# Can anybody else read upside down? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 26, 2000, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169 "2000-03-26T06:11:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/1 "2000-03-26T06:11:00Z")
I have managed to astound my friends with my ability to read things that are upside down and/or inverted (like writing as seen reflected in a mirror) just as fast as as if it were normal. It’s not a something I’ve tried to cultivate and I suspect it has something to do with my job as a computer modeler (where bieng able to visualize a 2-dimentianal diagram as a 3-dimentional form is a nessasary skill). I’m not the only person who can do this, right? ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/2 "2000-03-26T06:18:00Z")
I would guess that most of us who’ve lived in the corporado/technical marketing world have learned to read upside down. Just a guess. ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/3 "2000-03-26T06:18:00Z")
i seem to be pretty good at that, too, just as long as it’s not some freaky cursive that i’m trying to read. * * * if wishes were fishes, we could walk on the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/4 "2000-03-26T06:33:00Z")
I dunno. I seem to have an innate grasp of the written word. I can read upside down, reversed letters, reversed order, or reversed word just as quickly as normal text. I can also unscramble words damn quickly, too. And handwriting? Even the sloppiest doctor’s scrawl can be easily read by me. It’s just a knack. I don’t know where it came from, I surely don’t use it that often, but it happens. Kinda like my ability to put an entire q tip so far up my nose you can’t see it. Strange, but true. –Tim * * * We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak. ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/5 "2000-03-26T07:31:00Z")
I can read upside down and reversing letters, and I was once told it was because I was ‘supposed’ to be left hander and was forced to be a rightie by my mother. It is probably nonsense, but who can read upside down and they are left handed too?? We could make our own series of stats! 🙂 * * * “Um, according to who? Nothing more than a high brow troll, though occasionally the bi polar personality swung in a constructive direction on innocuous topics.” Omniscient ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/6 "2000-03-26T08:16:00Z")
I can read upside down and backwards quickly. I can also write upside down/backwards fairly well. * * * – From an actual catalog: “Disco balls create an enchanting, dazzling effect of light shafts, adding movement and glamour to any occasion” _the Abrams’ bris was certainly memorable_ O p a l C a t [www.opalcat.com](http://www.opalcat.com) ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/7 "2000-03-26T08:56:00Z")
Are you left handed, Opal?? It is weird, I really CAN’T write upside down, just backward. Hmmm, I don’t even want to THINK what that could mean!! 😃 * * * “Um, according to who? Nothing more than a high brow troll, though occasionally the bi polar personality swung in a constructive direction on innocuous topics.” Omniscient ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/8 "2000-03-26T09:25:00Z")
I can read upside down just fine. Never tried writing upside down. ---
**Author:** ![WillGolfForFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@WillGolfForFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillGolfForFood)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/9 "2000-03-26T13:10:00Z")
I’ve always been able to read upside-down, but I can’t read mirror-writing at all. I think it’s because my sister and I used to read the comics at the same time when we were kids (one of us reading them upside-down). Neither one of us wanted to wait. ---
**Author:** ![Bluepony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Bluepony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluepony)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/10 "2000-03-26T13:54:00Z")
Upside-down, inverted, reversed…whatever. It’s a trick you learn if you want to be a cop for a while. 🙂 * * * _…send lawyers, guns, and money…_ ``` Warren Zevon ``` ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/11 "2000-03-26T15:19:00Z")
Reading upside down? Nothin’ to it…don’t leave stuff out on your desk if you don’t want me to read it, my eyes will just shloop it up, from any angle. Fair-to-middlin’ on mirror reading; less practice there. FWIW, I’m lefthanded. (been Ayn Randed, nearly branded… :)) * * * “Living in this complex world of the future is not unlike having bees live inside your head.” - F. Scott Firesign ---
**Author:** ![Doctordec](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Doctordec](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctordec)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/12 "2000-03-26T15:19:00Z")
Anybody that’s been in corporate sales for awhile can read upside down. You get a lot of practice reading your competitor’s quotes on the buyers desk in front of you. I can read almost as well upside down as right side up, especially numbers, and often find myself reading something on a table at home upside down and don’t even realize it. * * * “Everybody smokes in hell” ---
**Author:** ![Angkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Angkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angkins)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/13 "2000-03-26T15:40:00Z")
I can read upside down…I though that everyone could. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/14 "2000-03-26T15:54:00Z")
Good point Angkins. Seriously, can anybody not read upside down? It’s not difficult is it? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/15 "2000-03-26T16:19:00Z")
My sister in law can read upside down perfectly as she is a 1st grade teacher and looks at her students work from that angle as they sit at their desks. She thought it was amazing that I had a hard time reading upside down, as I tried to do reading a book to my son. It is a learned trait. I’m getting better at it. ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/16 "2000-03-26T17:06:00Z")
I agree with the prevailing thought that most of us can read upside down. But here’s a couple of tips. 1. Don’t remind people that you can do it! This came up casually in small talk during a recent meeting, and suddenly the person on the “right” side of the desk became visibly uncomfortable with the idea that anything on his desk was completely available to any of us. 2. Don’t forget that lots of other people can easly read what is on YOUR desk! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/17 "2000-03-26T17:16:00Z")
Yes, but mine is functional. In other words, I learned to read upsidedown so I could read the notes people wrote me while they were writing them. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/18 "2000-03-26T17:23:00Z")
According to the great and illustrious Uncle Cecil: “I once knew a proofreader who read everything upside down, being either too lazy or too drunk to turn the page over once the typesetter tossed it at him.” (Source: [Is there a physical reason we read from left to right?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_101.html)) ---
**Author:** ![saucy\_potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@saucy\_potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucy_potato)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/19 "2000-03-27T06:06:00Z")
I know this topic is about reading, but at one time I could write upside down and backwards with my left hand. (I’m right handed) Yay for me? 😃 * * * “When I feel friendship for you, I am ashamed.” -Spock ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169/20 "2000-03-27T06:14:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by saucy potato: > I know this topic is about reading, but at one time I could write upside down and backwards with my left hand. (I’m right handed) > Yay for me? 😃 Yeah, but I bet ya cheated and kept your eyes open, right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-else-read-upside-down/15169.md?page=2)