Welcome to our lefty information section
We have built up a huge library of information about lefthanders and being left-handed over the past 25 years and we are adding it all to this website so you can share it, add your own comments and advice and pass it on to others.
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My husband, son and I are all left handed and my two daughters are right handed. It was difficult trying to teach them how to tie shoes etc.. Is it unusual for there to be 3 left handed people in one family and out number the right handed?
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why do right handed people do everything with theirs right but left handers do only somethings. my left handed friends throw, cut ando other stuff with their right and i do EVERYTHING with my left. i dont know anybody else that does more than 5 things with their left. 0_o
U are not da onli one.
I do everytin with ma left hand and even with futball I cannot use ma rit leg so
dont b worried
I dnt knw but is like I cant do anitin with ma rit hand.any help for ME???????
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I would like to order a full set of silverware for my 4 yr old grandson
I have a research about the role of left handedness in learning new languages. I hope you can help me.
Why Lefties are smarter:
Call it conceit, but it turns out that the average IQ of left-handed people is about 30 points higher than for right handed people.
There are a few reasons for this, I would like to discuss them:
(Remember that lefties use the right hemisphere of the brain, and righties the left.)
1) The right-hemisphere of the brain handles abstract concepts better:
Your left-brain is all logic and reason. Good for simple math, but If it can’t see the logic or reason in something, it can’t understand it. The right brain is not bound by these constraints – it can perceive patterns the left hemisphere cannot. This improves learning ability and allows solving of problems that are too complex to be completely understood, (much like using impossible numbers in mathematics)
2) It is a right-handed world. over 90% of the population is right handed. This means that almost everything is designed to be used by right handed people. This makes life easier for them, and more difficult for the lefties, but it is adversity that triggers growth. Left handed people must learn to use their right hand to do a large number of tasks they would be more comfortable using their left for. This increases the number of neural connections between the hemispheres significantly and increases your brains efficiency.
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Hi,everyone that join this club….Sometime I just feel so alone in this right-handed world and I am the only one left-handed in my family.Maybe I am very unique and always ask myself why I should be lefty and just I found this club ,now what I think is we are the special one that not everyone can be !!!Hope you all can found YOURS UNIQUE…Bye all smarters!!
hi…. can u help me? is there any relation between between left handedness and language learning?
I don’t know if it’s the same for all lefties, but i really like learning languages- I’m doing three at the moment.
Language is not always linked to hand preference,
The language center of the brain is normally (90%) situated in the left hemisphere for right handed people (by the way, lefties use their right brain more)
However it is true that for left handed people, only 60-70% have language center situated in the left brain.
Therefore, if you are a lefty (and therefore right-brain-dominant) you have a 30-40% chance that your language hardware is in the dominant hemisphere, meaning you would have an enhanced ability to learn language.
I am left handed and am gifted in languages, i.e., English, Latin, and, French
What?s Taking place i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It positively useful and it has aided me out loads. I’m hoping to give a contribution & aid other customers like its helped me. Good job.
HI, I’m 18 and I basically lived my life doing things with my left but I almost feel ashamed, my kinder teacher taught me to write with the right, since then my parents thought i was right-handed. Should I tell them? I love being a lefty but others just think its wrong or backwards. I want my dad to teach me how to play the guitar but… for the same reason I can’t. I’d have to strum it upwards. Even typing and having everything to my right is annoying. hmmm a lefty car. uuu i’d love that!
Just be a leftie its not you that has problem it is those that think being lefthanded is freckish or wrong that have a problem.
There was a serious problem on 14th August 1994, when I visited U.S.A. While signing an autograph, I signed with my left hand and I was shot by a terrorist. I was in hospital for more than two weeks and I got better.
Even before becoming ambidextrous, I shot with my left hand on the shooting board. I now bats, bowls and fields with both hands, but I am a right hander while playing cricket.
i’m left-handed since i was little. When i was in primary 1, my teacher used to force me to write using my right hand, however she gave up because i refused to do so. As i grow up, i met a few friends whom r also left-handed, the only thing that differs from us is they would use their left hand to do all of their activities but i was the opposite. I just can’t do anything with my left hand except for writing. Therefore, living in a right-handed world is not a problem for me. .so, am i a true left-handed?
I am fluent in 65 languages all across the world, including all the languages except scriptless and tribal languages in India, my country. If writing with my right hand, I can easily write left-to-right languages like Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, etc. and if writing with my left hand, I can easily write right-to-left languages like Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, etc.
I’m a Filipino, a proud lefty and coincidentally, i was born on August 13… Makes me more proud…
I live in China, and just realised recently that no one in China is left-handed… they still force kids to be right-handed!
I’ve gotten questions like “Why did your parents make you left-handed?” and comments like “So many foreigners are left-handed!”
Amusing, but sometimes annoying. My entire class was put on hold for 5 minutes today while my students interrogated me on why I look Chinese (I’m Chinese-Australian) and why I write with my left.
Does anyone else find it amusing when right handed people look at us in awe and say “How do you do that?!” . Its just so funny . Like yesterday I went putt putting with my brother and his girlfriend who are both righty’s (yes, everyone in my family is a righty) and his girlfriend saw me putting and she like “Why are you putting left handed?!” I looked at her weirdly and she’s like “sorry, its just SO cool.” .
