# Anyone else crosshanded cause you use your dominate hand as a 'steadier'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 7, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147 "2019-11-07T21:09:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/1 "2019-11-07T21:09:21Z")
I shoot a rifle (but not a revolver)…play guitar, and use a juice-squeezer left handed because i use my dominate hand to keep the item steady. And in the case of a guitar need my dominate hand to do what i consider to be more dexterious. I also play recorder and flute with my dominate hand at the end of the instrument but i don’t know if thats normal I do use my left hand as the ‘steadier’ on the trombone cause i consider the dexterity work of the dominate hand to be more important. Any other examples? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/2 "2019-11-07T21:13:33Z")
As a little kid, I always thought it was crazy that guitars were all “built backwards”. All the righties in the world had to do the tricky fretting with their left hands while their right hands just strummed. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/3 "2019-11-07T21:22:21Z")
I’m kinda ambidextrous. I learned to draw with my right hand in Art school. I’m a dominate ‘lefty’ I’m all kinda mixed up using hands. Some things I do lefty always. Somethings I do righty always. Somethings are interchangeable. Using a mouse, either hand. Throwing a ball for the pups, either hand. Painting, always lefty. Lately, I’ve been eating righty because I’m always looking at my tablet when I eat alone. Need the left hand to swipe and surf. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/4 "2019-11-07T21:29:51Z")
> [@digs](#): > > As a little kid, I always thought it was crazy that guitars were all “built backwards”. > > All the righties in the world had to do the tricky fretting with their left hands while their right hands just strummed. I wondered the same thing when I started playing guitar, a decade ago. I’ve since surmised that the style of playing common in modern rock music is ayptically simple for the right hand, compared to earlier styles of play (such as classical guitar). ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/5 "2019-11-07T21:31:22Z")
My brother was a switch pitcher and was very cross-handed growing up because thems-that-was-in-charge thought he was a lefty. Turns out, he was dyslexic but dyslexic wasn’t commonly known back in the early 70s. Now that he’s in his 50s, he retains only a small amount of that switch-handedness. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/6 "2019-11-08T20:44:45Z")
My son bats left-handed although he is a total righty in every other regard. My suspicion is that this came about because he played hockey, left defense, before ever playing baseball. One time when I was dealing cards someone pointed out I was dealing left-handed. I actually deal either way and I really don’t know which way is right-handed. Which hand is the pack in? I had an uncle who did everything right-handed except throw a ball. So he needed a left-handed glove. I cannot imagine pitching left-handed, but he did. When I played a guitar I also wondered why the left hand had the hard part. Until I saw someone _really_ play it. Revelation! But I still wonder about the violin and its family. Seems to me that bowing is much easier than depressing the string in the exact right spot. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/7 "2019-11-09T04:53:21Z")
Nitpick: the adjective is “dominant.” “Dominate” is a verb. We now return you to the regularly scheduled thread, which is already in progress. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/8 "2019-11-09T06:41:45Z")
I like to play basketball using both hands equally; otherwise Im all righty. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/9 "2019-11-09T08:27:54Z")
I am so right handed its not funny. When I get in a car or truck to drive I am an utter lefty and the right hand is only good for shifting, radio controls and assisting the left hand with steering sometimes ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/10 "2019-11-09T10:23:10Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I also play recorder and flute with my dominate hand at the end of the instrument but i don’t know if thats normal. Whether you are right-handed or left-handed, when you play the flute (or any woodwind, for that matter), your left hand will always be the closest to your face, and your right hand will be farthest away. I’m right-handed, but for some strange reason, I deal cards left-handed. Makes it difficult to learn card magic, when everything is demonstrated for right-handers. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-crosshanded-cause-you-use-your-dominate-hand-as-a-steadier/843147/11 "2019-11-09T20:44:54Z")
For those of us who are natural lefties, off-handedness may also stem from eye dominance and having to live in a right-handed world. Me: Scissors - right hand Rifle/Pistol - right-handed (eye dominance?) Bass/Guitar/Trumpet /Tuba - right-handed (combination of necessity with the brass instruments and not realizing that left-handed basses even were a thing) Computer mouse - right hand (yay! Can take notes at the same time) Throw, catch, bat, kick - typical lefty Mechanical tools - pretty much ambi (as a former A/C mech you can’t expect your dominant hand to always get to the thing you’re working on. Arms just don’t bend that way.