# Professions where dominant hand makes a difference
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 6, 2022, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764 "2022-06-06T17:46:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/61 "2022-06-07T05:39:45Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> The enter key and the number pas are both on the right side.
And yet every PC game uses the WASD buttons for movement instead of the arrow keys on the numpad because it’s assumed the player will be using the mouse with their right hand.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/62 "2022-06-07T06:12:49Z")
> [@Smapti](#):
>
> And yet every PC game uses the WASD buttons for movement instead of the arrow keys on the numpad because it’s assumed the player will be using the mouse with their right hand.
Not specifically a profession, but how about a trackball mouse. Logitech makes a wonderful trackball mouse - but it is RIGHT HANDED ONLY. Ditto virtually every other one on the market. I finally found one left-handed version, but it’s an off brand (and my experience with off-brand right-handed ones is that they are simply not as good as Logitech’s).
Can’t remember whether this was an anecdote from the cataract surgery thread, or experience reported by a friend of mine - but the person mentioned having more pain in one eye versus the other after the various procedures - because of the doctor’s handedness. Results were fine in both cases, but it obviously affected the doc’s technique.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/63 "2022-06-07T06:39:02Z")
> [@dtilque](#):
>
> This isn’t well known, but software engineering too. Besides getting their lvalues and rvalues mixed up, lefty computer programmers have been known to use left-handed bytes. And it’s real bitch to debug the errors caused by those.
Never mind the programmers being left- or right-handed. The real trouble arises because the _computers_ are either left-handed or right-handed! There is no end of confusion in programming because some computers are “big-endian” and others are “little-endian” (let alone trying to remember which of those phrases is which). And let’s not even get started on the hassles of transferring data between one computer and another, or writing data to a mass medium (like magnetic tape) that might later be read into another computer.
It took a long long time for workable uniform standards to be developed, and I’m not entirely sure even that is a totally done project to this day.
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### Author:  [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/64 "2022-06-07T07:54:09Z")
Just remembered: I believe that there are two sports which can only be played right handed. Field hockey and arm wrestling. This was the answer to a quiz question, so sorry, no cite.
j
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/65 "2022-06-07T09:10:45Z")
Unless it’s a lefty arm-wrestling a lefty, but yes, that would be very rare.
As for field hockey, why can’t the player wield the stick left-ish?
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### Author:  [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/66 "2022-06-07T09:27:45Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> I’ve often wondered about stringed instrument players. It has always seemed to me that what the left hand does is much more complicated than what the right hand does.
That is the reason I play bass left-handed, even though I’m right-handed. The fretting hand needs dexterity and strength, and I couldn’t imagine leaving that kind of job to my clumsier, weaker hand.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/67 "2022-06-07T11:45:23Z")
Speaking of violins: why can’t a competent luthier convert a righty to a lefty by swapping out bridge and nut? What else is there?
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/68 "2022-06-07T11:53:57Z")
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> As for field hockey, why can’t the player wield the stick left-ish?
Former player here. It’s just not permitted. It would cause significant complication with tackling in a leftie vs rightie interaction.
That complication could no doubt be overcome, but it’s just a peculiarity of the game and the rules that it’s not permitted.
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### Author:  [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/69 "2022-06-07T12:04:04Z")
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> As for field hockey, why can’t the player wield the stick left-ish?
Here’s the what: [Field hockey - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_hockey#Rules_and_play)
> The flat side is always on the “natural” side for a right-handed person swinging the stick at the ball from right to left. Left-handed sticks are rare, but available; however they are pointless as the rules forbid their use in a game.
As for the why, other googling suggests that the rationale is that players flailing away from all angles is considered too dangerous (and is therefore the preferred option for ice hockey.) (Joke.)
Bizarre aside: I mentioned that I knew this from a quiz question; the quiz was, of all things, a hockey club social event: What’s the only sport that has to be player right-handed? (Next question: _Name the sport - six letters, starts with H, rhymes with Jockey._ No, I jest - but come on…) One wag - presumably annoyed at having his intelligence so profoundly insulted - answered “arm wrestling”. As the “correct” answer was hockey, there was then an angry exchange about whether an answer as obviously right as arm wrestling should also be allowed. Long story short, yes it was.
And PS: disclaimer - we were only there because the hockey club shared premises with our cricket club. /aside.
j
ETA: Kinda ninja’d. Hi there @Princhester!
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### Author:  [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/70 "2022-06-07T12:04:43Z")
I always found it odd that left hand bowlers tend to have a style unique to lefties. Nothing like just reversing a right hand style.
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/71 "2022-06-07T12:14:53Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#):
>
> As for the why, other googling suggests that the rationale is that players flailing away from all angles is considered too dangerous (and is therefore the preferred option for ice hockey.) (Joke.)
The issue is that in field hockey - unlike ice hockey - one is only allowed to use one side of the stick - namely the left side of the stick when you have it in hand. Which means that you tend to dribble with the ball to your right. As a right hander, to use your stick to your left side you have to twist it 180 degrees so that the tip is upside down, known as reverse stick. Playing reverse stick is disadvantageous, though good players do it all the time.
