally, like kicking a football or soccerball. It feels easier with my right foot.

Some things were just learned, like playing the guitar as a righty rather than restringing it, turn it 180 deg, pick with my left and note with my right.

Brewnog mentioned that school children in Britain, at one time, were forcefully encouraged to use their right hand. I've heard the same was true in the US. Let's see, in French left is gauche, (meaning to turn aside or clumsy). In Latin left is sinister :devil: Where these notions came from is hard to tell, perhaps superstitions.

I was in a Chinese restaurant and comfortable eating the delicious food left-handedly with chop sticks.. The Chinese manager happened by, gave me one of these looks and then began muttering animatedly :smile: to his colleagues.. I wondered what the fuss was all about.. He told me, it surprised him seeing an American handling chopsticks, but even more so, with my left hand.

He tells me children are discouraged from using their left at a young age in China. I never found out why, maybe it meant bad luck.
If there are some folks from the Far East countries reading this, can you enlighten me? :confused:
 
  • #58
brewnog said:
In Britain in the old days, whenever left handed tendencies appeared in young schoolboys, the offending child had his hand tied behind his back until he learned to do things using his right hand. This worked, but often caused speech impediments later in life.

:bugeye: I knew people tried to force you to learn with your right hand in the old days. I never heard that it can cause speech impediments later in life. How does that happen?
 
  • #59
No idea, it's usually a stutter or a stammer though.
 
  • #60
Hello everyone;
Brewnog was kind enough to invite me to this place and show me how to get here. Bonus that the discussion is something I'm interested in. I'm ambidextrous, but do some things preferentially with one or the other. The really sad part is that I can't do it left-handed and pretend it's a stranger, but enough about my sex life.
The timing for this sucks, though, because I have to leave right now for my darts match. How bitterly ironic; the only reasons that I play darts are to drink beer and irritate Brits, and here I am having one of them as my first on-line friend.
Moonbear, I've been warned that you bite. I'm not particularly averse to that.
Anyhow, must be going now. I never shut my computer off, so I'll be shown as logged on while I'm gone. Will snoop here when I get home, if I can still see straight. (Now I guess I'd better learn how to use those little smile thingies. One of the preceding commments was a joke. It's up to you to figure out which one.) Bye.