# Can you use a mouse with your off hand? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 16, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160 "2008-10-16T04:56:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/41 "2008-10-17T00:38:59Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ve read that 40% of left-handed people usually use their right hand to use the mouse, and I’m one of them. I can use it with my left, but not as well due to a lack of practice. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/42 "2008-10-17T03:25:04Z")
My home computer has left-handed mouse, left-handed button configuration. My work computer has right-handed mouse, right-handed button configuration. I have absolutely no problem switching between the two, and honestly don’t even notice it… but those folks that put the mouse on the left and \*\*don’t \*\*switch the buttons mess me right up. I can’t get used to that. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/43 "2008-10-17T14:12:33Z")
Right handed, but like lot’s of people above, I mouse with my left (with buttons swapped), to avoid soreness in my right hand. For a long time, I only had my main work computer set up this way, and moused righty on other computers. Recently, I’ve been changing all my profiles to mouse with my left hand. > [@Silver Tyger Girl](#): > > For those of you who switched, did anyone else notice a weird mental effect in the transition? I can’t really describe it, but it felt like I was thinking different. Probably from different parts of my brain having to work. No, but when I used to doodle, I noticed I would doodle differently with my left hand. I’d make more geometric doodles right handed, but tended to draw people or things like flowers left handed. Part of that might have been I couldn’t draw straight lines very well left-handed. ETA: It might depend on what you’re using the mouse to do. I’m usually just navigating, or programming, or writing. The hand I mouse with might not matter much. If I was drawing pictures, then it might have more of an effect. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/44 "2008-10-17T16:52:29Z")
Another lefty who uses the mouse right handed. It started because the first mice were all right handed, and then I figured out that it let me use a pen without having to put it down every time I want to move the mouse. I’ve never figured out why more righthanded people don’t use the mouse left handed. As for the OP, I can use a left handed mouse, but not nearly as well as a right handed. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/45 "2008-10-17T17:17:15Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > I’m a lefty who uses the mouse on the left, but with right-configured buttons. > > At work, I use a dozen or so shared computers. If I am going to be there for a while, I’ll move the mouse over, but if it’s only to print something or whatever, I’ll put up with the mouse being where it is. > > Sometimes, when I move it over, I forget to move it back. Geez, don’t the right-handed crowd let you know it, too! Even if only jokingly, they ALWAYS have to mention it. This pisses me off, given that almost every single time I use a public computer anywhere, ever, the mouse is on the right, and I’m expected to just shut up and deal. Some of the work computers even have the cord wrapped around so much shit that I can’t even move it to the left. I usually move the mouse to the left at work, too, and when other righties move it back on me, it doesn’t bother me. I guess that’s the difference between having one thing different and having lots of things different, after a lifetime of being different. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/46 "2008-10-17T18:42:14Z")
I can use my mouse with my left hand, even precisely. I often do this when I’m helping someone with a computer problem and I happen to be standing to their right. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/47 "2008-10-18T02:13:55Z")
I do some things left-handed and others right-handed. I use a mouse left-handed at work, and right-handed at home (because it pisses my wife off if she uses the computer and the mouse is set up left-handed). I am equally comfortable either way. This brings up ergonomic design. My laptop has all the USB ports on the left side, so I have keep the mouse an extra couple of inches away from where I’d use it more naturally. Also, when using the mouse right-handed I often use Windows CTRL-C and CTRL-V commands with my left hand while leaving my right hand on the mouse, but have to take my hand off the mouse when using it left-handed. Same for using CTRL-S to save a file, ALT-F-S to save a file with a new name. I’m wondering if they designed those commands on purpose. I write left-handed and cannot use a stylus or other fine tools effectively in my right hand. I throw a Frisbee with my left hand, but throw anything else right-handed. I use cooking utensils left handed, but knives right-handed. I bowl right-handed. I wear my watch on my right hand because it gets in the way when I write. But then I have to take it off to set the time. It just goes on from there… ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/48 "2008-10-18T02:19:16Z")
I can use the mouse with my left hand (I’m normally right-handed) reasonably well, but I don’t do it particularly often, as the need doesn’t appear that much. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/49 "2008-10-18T02:38:45Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I write left-handed and cannot use a stylus or other fine tools effectively in my right hand. I throw a Frisbee with my left hand, but throw anything else right-handed. I use cooking utensils left handed, but knives right-handed. I bowl right-handed. Wow - my son is exactly the same on all of these (well, except perhaps cooking utensils as I don’t believe he has ever used any…). I thought he must be unique to throw a frisbee lefty and everything else righty. ---
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/50 "2008-10-18T02:58:41Z")
> [@justpassingthrough](#): > > **MadPansy** , I can’t imagine using a 10 key left handed. Yikes. Lots of people agree with you. It’s really no big deal, even for a hardcore Righty, if that is how you learned. My Ambi hubby secretly thinks I encountered more, meaner Nuns than he did in school. I think I was (and am) simply too lazy to rearrange my desk, which is reinforced by the fact that I went to Public school 😃 ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/51 "2008-10-18T03:00:33Z")
right handed person here, and I am a total klutz with my left hand. However, I can only use a mouse with my left hand. It just seemed natural when the numeral keypad is on the right side of the keyboard. Strangely, on a touch pad, I am 90% right handed. but I click the left button with my left hand index finger. ---
**Author:** ![BlackNGold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BlackNGold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackNGold)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/52 "2008-10-18T14:06:42Z")
> [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](#): > > .. but those folks that put the mouse on the left and \*\*don’t \*\*switch the buttons mess me right up. I can’t get used to that. That’d be me. I can use either hand equally well, but never switch the buttons. I started using my dad’s computer (he’s lefty, I’m not), and I’m not really sure when I started using a rightie. I just put the mouse wherever it makes sense on the desk. For a long time my work computer was left-mouse and my home was right-mouse. The work thing was fun, especially when someone needed to “show me” something. They’d look at the mouse with a blank stare for half a second and then look at me like “What is this strange device and how do you expect me to operate it”? ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/53 "2008-10-18T19:39:12Z")
Wow, how strange. I write left handed, but have never used anything other than my right hand for the mouse. Never even gave it a second thought. ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/54 "2008-10-19T01:38:35Z")
I’m right-handed but I mouse with my left hand because I like to jot down notes while I’m surfing the web. The button configuration doesn’t matter to me. If I’m on someone else’s computer I’ll switch the mouse around; if for some reason I can’t move it where I want to, I can use the mouse with my right hand, but it feels awkward. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/55 "2008-10-19T03:49:59Z")
Dominant hand at work; subordinate hand at home. Something in the back of my head states I should equally distribute Carpal-Tunnel syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/56 "2008-10-19T03:51:06Z")
I can do very little fine motor-wise with my left. I’m a right-hand mouse user all the way. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/57 "2008-10-19T03:53:31Z")
> [@Merhouse](#): > > Wow, how strange. I write left handed, but have never used anything other than my right hand for the mouse. Never even gave it a second thought. I didn’t either until I started to see threads here about it. I’ve never bothered setting a mouse for left hand use. Right handed works just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/58 "2008-10-19T14:25:59Z")
It was easier to learn how to masturbate with my off hand. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160/59 "2008-10-19T14:56:26Z")
I can, but I have an ergonomic gaming mouse, so it’s not very comfortable, and the thumb buttons are useless. So, yeah, but I don’t like to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-a-mouse-with-your-off-hand/468160.md?page=2)