For a left hander to tackle a right hander head on, he would either have to:
- tackle across the right hander’s legs (dangerous, almost impossible to do without incurring a penalty)
- tackle back stick, which is damn hard
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/72 "2022-06-07T12:43:04Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> Speaking of violins: why can’t a competent luthier convert a righty to a lefty by swapping out bridge and nut? What else is there?
> Its set up needs to be reversed, with strings and bridge the other way round. Internally, the bass bar and sound post need to be moved to the opposite side to produce a comparative tone quality, and whilst the violin body is designed symmetrically, the peg box will need to be rebuilt and the neck tilt may need to be readjusted.
[https://www.violinschool.com/knowledgebase/the-left-handed-violinist/](https://www.violinschool.com/knowledgebase/the-left-handed-violinist/)
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/73 "2022-06-07T13:09:30Z")
Dentistry.
Think about the way dental drills & equipment are laid out.
Southpaws have a real handicap, there.
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### Author:  [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/74 "2022-06-07T14:20:02Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> I am starting to understand this. The left hand and right hand tend to do different things in piano music, is that correct?
@Velocity put it very well above/below. This is true for the majority of piano music. It tends to become less true the more advanced the music is; an excellent example is Chopin’s [“Revolutionary” etude](https://youtu.be/7VWHBHeNrg4) linked by @pulykamell above (different performance linked here).
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> ISTM that the majority of the time, the difficult stuff gets assigned to the right hand while the left hand is usually merely in the “supporting role” of playing chords or other things to make the RH stuff sound fuller or better. And this becomes especially prevalent with modern church-worship or pop music, where I’d guesstimate that 90% of such music is just the right hand carrying the main melody while the left hand provides supporting chord stuff.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/75 "2022-06-07T14:35:27Z")
The Revolutionary Etude example may be a little bit of a cheat, as it is an etude and it is expressly written to have those crazy, constantly moving left hand parts. That was the first one that came to mind, because I remember studying it a little bit in 8th grade, but I never got beyond maybe a quarter of the piece. It’s funny, because many years later, in college, I started composing a song with a much poppier feel, but the same type of octave-spanning constantly moving left hand part (in D flat major, so mostly black keys, which makes it a bit easier) and I didn’t realize until a few years ago that I was clearly subconsciously copying the idea of that etude.
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> I would have not expected this to matter based on handedness but I can see that it might affect how the music is composed based on mostly right handed pianists.
Well, I would say it’s not biased for the right hand because of right handed composers so much as that’s where the higher notes are. Typically, you have the melody in the highest register and all the support is behind it. Left hand is going to get the bass notes and handle much of the harmony, right hand is going to do melody and some of the harmony below the melody. Typically. There are times where the melody goes into the low register and is handled by the left hand.
I suppose it could have been possible to create a piano where the higher notes are to the left and the lower notes are to the right. Maybe if 90% of people were left-hand dominant, this is the way the instrument would have been originally built. I don’t know. I can’t think of a logical reason why left must equal lower and right must equal higher, but perhaps someone can help me on that one.
TLDR: It’s not the handedness of the pianists that really determines right-hand heavy piano pieces; it’s the layout of the piano and where melody and harmony typically find themselves in a piece of music.
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/76 "2022-06-07T15:28:52Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> Musician. A lot of musical instruments do come in left-handed versions, but they may not be easy to get your hands on. And some just don’t - the piano, for example.
Guitar teacher. I taught myself to play guitar left-handed. Later, when I started giving lessons, I found it was beneficial when teaching right-handed students (which most of them are) because my guitar neck is essentially a mirror image of theirs. So easier to visualize.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/77 "2022-06-07T16:29:32Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#):
>
> Later, when I started giving lessons, I found it was beneficial when teaching right-handed students (which most of them are) because my guitar neck is essentially a mirror image of theirs. So easier to visualize.
Cool idea. Maybe I could have learned to play the guitar if I could see what the instructor was doing while keeping an eye on my own fingers too. Naah, I have no musical ability whatsoever, even that wouldn’t have helped. My current instructor tells me that with a few more years of study I might develop a little skill with the kazoo.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/78 "2022-06-07T16:38:20Z")
> [@Smapti](#):
>
> The store I work in has 16 checkstands - eight of them are as you describe, but the other eight are facing the opposite way, with the feeder belt to the cashier’s left
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with the belt to the cashier’s right. Belt on their left seems to be standard around here. I’d assume that was at least originally the right-handed version, because the right hand works the cash register. Since scanners became ubiquitous maybe now it’s the other way around?
(Old person here; remembers when everything had a price on it, not a scanner code.)
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### Author:  [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/79 "2022-06-07T17:11:09Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#):
>
> Dentistry.
> Think about the way dental drills & equipment are laid out.
> Southpaws have a real handicap, there.
One of my dentists is left-handed. The first time we met she apologized for working from my left rather than the usual right, and she had to somewhat awkwardly stand between the chair and the equipment stand. Still, she did a marvelous job of installing a crown for me.
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2022, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professions-where-dominant-hand-makes-a-difference/965764/80 "2022-06-07T20:37:35Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#):
>
> I’m thinking that shopping lanes are made for right-handed cashiers?
Not at any of the supermarkets around here. The cashiers all sit back to back (slightly offset), so half of them are taking items off the conveyor with their left hands, and the other half with their right hands.
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