# If you had to lose either an arm or a leg, what would it be? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 8, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-lose-either-an-arm-or-a-leg-what-would-it-be/298405 "2005-04-08T16:04:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-lose-either-an-arm-or-a-leg-what-would-it-be/298405/21 "2005-04-08T21:59:46Z")
Left arm. If I don’t get to chose which side, then leg. I’m pretty sure I could learn to type on a one-handed Dvorak keyboard much better than I could learn to dance on a prosthesis. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-lose-either-an-arm-or-a-leg-what-would-it-be/298405/22 "2005-04-08T22:03:04Z")
I love playing bass so I would definitely choose to lose the leg. ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-lose-either-an-arm-or-a-leg-what-would-it-be/298405/23 "2005-04-08T22:40:38Z")
> [@pool](#): > > I love playing bass so I would definitely choose to lose the leg. Me too. Not only do I love it, but have even been paid for it once or twice. I love to run and play sports too, so this makes the question rather difficult. I will have to go with leg on the info. presented by **Brynda**. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-lose-either-an-arm-or-a-leg-what-would-it-be/298405/24 "2005-04-09T00:33:11Z")
Leg. A few years ago I tried to take an air conditioner out of a window by myself. My hands slipped and both arms went through the glass, resulting in 50 stitches in my left wrist and 19 in my right arm. Knew I was cut right off, but not how badly, so I ran in the bathroom and stuck my arms under running water. Nasty. The last thing I remember is looking at the tendons in my left wrist and thinking 'Wow, that’s really neat!" Fortunately a friend was there or I would have died from blood loss. After being stitched up, sitting at home in my recliner - it was awful. For the first few days - till the swelling went down in my right arm - I was helpless. Couldn’t bathe myself, couldn’t brush my teeth, couldn’t wipe my…you get the picture. I am very lucky - Mr. SCL is a RN so at least he was used to physically caring for helpless people. Definitely leg. The worst part about breaking a bone in my foot was having to hang the leg out of the tub while I took a bath. And sitting front row at a hockey game the night I forgot to put the big stretched-out sock over my poor little piggy toes. They were blue by the end of the game! ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-lose-either-an-arm-or-a-leg-what-would-it-be/298405/25 "2005-04-09T14:56:02Z")
Leg, for the reasons already mentioned plus it would make my john-thomas look bigger. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-lose-either-an-arm-or-a-leg-what-would-it-be/298405/26 "2005-04-10T01:53:28Z")
I must go against the consensus and say Arm - preferably Left Arm. The dang thing isn’t good for much anyway, I can’t even open a pop bottle with my left hand. If I had a choice I would say just lop it off. ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-lose-either-an-arm-or-a-leg-what-would-it-be/298405/27 "2005-04-10T05:49:21Z")
Well, as someone who lost a leg above the knee 18 years ago, I will definitely say leg. I am still able to work in my profession without much of a problem. (Just don’t throw my leg on the roof and hide the ladder 🙂 I couldn’t imagine losing an arm (shudder) ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-lose-either-an-arm-or-a-leg-what-would-it-be/298405/28 "2005-04-10T05:57:37Z")
Leg, no question about it. You need two hands to play most video games, especially FPS games. You can’t drive a stick shift one-armed. And if I lost my right arm, it’d be like losing a wife of 13 years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-lose-either-an-arm-or-a-leg-what-would-it-be/298405.md?page=1)