# Fellow Lefties, how would you feel about this? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 19, 2001, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523 "2001-09-19T03:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Redboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/41 "2001-09-26T03:09:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nineiron \* > \*\*…Are you folks telling me that there are actually full-grown adults who can’t tell their left from their right without some conscious thought? It’s only two things to remember! … > (This is not intended to sound insulting, by any means. I just am surprised that there may be adults who don’t know left from right.) \*\* There are many of us who when asked “Quickly! Right or left?” have to do a little mnemonic routine (mine is with my fingers) to be sure. We are not necessarily people who mouth the words as we read, or who think the devil’s face appeared in the WTC smoke clouds. Nope, quite well-functioning people who have a little gap in their kinetic sense. Take this as another reminder that people are not rational beings. If it was about reasoning, it’d be a breeze. There are other, complicating factors involved in the most seemingly unimportant things. For what it’s worth, as a dextrous person I’ve had a larger than usual share of sinisters who have been close friends or SOs. Perhaps there’s something about a different view of the world I find attractive in them. And I too opened the thread expecting to meet a whole bunch of old friends with whom I protested about the Vietnam War. hehehe. Redboss ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/42 "2001-09-26T03:22:36Z")
Wow, Redboss, I still find that unbelievable. By the way, I wasn’t being rhetorical before: do the people who actually have to think about “left” and “right” also have to think about “up” and “down”? It’s the same concept–direction–just on a different axis. If one has trouble with one axis, mightn’t the other be just as troublesome? Things that would be tough to do if you had to consciously think about which was left and which was right: –be a soldier (“Left, left, left right left!”) –drive a taxi (“Quick! Turn left!”) –be a boxer (“Hit him with the left!”…You can’t make the little “L” with your fingers while wearing boxing gloves) –be a dance instructor or a Rockette I’m sure there are others. Of course, lefthandedness is a HUGE asset in baseball… ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/43 "2001-09-26T15:19:10Z")
nineiron, that’s part of it. People with a strong kinetic sense can swap axis and be just fine, still know which way is which. People with weak kinetic senses (umm…here!) _can’t_. My sense of space is not linked to logic, its a sence and for me a poor one. While I can think through directions and usually end up okay, (anyone who has given me directions can stop laughing now.) I have no intuitive grip on space. Up and down I do have intuitivly (gravity helps), but not left, right, or godawful North South East West. (I can’t find direction relative to me, how in the hell do you expect me to “feel” North? I’m not a damned compass! But my dad and my sister are.) Though now that you mention it, I can lay on my back and my down and up are still gravity polar, not feet and head directional. Standing “up” is a vector through my head from my feet. Laying down “up” is a vector through my navel from my spine. (Which leads me to believe that being in space would make me lose all idea of direction any where and hurl.) And yea, I can’t follow driving directions unless I’m given time to think about them. Dancing and marching though are habitual, I can repeat motions in certain orders without dealing with left and right. I type with two hands without thinking okay now the left hand hits the “e” and the right hits the space. Its just “hand hit keys”. and from practice I have worked out which hand does which, totally ignoring the titles on the hands. (Dance instruction is even more than habitual, you have to habitually do things in mirror image. My friend who teaches dance is funny because she will consistantly swap left and right. It has become and ingrained habit. She has to, to demonstate the moves. “And now you step to the left” _steps right_ kick up with your right _kicks left leg_ etc.) ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/44 "2001-09-26T16:00:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rachelle \* > **I must be a strange lefty. 😕 I use my right and left hand equally, almost to the point of being strange. I throw a ball with my right hand but I bat left. I use right handed scissors but I write with my left. I also don’t mind right handed can openers and have a potato peeler that goes both ways. I just think it’s kind of strange that I can bat left and throw right when I play softball… kinda throws people off.** You’re my long-lost twin! You just described me perfectly. I write, eat and bat left-handed. I kick, catch and shoot right-handed. I use my mouse right-handed (though I have to use a graphics tablet to do any kind of art on the computer). I’ve never felt uncomfortable with right-handed appliances. ---
