# Peculiar left-handed behavior **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931 "2003-01-11T08:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/1 "2003-01-11T08:18:40Z")
Fellow left-handers: Do you read magazines, catalogs, or whatever, from back to front? I’ve taken it a little further – I sometimes read newspaper articles from the inside carry-over, and work my way back to the beginning of the article on the front page. Tell me I’m not an abberation! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/2 "2003-01-11T08:20:33Z")
I do that sometimes but not usually. It kind of makes sense, though. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/3 "2003-01-11T10:31:34Z")
Catalogs, yes. Magazines, no. I used to read holding the books upside-down, too…no, no…not facing the spine… ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/4 "2003-01-11T14:30:39Z")
No, why would I do that? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/5 "2003-01-11T15:18:40Z")
Only in the shops! It means that it doesn’t look as if you’re actually reading but only browsing. ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/6 "2003-01-11T16:21:54Z")
Funny you should ask. I use to peruse material in that fashion regularly but can’t remember employing that habit in some time. Brain damage? Actually reading that way doesn’t make any sense to me though. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/7 "2003-01-11T16:34:26Z")
I’m right-handed and I do that from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/8 "2003-01-11T16:56:06Z")
I got into the habit of reading from right to left from reading mangas and then found it to be easier than reading it the other way. I’m right handed and I still have a tendency to do this with catalogues all the time. Magazines not as much, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/9 "2003-01-11T17:59:50Z")
my wife is left handed and she agrees, a lot of time she reads magazines from back to front. She had some crazy explanation for it (like picking it up with your left hand and it falls to the back when it opens). ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/10 "2003-01-11T18:22:40Z")
I’m a leftie. I will flip through a book or magazine back-to-front when I’m just skimming, looking for something to read or the place where I most recently left off. Same with books of poems and short stories. I “read” catalogues backwards about half the time. However, I read newspapers the “right way.” ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/11 "2003-01-11T20:02:22Z")
Nope, front to back here. I do lay the magazine down on a flat surface and turn the pages left-handed though. ---
**Author:** ![twelfthsign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@twelfthsign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twelfthsign)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/12 "2003-01-11T20:13:13Z")
I do. I do. I do. ---
**Author:** ![twelfthsign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@twelfthsign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twelfthsign)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/13 "2003-01-11T20:16:11Z")
But yes, Newspapers are read the way they must be. ---
**Author:** ![Orange\_Skinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/14 "2003-01-11T20:38:13Z")
I almost always do that with magazines and catalogues, and occastionally with newspapers. I do tests from last question to first, too. I’m right-handed though. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/15 "2003-01-11T21:39:37Z")
I flip through magazines & catalogs from front to back sometimes. In school I _always_ sat at right handed desks, which once in a while really pissed off a rightie stuck at a leftie desk. But hey! I grew up on right handed desks, why should _I_ get stuck with a backward one? Besides with my “over the top” leftie writing style the right handed desks made more sense anyway. Except for scantrons, I _never_ use a pencil. I once had a math prof. who insisted that we use pencils, so that we could erase our mistakes instead of scratching them out. So I brought one with no eraser. If my writing hand is going to be a graphite covered mess, so is her damn test. Bitch. Whenever someone gives me a clipboard, I always turn it upside down, along with the paper, so that I don’t have that damn clip in the way. I never change it back, so they get it the way I’m forced to use it. Wanna hear a crazy story? My dad’s older brother was left handed. His grade school teacher _forced_ him to learn to write right handed. When the folks finally found out, they gave the principal a real talking to. So the teacher decided she’d never make that mistake again: she forced my dad to learn to write left handed, even though he’s right handed. He’s still a left handed writer to this day. ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/16 "2003-01-11T23:58:26Z")
I’m left-handed and read magazines and catalogs back to front. It drives my husband nuts. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/17 "2003-01-12T01:35:40Z")
When my Dad’s Dad was in school, it was common for the teachers to force left-handers to write right-handed. It didn’t stop him from writing left-handed whenever he could and my Dad says he wrote very well either way. I’m right-handed but I find it interesting that when I’m working with something tiny, like beads, I feel most comfortable using my left hand as the principle hand. ---
**Author:** ![Themis00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/13edae/32.png) [@Themis00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Themis00)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/18 "2003-01-12T04:37:38Z")
I’m not left-handed, but I sure have peculiar behavior. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/19 "2003-01-12T04:52:54Z")
My mom always reads the paper backwards, and she’s right-handed. My left-handed brother reads 'em frontwards. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931/20 "2003-01-12T05:32:18Z")
I’m right handed but left eyed and left eared. I cannot talk on the phone if I have the receiver against my right ear–I can hear the conversation but the words will be meaningless to me. Likewise I can look through binoculars or telescopes with my right eye and see the images but they don’t make any sense to me; I have to look at them with my left eye to interpret them. My father was born left handed but his parents made him use his right hand to write. His only odd habit is that he talks to himself (and I do that too.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-left-handed-behavior/147931.md?page=2)