I found this survey online asking how left-handed you are. It includes a link to an analysis of the test results so far, but the analysis only includes the results for people who answered that they were left-handed. I’m interested in hearing how common it is for right-handed people to do certain things with their left hand/side.
If you don’t want to click through to the link, here are the questions:
Which hand do you use for:
Writing
Cutting with scissors
Holding a bat one-handed
Eating with a spoon
Holding a toothbrush
Brushing your hair
Which eye do you use for looking through a telescope?
Which ear do you use when talking on the phone?
Which foot do you use when kicking a ball?
Fold your arms in front of you – which arm is on top?
When you start clapping your hands, which hand is on top?
Clasp your hands behind you back with one hand holding the other wrist - which hand is doing the holding?
Which hand do you throw a ball with?
Which hand do you use to turn the pages in a book?
Using a bat or club two-handed, which hand is on the bottom (nearest the hitting end of the bat) when holding the bat down towards the ground? If this is your left, you will be facing to your right looking over your right shoulder to see the ball coming.
Thanks in advance to anyone who answers!
(You can stop reading now if you want, but in case you’re wondering my personal interest in all this: I’m completely left-foot dominant but right-handed. As a child, I remember struggling tremendously with my handwriting to the point where I got special permission to use a computer to do my spelling homework because my handwriting was too illegible for the teacher to read. In middle school, I remember doing an exercise in science class where you cross out as many X’s as you can with each hand in a certain amount of time. The difference between the performance of your left and right hand shows how dominant one hand is over the other, and I remember my scores being closer to one another than all but one of my classmates. My answer to a few of these questions was my left hand, and so I’m just trying to figure out if using my left hand for some of these things is significant or just something most people do.)
I can’t fill it out online, because it doesn’t give any options for “both”; it always assumes you use either left or right hand, not that you use both.
Oh well I was actually hoping you would tell me your answers to the individual questions. I am more curious about how common it is to, say, turn pages with left hand than your overall percentage.
Pretty much all right hand here. With an exception. Left hand for phone, especially at work. I take notes with my right hand.
Drives me crazy when I see a right handed person have the phone on the right side of their desk. Makes no sense. They cradle the phone between their ear and their shoulder on the right side so they can take notes with their right hand.
That is a brilliant idea that I just tried to implement. I had to go look at the instructions on the sticky note since I forgot how to insert a poll, but it doesn’t look like the polling feature is robust enough to post multiple questions for which you can only choose one answer for each question. All you can do is post one master question and a choice of answers. Either that, or it’s entirely possible and I just don’t know how.
Ah, then i won’t bother. Except for some “high skill” items that I’ve practiced a lot, like writing, i mostly use both hands (well, either hand) for most tasks.
Writing – left, except when i broke my left wrist in highschool and had to learn to use my right. So i can do both, but I’m much better with the left.
Cutting with scissors – generally the right hand. That was a deliberate choice in kindergarten, where they had incredibly dull left-handed scissors and useful right-handed scissors. But i can cut my nails with nail scissors with either hand.
Holding a bat one-handed – I’ve tried both and never got any good either way.
Eating with a spoon – the side it was set on. Typically my left if I’m just eating soup or cereal, but sometimes my right if I’m using my phone while i eat.
Holding a toothbrush – both. I switch hands to clean the other side of my mouth.
Brushing your hair --usually both again
Which eye do you use for looking through a telescope? – I’m strongly right-eyed
Which ear do you use when talking on the phone? – usually the right, but i often switch during a long phone call for ergonomic reasons.
Which foot do you use when kicking a ball? – i don’t remember. Like bats, i probably used both when i was playing kick ball. I’d use either if a ball was in my way .
Fold your arms in front of you – which arm is on top? It varies, neither feels obviously right.
When you start clapping your hands, which hand is on top? – left
Clasp your hands behind you back with one hand holding the other wrist - which hand is doing the holding? -right
Which hand do you throw a ball with? – like other sports, i tried both and never got good at either.
