# Hmm. I’m apparently a 1%er **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 30, 2020, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275 "2020-10-30T05:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**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 30, 2020, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/1 "2020-10-30T05:12:18Z")
The thread on whether dogs have handedness got me looking at the Wikipedia article on handedness and I discovered I’m a 1%er. Around 90% of people are righties. Around 10% are lefties. And around 1% are cross-dominants. And even fewer are true ambies. (Yes, I know 90+10+1 =! 100%, but I assume there’s rounding going on.) It seems very low to me. > **[Handedness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjectively preferred, is called the non-dominant hand. In a study from 1975 on 7688 children in US grades 1-6, Left handers comprised 9.6% of the sample, with 10.5% of male children and 8.7% of female children being... And “cross-dominance” sounds more polite than “hand confusion”, another term for it, but “hand confusion” actually seems a more accurate description to me. I’m always trying to figure out which hand to use when cooking, or when trying a new task, like when the Cub and i tried archery a few months ago. > **[Cross-dominance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-dominance)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Cross-dominance, also known as mixed-handedness, hand confusion, or mixed dominance, is a motor skill manifestation in which a person favors one hand for some tasks and the other hand for others, or a hand and the contralateral leg. For example, a cross-dominant person might write with the right hand and do everything else with the left one, or manage and kick a ball preferentially with the left leg. > Overall, being mixed handed seems to result i... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/2 "2020-10-30T05:49:55Z")
I suppose that I might be considered cross-dominant – I’m right-handed, but my left eye is my dominant eye. I discovered this fact when I learned how to shoot a bow in high school, and the instructor started the training course by helping us figure out which of our eyes was dominant. I was terrible at hitting a baseball or softball until age 23, when my roommate (a former college baseball player) said, “If you’re left-eyed, I bet you could hit left-handed.” It took me 15 minutes to learn how to hit lefty, and within a few hours of practice, I was hitting the ball better than I ever had righty. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/3 "2020-10-30T06:25:14Z")
I guess I’m cross-dominant too. I write right-handed, but after that, I’m all over the place: hockey, left-handed; golf, right-handed; pool or snooker, either hand as required. I throw a baseball with my right hand, but can switch-hit without a problem. Most weirdly, I deal cards left-handed–I say “weirdly,” because when I was a child, we’d spend nights at the summer place up north (where we only had a radio for entertainment) playing cards, and nobody in my family dealt cards left-handed. Where did I get that from? ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/4 "2020-10-30T07:36:05Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I suppose that I might be considered cross-dominant – I’m right-handed, but my left eye is my dominant eye. Hm. I’ve never thought of that. I am right-handed but my left eye is my dominant eye too. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/5 "2020-10-30T08:44:26Z")
I’m cross dominant, but not innately. A brain injury 20 years ago has left me with some weakness and instability issues in my right arm. I write on a white board and carry full glasses or plates in my left hand, otherwise I’m a righty. ---
**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 30, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/6 "2020-10-30T13:40:37Z")
I’m cross-dominant too. I write, bat, and do most other things left handed, but I throw right handed. Though that may be due to the difficulty in obtaining a right handed baseball glove when I was a kid, forcing me to catch with the left & throw with the right. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/7 "2020-10-30T14:39:03Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Most weirdly, I deal cards left-handed–I say “weirdly,” because when I was a child, we’d spend nights at the summer place up north (where we only had a radio for entertainment) playing cards, and nobody in my family dealt cards left-handed. Where did I get that from? I am not even sure which way is right handed and which is left handed. I am right handed for everything else, but deal either way indifferently to the point I don’t know which is which. I guess I could ask my wife to deal and observe. I have a son who is right handed in everything, but bats left. I wonder whether that happened because he played left wing in hockey well before he ever batted a baseball. But even more surprising was an uncle who was right handed in everything except he threw left handed. That was an annoyance because he need a left hander’s glove. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/8 "2020-10-31T04:55:14Z")
I’ll be honest, I don’t think ambidexterity actually exists. When people claim to be ambidextrous they generally come off as right-handed people who have taught themselves to use their left hands as well as the average left-handed person can use their right given they were forced to learn how to because of the design of most everyday objects. ---