**Author:** ![smaft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@smaft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaft)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/45 "2001-09-26T18:49:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by redtail23 \* > I generally do some furtive, mid-air scribbling to figure out which way is what. Now, see, this wouldn’t work for me. While I actually write with my left hand, any demonstration of writing (mid-air or otherwise) I do with my right hand. My sister did the “L” thing with her hands as a kid, but I always pictured a piano ( **l** ow notes = **l** eft) until I got it straight. Actually, if you say, “right or left” now, I still see the piano, even though I don’t need the mnemonic. I should add, though, that I am rather ambidextrous (e.g., write/draw left, throw right). I naturally eat with my left, but if someone’s sitting there, I’ll switch without thinking. Most things I’ll use whichever hand is more convenient. Freaks people out at pool tables! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/46 "2001-09-26T20:16:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nineiron \* > \*\*OK, I always assumed that the old “hold out your hand and see which one forms an L to tell which one is your left” was either done by very small children or adults looking for a laugh. Are you folks telling me that there are actually full-grown adults who can’t tell their left from their right without some conscious thought? It’s only two things to remember! For people to say that their teachers taught them “you write with your right,” OK, I can see that it would have been confusing when you were five, but come on–you couldn’t eventually make the association that this [\<] is simply called “left” and this [\>] is called “right” and that’s all there is to it? Are “up” and “down” a problem too? > > (This is not intended to sound insulting, by any means. I just am surprised that there may be adults who don’t know left from right.) \*\* Hmmmm. My mom was one of those “the nuns tied her left hand to her side to keep her from using it” kids (in the 60’s!) so she too can’t tell left from right without thinking really hard about it. I recently suggested to her how I figured it out for good (when I was 5 or so) - we live on the east coast, the east is on the right side of the map, so when you’re pointing towards the ocean it’s right. maybe it’s too complicated. If you only knew how I do averages in my head… ---
**Author:** ![Syzygy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Syzygy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syzygy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/47 "2001-09-26T21:45:33Z")
I’m another handedness mongrel, in that I don’t always perform tasks opposite from righties. However, I’m not ambidextrous; I can’t do hardly anything with either hand. It’s one or the other. I write and throw with my left, but I kick with my right foot. I use the mouse with my right hand. When I have to turn around in mid-step, I turn to my right. I find it uncomfortable to keep my right hand on the steering wheel when I drive. Switching any of these is impossible. I perform sleight-of-hand magic, and I can only do certain moves left-to-right or right-to-left. And it’s usually the opposite of how a righty would do it. I have no problems telling right from left, unless I’m really tired or stressed. I have the same pet peeves as many lefties. I have to seek out scissors that either are left-handed, or that have symmetrical handles (and thus don’t cut into my thumb and fingers when I grip them. I have to read the numbers on cards upside-down when I fan them out. I have to negotiate the wire spiral on notebooks, balancing my hand on it to write in the left-hand margin. I had to go through school with the right-handed gym teacher showing everyone the perfect tennis serve, and the perfect volleyball serve, and then say, “All you lefties, just do what I just showed you backwards.” Urgh. Teachers should definitely not persecute or try to change southpaws. It’s as much a part of who you are as your hair color or blood type. Granted, people have learned how to be ambidextrous, but it should be a choice, not a requirement. I have gradually learned how to write with my right hand, as a sort of contingency plan. Alright, that’s enough. We lefties are in our right minds, dont you know. And you should always hire us, 'cause it’s fun to watch us write. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kate\_W](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/cc9497/32.png) [@Kate\_W](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kate_W)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/48 "2001-09-26T23:28:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rachelle \* > \*\*I must be a strange lefty. 😕 I use my right and left hand equally, almost to the point of being strange. I throw a ball with my right hand but I bat left. I use right handed scissors but I write with my left. I also don’t mind right handed can openers and have a potato peeler that goes both ways. I just think it’s kind of strange that I can bat left and throw right when I play softball… kinda throws people off. > > \*\* My mom enlightened me why throwing a baseball is about the only thing I can do with my right hand - when I was a kid, we couldn’t find gloves for the right hand, so I had to have a glove for my left, and learn to throw with my right. Apparently gloves for the right hand (which IIRC are in fact called “left-handed” gloves) were pretty rare back then, at least in our podunk town. I do bat left, and it was great when I was on the tennis team, since my backhand was my weakest stroke. Can’t use right-handed scissors to save my life, though. Oh, yeah, and I can use a mouse with my right hand and now find it extremely awkward with my left. ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/49 "2001-09-27T02:48:08Z")
But even if one were from the “nuns tied your left hand behind your back” era, wouldn’t the association just be made that “left” is the one that they DIDN’T want me to write with because it wasn’t “right”? Even if it was a negative connotation (left [points that way] is bad, left [points that way] is bad), it’s still an association, no? OK, from what I’m hearing, there really are people who need to think about “left” and “right.” It does not, nor will it ever, make sense to me, but whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/50 "2001-09-27T04:00:57Z")
