# Handedness and stirring direction **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 22, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014 "2010-10-22T15:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/1 "2010-10-22T15:33:49Z")
I’m right-handed, and it’s more natural for me to stir something counter-clockwise. How about you? (Damn, this was supposed to be a poll, but I screwed up.) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/2 "2010-10-22T15:43:42Z")
Lefty and counter-clockwise, but I imagine that many lefties do stuff weird due to being subject to a right-handed world. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/3 "2010-10-22T15:45:50Z")
Also lefty, also counter-clockwise. In thinking about it, if I had to stir with my right hand for some reason, I imagine I’d go clockwise. The other ways seems unnatural. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/4 "2010-10-22T15:48:56Z")
Righty and clockwise. You counter-clockwise people are scary. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/5 "2010-10-22T15:49:37Z")
Right-handed and definitely clockwise. It would feel utterly awkward doing it the other way. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/6 "2010-10-22T15:55:52Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > Lefty and counter-clockwise, but I imagine that many lefties do stuff weird due to being subject to a right-handed world. This is me, too. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/7 "2010-10-22T16:09:41Z")
Lefty and counter-clockwise. Unless I’m in the southern hemisphere. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/8 "2010-10-22T16:17:21Z")
Righty, and typically clockwise, but I’m fidgetty, so sometimes I stir counter-clockwise. If I’m stirring long enough that I feel I need to switch hands, I’ll generally maintain whatever direction I was already stirring. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/9 "2010-10-22T16:42:51Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Lefty and counter-clockwise. Unless I’m in the southern hemisphere. Dammit, I was going to make that joke! ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/10 "2010-10-22T17:10:21Z")
I’m right-handed, but I’ll happily stir with my left hand if it’s more convenient. Whichever hand I use, I have no preference for the direction I stir in – I’ll often stir one way for a while, and then switch the other way. My mother seems to have a strong preference, though – more than once she’s commented that I’m “stirring the wrong way”, which I find utterly baffling. I can understand someone feeling that one direction or the other seems to come more naturally to them, but I can’t for the life of me imagine trying to enforce it on other people. Or even noticing which direction someone else is stirring something. One of these days I’ll have to ask her what difference she thinks it makes. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/11 "2010-10-22T17:18:48Z")
I’m a lefty and I stir clockwise, no matter which hand I’m stirring with. It _doesn’t_ feel right to stir the opposite way with my right hand for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/12 "2010-10-22T18:23:29Z")
I can and do stir with either hand. When I stir: right handed - clockwise left handed - counterclockwise To do the opposite with either hand is just not natural. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/13 "2010-10-22T19:45:49Z")
Lefty, and with the left hand, counterclockwise, and with the right, clockwise. After switching hands and tiring them both, then I switch rotation just to vary things a bit. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/14 "2010-10-22T20:01:25Z")
Righty and clockwise. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/15 "2010-10-22T21:08:01Z")
With my right-hand, counter-clockwise; with my left hand, clockwise; sometimes simultaneously, depend on what’s cooking and needing attention. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/16 "2010-10-23T01:08:47Z")
Right and clockwise. This thread made me try counter-clockwise, and I could get no speed. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/17 "2010-10-23T01:18:10Z")
Right handed, and clockwise. When I switch hands, I go counter-clockwise with my left. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/18 "2010-10-23T01:24:31Z")
Right-handed and clockwise, but if I’m trying to dissolve something I go clockwise, counter-clockwise, clockwise again. It goes faster with some changing-up. > [@WotNot](#): > > My mother seems to have a strong preference, though – more than once she’s commented that I’m “stirring the wrong way”, which I find utterly baffling. I can understand someone feeling that one direction or the other seems to come more naturally to them, but I can’t for the life of me imagine trying to enforce it on other people. Or even noticing which direction someone else is stirring something. > > One of these days I’ll have to ask her what difference she thinks it makes. Some folks are bothered by anything going [_widdershins_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widdershins). Unfortunately we drive that way in this country. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/19 "2010-10-23T02:15:25Z")
I stir with both hands and in any direction. When I’m mixing batter, I’ll typically use my right simply because it’s stronger and can hold up longer. But, I’ll stir clockwise and counter. If it’s a particularly thin batter, I’ll use my left hand. If I’m stirring something in a pot, I’ll use either hand and I’ll just as frequently go left to right, back to front, and around. Stirring is boring so I need variety. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014/20 "2010-10-23T02:38:31Z")
I stir in both directions and in a figure-8. Right handed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handedness-and-stirring-direction/558014.md?page=2)