# Happy International Left-Handers Day **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 13, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974 "2003-08-13T18:41:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/41 "2003-08-14T02:42:16Z")
It’s also an easy way to tell **Lobsang** that he needs to shut up. ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/42 "2003-08-14T02:53:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Narrad \* > \*\* > (Here’s an easy way to [count](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/misc.php?action=whoposted&threadid=204390) number of individual posters to the thread) \*\* Ok, sorry for sounding like a doofus… but how’d you find that ‘Who Posted’ list? 'Coz it’s gonna unlock hours of fun… ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/43 "2003-08-14T03:00:05Z")
Press the post count on the main forum page. It’s a link. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/44 "2003-08-14T03:07:38Z")
wow Lobsang has ten left hands (this must be related to that funny triskele thing they have on their flag). I only have one. 26! ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/45 "2003-08-14T03:11:41Z")
Couldn’t find the bugger. Where’s it positioned? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/46 "2003-08-14T03:22:21Z")
It’s under ‘Replies’ It’s the blue number that reperesents the number of people who’ve posted in the thread. Click the number. And then go and play the Ctrl-v game because it’s the best SDMB game idea ever! ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/47 "2003-08-14T03:31:36Z")
Crap. Right (ahem… left) under my nose all this time… thanks. ---
**Author:** ![maleinblack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@maleinblack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maleinblack)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/48 "2003-08-14T10:57:03Z")
Number 27 checking in. Considering the fact that there are lot of smart people who are lefty, dont we deserve something more than one day in a whole year? ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/49 "2003-08-14T11:41:54Z")
Number err… umm… aw heck, way up there checking in. Did anybody else find the balloons floating all over the lefty page as annoying as I did? It had to be a righty plot to mess up the page! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/50 "2003-08-14T12:04:32Z")
Happy Left-handed Day to Usssss Happy Left-handed Day to Usssss Happy Left-handed Day Dear Ussssses Happy Left-handed Day to Ussssssssssssssss Years and years ago I was thrilled to find a pump shotgun that didn’t eject the shells across your face. (Ithaca model 27). That used to bug me. I like left-handed scissors. Also the righties don’t borrow them. I use a mouse right-handed only because I adapted to how “everybody else” used them. Bat right. Play hockey right, everything else left. Interestingly, a lot of right handed hockey players play lefty. Check out the number of left and right sticks at the sporting goods store. [sub] **auntnut** Are we related?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/51 "2003-08-14T12:06:59Z")
Say…you lefties seem like a great bunch of folks. But you can’t count worth a damn! Do you use your right hands for that? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/52 "2003-08-14T12:32:30Z")
Chiming in again to say how incredibly lefty I am. 🙂 I do pretty much everything with my left hand–I eat lefty, bat lefty, drive lefty, smoke lefty (unless I’m in the passenger seat), and so on. I _do_ use the mouse righty, but that’s just because they never have those convenient keyboard trays with the mouse-spot on the left side! I carry my purse on my right side (which is actually a bad move, since most pickpockets are righties) to leave my left hand free for more important errands. The only thing I do regularly with my right hand is … never mind. I’m also left-foot dominant, which caused me all _sorts_ of trouble in dance classes when I was younger. It took me three years to learn I needed to start on the right foot, and I can’t even tell you how many times the whole class had to start over in a rehearsal because I spun the wrong way. It got easier in high-school marching band, where we were _supposed_ to start on the left foot, but by then I’d already been conditioned to start on the right! I’ve been told it’s unusual that I’m also left-eye dominant, but I have a secret belief that the doctor that told me that was just a jealous righty and didn’t know what he was talking about. Are there any other lefties out there with righty parents who had problems as kids? I’m so severely left-handed and my parents and brother so severely the opposite that they had to get the guy down the street to teach me to tie my shoes. But the lefty scissors in first grade were _always_ the sharpest, because nobody but me could use them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/53 "2003-08-14T13:12:06Z")