Which hand do you use to turn the pages in a book? – the one that’s not holding the book. And i switch hands as one gets tired.
Using a bat or club two-handed, which hand is on the bottom (nearest the hitting end of the bat) when holding the bat down towards the ground? If this is your left, you will be facing to your right looking over your right shoulder to see the ball coming. – dunno
I’m like this too. Very right-side dominant, except for things like phone use, where I’m very accustomed to needing my right hand free for tasks like taking notes that require greater dexterity than simply holding the phone against my head.
I have a great deal of trouble with telescopes, microscopes, etc. due to wearing glasses and being so severely near-sighted that I’m hopeless at just about any visual task if I’m not wearing them.
Writing - mainly right, but can do left in a pinch
Cutting with scissors - right, because all the scissors in my house are right-handed
Holding a bat one-handed - I don’t hold bats; I’m not Batman.
Eating with a spoon - left
Holding a toothbrush - both - left hand to brush teeth on right side of the mouth, switch to right hand to brush teeth on the left side
Brushing your hair - either, depending on the mood
Which eye do you use for looking through a telescope? - I don’t.
Which ear do you use when talking on the phone? - left if I need to take notes, otherwise whichever seems comfortable at the time.
Which foot do you use when kicking a ball? - either
Fold your arms in front of you – which arm is on top? - left
When you start clapping your hands, which hand is on top? - depends on my mood and the moment
Clasp your hands behind you back with one hand holding the other wrist - which hand is doing the holding? depends on the moment in time
Which hand do you throw a ball with? - either
Which hand do you use to turn the pages in a book? - either
Using a bat or club two-handed, which hand is on the bottom (nearest the hitting end of the bat) when holding the bat down towards the ground? - I don’t; see Batman comment. When using a hockey stick, it depends if I’m playing left wing or right wing.
ETA: the question they didn’t ask : I have my computer set up in the centre of the desk, with room to take notes on the right hand side, and my mouse is on the left.
I agree, but my office set-up means that the phone has to be on the right side of the desk, close to the wall and the jack. I can’t put it on the left side, which is a desk top away from the wall.
I wondered at that omission, too, since that’s a big one these days. At work i always used my left hand for the mouse, and set it up left-handed. But when i decided to learn to play video games, my son convinced me it would be better to learn to use the mouse with my right hand, since the games are designed this way. (You usually are expected to have your other hand on the keyboard.) I’ve been doing this, and i think my lack of right-handed mouse skills is one of the reasons I’m clumsy in video games. But I’m getting better at it.
I’m right handed and do all the activities listed right handed. When smoking a joint or pipe I hold it in my left hand, which I think is to allow my right hand to be free to use a lighter.
I use chopsticks for most meals, holding them in my right hand, but if I use a knife, it’s sticks in the left hand and knife in the right.
NSFW:
Summary
Can I mention masturbation, because I primarily do that left handed, no idea why?
With the exception of the phone question, every other question felt like there was a clear right and wrong answer and it felt weird if I tried to use the other hand. Also, I don’t ever use the mouse on my left side. I once shared a desk with a woman who was left-handed, and every time I sat down the first thing I did was move the mouse back to the right-hand side.
My answers to the questions are all right hand. The only exception is the phone. If I’m at work I use my left because I’m usually writing something at the same time. Any other time I use my right.
I’m about the most right-dominant person out there; I can’t do a damn thing with my left hand, not brush my teeth, not comb my hair. It feels like somebody else’s arm is trying to do these things. But weirdly, I’m able to use my left hand in piano as articulately as most any casual player.
I use my right for almost everything. My entire right side is considerably stronger than my left. Yet I suspect I was born a natural southpaw. With my right hand in a cast people told me my handwriting was legible. I don’t say ‘more’ legible because according to most people my right handed handwriting is not legible at all. I think my fine coordination is better with my left hand also. After so long using my right for everything I don’t think there’s any way I could switch to my left to see how it work out.