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.
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.
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
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?
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.
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?
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.
Here’s the what: Field hockey - Wikipedia
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!
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.
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:
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tackle across the right hander’s legs (dangerous, almost impossible to do without incurring a penalty)
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tackle back stick, which is damn hard
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/
Dentistry.
Think about the way dental drills & equipment are laid out.
Southpaws have a real handicap, there.
@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 linked by @pulykamell above (different performance linked here).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.