# Are you right-handed, left-handed or ambidextrous? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379 "2011-03-12T05:23:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/41 "2011-03-16T02:28:19Z")
Ah, “cross dominant” - that’s me, with a skew to the right. I’m right/left illiterate (directions for me are “this way” and “that way”), and it’s getting more confusing as I do more things with my left hand. [Here’s an interesting article on arm crossing and body dominance.](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/436521.html) ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/42 "2011-03-16T03:42:27Z")
I am a right handed writer. I learned in the military that I am left eye dominant, so I shoot guns lefty. But on most systems the ammo eject port feeds out to the right, so I get burned by spent brass. I kick left footed. I throw right handed. I use a left handed mouse. I do this so I can work my left hand on the mouse and use my right hand to input numbers from the keypad at the same time. I have a broken pinky finger on my right hand that never healed correctly, so I have started to learn to use my left hand for many more things. I answered ambi with right hand tendencies. But I think I am changing to the other side. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/43 "2011-03-16T03:59:01Z")
> [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](#): > > I learned in the military that I am left eye dominant, so I shoot guns lefty. But on most systems the ammo eject port feeds out to the right, so I get burned by spent brass. Yeah, I discovered that when I tried skeet-shooting once (I, too, am right-handed, but left-eyed). Having spent shells zinging past my face wasn’t enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/44 "2011-03-16T04:08:13Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Anything lefties find particularly difficult to handle? Nothing, really. Quite honestly, going by my middle name IRL gives me a lot more difficulty than being lefthanded does. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/45 "2011-03-16T06:11:03Z")
I didnt’ know how to vote. I’m right handed, but there are things that happens in the internetz that have taught me to use both hands. My boss does think that I’m full of awesome because I can use my right hand to type and use my left hand to move papers around. While she knows that I spend way too much time online…I haven’t bothered to tell her where I got that skill 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/46 "2011-03-16T13:21:49Z")
The only thing I’ve ever found to be an out-and-out nuisance to being a left-hander was the decided dearth of left-handed desks in good ol Ball U’s lecture halls during the mid-70s. It actually got to be something of a death-match race for those of us of the sinister persuasion: the bets were on to see who could get to the **three** lefty desks available in a hall of 100 or more rightie desks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/47 "2011-03-16T20:38:29Z")
I think I’m a southpaw who was pushed into being a righty. I once had my right in a cast, wrote with my left hand, something I’ve never done before, and people said it was more legible than my right hand printing (it was all printing, I never use cursive). I’ve found myself surprised at how readily I can do some things left-handed, but I’ve used my right hand 99% of the time. My right arm is considerably stronger than my left, but I’ve used it so much more, so that doesn’t tell me anything. Maybe I’m right leaning ambi. I don’t think there’s any way to know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/48 "2011-03-17T02:42:53Z")
I am so right-handed, it is ridiculous. The reason I am not a better musician is that my left hand is less coordinated. If I’m doing something fast, my left hand will go out of sync with my right. And when I try to write as a lefty, I look like a kindergartener with learning and motor disabilities. Trying to use my left hand for anything that requires fine motor work feels like I’m using tweezers. The fact that I’ve learned to type and can fill in an (improvised) bass part on piano took a ton of work, and to this day I don’t know how I did it. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/49 "2011-03-17T03:02:16Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Anything lefties find particularly difficult to handle? > > Anything that’s easier because you’re a lefty? If you have to ask, you must be one of the inferior majority. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/50 "2011-03-17T06:20:27Z")
I have a kind of odd mixture. I write left handed. I bat right handed, sorta, but my hands are in reverse order on the bat. I throw left handed. I hold a hockey stick right handed. I can only open combination locks with my right hand. I kick left footed. I tend to use all my silverware with my left hand. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/51 "2011-03-17T08:54:53Z")
We’ve done this before and you left out cross-dominant. Yep, that’s me! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379.md?page=2)