Ah, well, since we’re doing dominance roll-call (sounds kinky…) Left-hand, foot, ear, eye, hell-probably left nostril too for all I know. **Lobsang** , I Read Somewhere ™ that many lefties are what’s called _cross-dominant_, that is, they do, say, the small-motor things like writing with their left hand, hence they call themselves left-handed, but they do most large-motor things, like baseball and golfing, right-handed. I’ve also read that more males are cross-dominant than females. _\_ **MamaTiger** , you can get your left-handed keyboard at any of the following: [http://www.hallogram.com/lefthand/?source=googleIM](http://www.hallogram.com/lefthand/?source=googleIM) [http://www.fentek-ind.com/modular.htm](http://www.fentek-ind.com/modular.htm) And for you UK lefties: [http://www.posturite.co.uk/update/products/3545hw.shtml](http://www.posturite.co.uk/update/products/3545hw.shtml) (Or you can just google on “left-handed keyboard”) Warning: they’re kinda pricey! **Draelin** One lefty parent and one righty. My (righty) mom had a heck of a time teaching me how to tie my shoes. My dad wears loafers - no help there. They finally had to have my mom’s left-handed mom teach me how to tie my shoes. I _hated_ the lefty scissors. They were never sharp. I also despise sewing machines. It’s a love-hate thing: I love my sewing machine but I _hate_ that it’s set up for a righty. The pisser is, I’ve used it for so long that even if I got a custom-made machine that’s made for a lefty, I’d probably not be able to use it at this point. Gr. I have two mouses. Mice. Computer Pointy Things: one for my PC, and one for my UNIX workstation. I PC-mouse left and UNIX-mouse right because it’s a royal pain in the ASS to get the UNIX mouse to go left. Plus my under-the-desk mouse tray is on the right hand side. Mouse for home is righty because DogDad is right-handed and it’s his computer that I borrow on the rare occasions I need it. ---
**Author:** ![RNWebner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@RNWebner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RNWebner)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/54 "2003-08-15T03:36:34Z")
Number 29, here. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/55 "2003-08-15T17:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lobsang \* > \*\*Are there people here who are actually ambidexterous and not realizing it _hint hint_? > > I hate to say this and I apologise to anyone it applies to but it bugs me (slightly) when I hear people say “I am left handed” and then list loads of things they do with their right hand. > > \*\* Given the fact that far more people start out lefties than are by the time they’re adults- something like 35% vs 11-14%- it seems more likely that a lot, if not all “ambidexterous” people are those missing lefties. ---
**Author:** ![carimwc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@carimwc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carimwc)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/56 "2003-08-15T19:20:58Z")
I think I’m #30 here. _waves_ All my immediate family is left-handed. It makes for lots of fun when my boyfriend and I go to visit the 'rents. He’s the odd one out. I use lefty scissors all the time. I do use the mouse right-handed at work, but that’s the way it’s set up and I can’t change it. I kick with my right foot but that’s about it. The rest is all lefty. Who else turns their paper 90 degrees when they write? Anyone? It’s the only way I can write in a straight line due to the way I was taught. Ahh the leftie smudge. ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/57 "2003-08-15T20:15:00Z")
Oooh, the leftie smudge. I had the WORST time with this in college - I was working toward a degree in Auto Design. One instructor **insisted** we start on the LEFT side of our page (front of the car). I explained that I was left-handed, and the fact that he also insisted on _extremely_ soft pencil lead (to make it DARKER dontchaknow) would cause me to smudge my drawing and could I please start mine from the right side of the page and just have a backward car (or start from the back of the car). NO, of course not, because (believe it or not) I was the ONLY leftie in the class and he had designed this requirement SPECIFICALLY so there would be less smudging of the pages and he furthermore didn’t believe me. I must’ve spent half my time in that class erasing smudges. And I still got a lousy grade on that assignment thanks to the smudging. _sigh_ Oh, well, it’s much better doing this stuff on the computer now anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Shill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@Shill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shill)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974/58 "2003-08-15T20:42:09Z")
Another lefty here - and someone else who turns their paper 90 degrees. People always look at me oddly but I love fountain pens and if I did it any other way I’d just leave a big blue smudge. I heard that left-handed people are often either more stupid or more intelligent than the average (right-handed) populace - wonder if that rule applies to the lefties on this thread? I use my mouse right handed but have never really got the hang of right-handed scissors - I usually use them with my left hand and get really bruised from putting all my fingers through the thumb-hole. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-international-left-handers-day/194974.md?page=2)