I got my playing cards and can opener today! I’m going to make a bowl of soup tomorrow night, so I’ll tell you all how it goes. And as for the cards, I think I’ll leave them in the cellophane for now, and have some friends over for poker. I’ll unwrap the cards in their presence, they’ll be perplexed and off their game, and that will swing the advantage to **Fiver**. Heh heh heh heh. ---
**Author:** ![Another\_Primate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Another\_Primate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Primate)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/51 "2001-09-27T14:38:21Z")
**Fiver** , Wow, you sure got that stuff fast. Hey, great poker idea. Wish I could be there. (I’m welcomed at poker parties, because I’m lousy at it and not a sore loser.) -Sue p.s. You had said you’d kill for a can opener. Now you have a can opener. Now what would you kill for? Just wondering whether your moral standards will raise or degrade. 🙂 (My first smiley, by the way. Figured I’d start off with the classic. No! I’m lying! I’m just too lazy to look up how to do the cooler ones!) ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/52 "2001-09-27T15:42:20Z")
Yes, it did come really fast. Barely two days; I was surprised. I wouldn’t kill for anything now. But since we’re discussing hand-dominance: I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/53 "2001-09-27T23:03:44Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Medea’s Child \* > \*\* Up and down I do have intuitivly (gravity helps), but not left, right, or godawful North South East West. (I can’t find direction relative to me, how in the hell do you expect me to “feel” North? I’m not a damned compass! But my dad and my sister are.)_\* Me too! I always get navigational instructions with both directions and left/right turns. And my whole family just _knows_ which way is what. (Except in a couple of places where, oddly enough, I did all the navigating because they kept getting lost.) I can’t even keep the _names_ straight - I’m constantly confusing East and West. But, y’know, I can keep North & South straight (the names, not the actual directions), just like Up & Down. Hmmmmm… > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by smaft \* > Now, see, this wouldn’t work for me. While I actually write with my left hand, any demonstration of writing (mid-air or otherwise) I do with my right hand._\* Now _that_ IS odd. 😉 Lessee, I can play pool with either hand (better right than left) and it DOES weird people out :); I can 10key with either hand; I normally write Right but I can write legibly (although slowly) Left; I sometimes get hands confused when typing - many of my typos are right–I mean _correct_–finger, wrong hand; I can only eat Right; I tend to drive Left. Just a mixed-up mess, I guess. Lefties & Ambies: if you’ve never been able to skateboard or surf or do bike tricks or such like that, and you’ve always done things exactly the way someone showed you, try _switching feet_. I was astounded at the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Zazie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Zazie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zazie)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/54 "2001-09-28T19:59:28Z")
I always thought that lefties were more inteligent… I am serious… a lot of “geniuses” were lefties. It is so funny to read that we, of course, all have the same problems. When I was a kid I was forcing myself to write with my right hand because I just was embarassed I wasn’t like everybody else in my class! Even my family members are righties! I couldn’t learn knitting from my mom cause I could not do it the way she was doing it! Another very anoying thing is the cards… oh God… They used to make the decks with the numbers on the four corners… I never saw only two corners until I came to the States…! Weird hu? Now pretty much everything is ambidextrous (sp? ah! talk about a smart lefty!), scissors etc. About the original question, I do not think you should be alarmed because this person is teaching them which hand is the right… there are more right handed people, I just think it make sense, and we shake hands with our right hand, we won’t change that! Bye fellow lefties!!! ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/55 "2001-09-28T21:36:30Z")
Well, I opened a can of soup with my new left-handed can opener last night, and now I feel like a complete 'tard. With a standard can opener I always mounted it on the right side of the can, then held the opener with my left hand while turning the crank with my right. This always felt awkward and clumsy, which is why I ordered the left-hand opener. So…with the new opener, I mounted it on the left-hand side of the can, held the opener with my left hand, then reached around the backside of the can with my right hand to grab the crank and turn it.[sup]1[/sup] This felt even more awkward and clumsy, and has led me to the conclusion that I don’t know the proper way to open cans, regardless of the hand I’m using. I’m way vexed. [sup]1[/sup]I offer the phrase “grab the crank and turn it” to anyone who wants it for a sig. ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523/56 "2001-09-29T12:46:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Carine \* > \*\*I always thought that lefties were more inteligent… I am serious… a lot of “geniuses” were lefties. > \*\* Yeah, probably about 10% of geniuses were lefties. And just over 8% were Libras. 🙂 It took me a while to figure out just exactly what would be different about “left-handed” playing cards. I was just about to post my question when I took out a deck of cards and realized that the corner in which the “K” or “J” or whatever is located would be a problem if you’re lefty. (Geez, the one left-handed guy I play cards with never even mentioned it, but I guess it would be kind of awkward.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-lefties-how-would-you-feel-about-this/82523.md?page=2)