**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 31, 2020, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/9 "2020-10-31T07:12:24Z")
I’m cross-dominant too. Although I write and paint with my right hand, I do many things as a lefty. I guess this is the reason I play string instruments so well; each hand/arm has totally different things to do, yet they have to be perfectly coordinated. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/10 "2020-10-31T07:38:41Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > > I suppose that I might be considered cross-dominant – I’m right-handed, but my left eye is my dominant eye. > > Hm. I’ve never thought of that. > I am right-handed but my left eye is my dominant eye too. That’s about 18% of us. The right brain generally controls the left side of the body, and the left brain generally controls the right side of the body. But the eyes are controlled by both halves of the brain. [World leader in prescription lenses | Essilor US](https://www.essilorusa.com/newsroom/right-or-left-does-one-side-of-your-brain-control-your-vision) > Much of the human brain is arranged in a way that the right half of the brain controls the left half of the body and vice versa. For example, information about touch and pain coming from the right half of the body goes to the left hemisphere of the brain; and muscle movements of the left side of the body come from the brain’s right hemisphere. > > But the eyes are an exception to this rule. Since we have two eyes we have two optic nerves that eventually meet at the optic chiasm, centrally located near the pituitary gland. At this point, each nerve then splits again so that both halves of the brain receive information from each eye. [Eye Dominance | Cross-Dominance Facts About Your Eyes — Shanbom Eye Specialist](https://www.shanbomeye.com/2015/03/31/facts-eye-dominance/) : > Sixty-five percent of people have a dominant eye that is the same as their dominant hand. That is, if they’re right handed, their dominant eye is their right eye (or left eye if they’re left-handed). > > Eighteen percent of people are cross dominant, with their dominant eye different from their dominant hand. Interestingly, 17 percent of people have no identifiable dominant eye. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/11 "2020-10-31T08:02:52Z")
Another one who is right-handed whose left eye is dominant. Discovered that when somebody wanted me to learn to shoot a rifle. I am equally bad and throwing and batting. But when I started babysitting I realized that carrying a baby left-handed is more natural to me. Baby didn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/12 "2020-10-31T16:18:25Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > That’s about 18% of us. The right brain generally controls the left side of the body, and the left brain generally controls the right side of the body. But the eyes are controlled by both halves of the brain. [World leader in prescription lenses | Essilor US](https://www.essilorusa.com/newsroom/right-or-left-does-one-side-of-your-brain-control-your-vision) Interesting – I had not realized that it was that common. Thank you for sharing that! > [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > Another one who is right-handed whose left eye is dominant. Discovered that when somebody wanted me to learn to shoot a rifle. The one and only time I used a shotgun was a couple of decades ago, at a conference for my then-employer. We were at a resort, and we had an afternoon for recreational activities; I decided to sign up for skeet shooting. Knowing that my left eye is dominant, I mentioned this to the person running the session, and he showed me how to hold the shotgun left-handed. What I discovered, when I started actually shooting, was that the shotgun discharged the empty shells to the right, which meant that I had a hot shotgun shell flinging past my face every time I pulled the trigger. Exciting! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/13 "2020-11-02T09:40:15Z")
Don’t most lefties _have_ to be cross-dominant? It’s required to thrive in a righty world. We can’t get left-handed versions of everything and must manage the switch in order to thrive. I’m a lefty in everything I can be, but I manage with guns, scissors, and a host of other objects because I must. I can’t wait for a left-handed version and need to move on. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/14 "2020-11-02T21:28:06Z")
I have a brother who is left-handed. Another brother is right-handed, but shoots pool with his left hand because he was taught by our grandfather, who was left-handed. I’m right-handed, and can’t do much with my left hand. Except play ping-pong; when I was in college I used to start off playing with my right hand, and then at some point switch hands just to mess with my opponent’s mind. ---
**Author:** ![dummygladhands71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@dummygladhands71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dummygladhands71)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/15 "2020-11-02T21:32:41Z")
I write & eat with the left. Everything else right. When I broke my right elbow I discovered that I CAN’T brush my teeth with my left hand. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmm-i-m-apparently-a-1-er/924275/16 "2020-11-03T01:52:50Z")
When that happened to me I got an electric toothbrush and never looked back.