When I wring out a cloth, I turn my wrists in opposite directions (obviously). What feels natural to me is to turn my left wrist so that the knuckles go down and away… if I were turning a screwdriver, I would be loosening the screw. And therefore my right wrist turns so that the knuckles come up and towards me… once again, if I were turning a screwdriver, I’d be loosening the screw. Thus, I’m calling this wringing style “loosening the screw”, and the opposite motion (i.e., left knuckles upwards and towards you, right knuckles down and away) would be “tightening the screw”. With me so far?
So… which do you do? Or do both motions feel equally “right”?
If by tightening the screw you mean that both ends go clockwise, then that’s what I do. But it’s extremely rare that I wring anything out. A beach towel that’s been repeatedly splashed on by kids might be the only time.
Mainly, I’m curious to see if there’s an association between handedness and wringing. My hypothesis was that right-handed people would tend to do it one way and left-handed people the other. So far, not much support for that. But hey, either way, ignorance gets fought.
I’m right handed, but have little problem using my left hand for almost anything.
When I wring, I twist my right hand away from me…I think you are calling that “tighten the screw”, and my left hand rotates toward me…again, “tighten the screw”. I try to twist as far with both hands as possible, so the amount of twist and force are equal for both hands, but in different directions.
And just to complicate things, sometimes I do a mirror image of what I just described…it feels fine.
Not sure if my wringing method fits your poll selections, so I chose "both motions equally natural
Uh, I just squish the thing into a ball in one hand, and repeat a couple times. If I need to get it any dryer, I wouldn’t have been wringing it. So I voted other.
I guess if I was doing it, I’d twist my right hand forward and my left hand back, as that’s a lot easier. I’m right handed.
I voted right handed both feel natural. I wring things out frequently and I always start by tightening the screw and fold it in half and loosen the screw. I then unwring it and completely reverse the process (loosen, fold, tighten). That method seems to achieve the best results for me.
Left-handed: I voted “all others” since none of the other choices fit. I hold the cloth with my left hand, and move my right hand so the knuckles are away and down. My left hand doesn’t usually move much (purposely, it does jostle towards me a bit), it just stabilizes the thing I’m trying to wring out.
Wow I’m surprised. I thought for sure I’d vote “left-handed, loosen the screw” but I just went to try it and it’s the opposite. I mean, I’m still left-handed but I twist the other way.
Now it’s looking like possible strong support. The righties are running 10-to-1 in favor of tightening the screw (and a few who said “either way” or “other” included comments that I would probably code as tightening the screw), which is really quite dramatic. But the lefties are all over the place and anyway there’s not enough of them to draw a conclusion. Somehow I thought we had more lefties here!
I thought about this, went through it in my head, and voted tighten the screw. I paid attention this morning, and I was wrong. I loosen the screw. Sorry.
So -1 for right handed, tighten and +1 for right-handed, loosen.
I’m right-handed and I use the right had to twist in what I think is the way you’re describing, but my left wrist has a limited range of motion, so I don’t really turn that at all.
I sat here as I read the question and pantomimed the action, determining that I ‘tighten the screw’. But just to doublecheck, I got up and went into the kitchen to get a towel (O, the lengths I will go to in the name of science!)…and found that in practice I ‘loosen the screw’. I’m right-handed.