Lol it can get annoying at times though . I mean I feel unique that Im left handed but its not like I have like an inhuman power that no one else has .
Its just a matter of genetics, and preferance .
I get that! “How do you DO that left-handed?” “Same way YOU do it right-handed.” Righties seem to think that lefties are right-hand dominant but do things left-handed anyway, and they’re astonished at our ability to do this. Some people just don’t think things through.
i’m a precision engineer and people look in awe when i use “the wrong” hand to do something on the machines or they look at you wierdly because they can’t figure why it doesn’t look right lol
I guess that means that left-handed people are the only ones in their right-mind. Ha!!!
yes Rick,something like that!
And also I forgot to say that statistics proved that left-handed people are more intelligent than right-handed people, which doesn’t have to mean anything,only that we are just a bit smarter!
we are smarter….we’ve spent generations having to adapt and use right handed equipment for everything and can do it just as well as the righty’s if not better
My mother always thinks that I am more intelligent than her, even though she is left handed and I was right handed by birth.
Hi! I have just sign in on your site! I’m from Bosnia and of course I’m left-handed.I didn’t know that 14 August is left-handed day and it is good for us left-handed people to have our own day.
) It’s interesting that I write and eat with the left hand but when it comes to play any kind of sport I use my right hand or right leg because it’s easier for me,I didn’t use to for example to kick the ball with the left leg.
same with me I only joined the club on the 21st of August,2011, how I miss the lefthander’s day.
Moses
Moses.pensulo@mtl.mw
Happy International Left-Handers Day southpaws. Be blessed.
A friend of mine showed me this today, and i thought it was really cool, on top of me finding out there is a left handers day, it also happens to be on my birthday!
Hey,
I was just wondering if I can be left handed even though no one from my family is lefty? It always seemed so weird to me!
Julie -
Yep! You can be a lefty. I’m the only lefty in my family (both side) in 4 generations!!! I know a friend, who as far as she knows, is the only lefty in the family. Just remember the old saying …. a lefty is the only one in their right mind!!!! (lol)
yep! me too…. i`m the only lefthanded in my family! in bothside! i`m so proud to be like this….
wow a club for all us lefties lol, bout time to, i’m fed up being called a ‘wrong un! ‘ for being left handed. neither of my parents were lefties but out of the 5 kids they had me and my sister were both left handed. up until 6 yrs ago i couldn’t do anything with my right hand but after breaking a small bone in my hand ( scafoid bone just under my thumb) and then being in plaster for 8 weeks i had a choice of either a/ letting my wife shave me, 2/ growing a beard, 3/ learning to use my right hand to shave. 1 and 2 weren’t an option as i don’t suit beards and there was NO WAY i was letting the wife near me with a razor. it took me a couple of goes but managed to shave my chin and head without too much blood being spilt lol. i now shave so much easier with both hands so something good came out of it.
Hi,
Never knew being a lefty can be fun. I used to feel very bad, but I am so proud i’m one.
hi im Jack and im left handed and ficken proud of it!!
- find me on Facebook Jack Martin, or youtube JakRawrz
p.s. message me so i know you’re not some weird stalker
hi dear jack!
i found 2 jack martins in fb! which one is u?
could u add me? this is my ID : Narjes Qassemi…
thx….
Hi!! I just registered to the club today. I’m a lefty. When I was in high school in early ’90′s one of the teachers told me “Let me teach you to write with your right hand” I just said:
“What? I can’t write with my right hand, and no one told me to do so” after that the teacher never ask me such a question again.
I’m glad to join the club along with my hubby who is a lefty too!!
The only thing I can do with my right hand is controlling the mouse.
They are fools because the believe in a superstitious belief that left means the source of all evils.
When i was a kid, i thought i was adopted because i was the only left handed person in my whole family, except my aunty who can write with both until i found my birth certificate hah!.
i do think that left handed people are better at most things for me i have a good arm in softball and a really good kick in rugby and soccer, i also draw better than most others.
The one thing i hate is when i the teacher calls me up to write on the white board which sucks cause it goes on a slant and also i bump into my friends when i write in class.
BUT i am proud to be left-handed cause being right is like being a sheep you follow around.
Rebecca, 16 New Zealand
I remember when I was in Kindergarten and every single day I would get in trouble because I would smear my work. I also remember when i was doing gymnastics and my teacher would notice that i do my cartwheels like a right handed person. So every time we practiced our cartwheels, i had to get in the right hand line. I also brush my teeth and bowl with my right hand but do every thing else with my left. But I am very proud that i am left handed and i feel very unique because of it.
-Charlotte <3
Geez, that’s unbelivalebe. Kudos and such.
Tilly –
Had a similar problem in high school. I took office skills – which included shorthand class. My teacher would get so upset with me because she couldn’t read my shorthand …. Being a lefty, I write “back handed” (letters slant to the left rather than the right). But, it was always more comfortable to write that way – still do … and I’m now 66!!!!
I’m a lefty, but I don’t write backhanded. When I was a child, the nuns tried to make me use my right handed by placing the pencil in my right hand. I really got annoyed so I took the pencil and changed it to my left hand saying, “I write this way”. The nuns never tried to make me write with my right hand again.
I just found out today that the bank I have my cheque account with (An Australian bank), cannot make lefthanded cheque books! I doesn’t matter that much, as I hardly even use it, but the further you get into the book, the harder it is to fill in the butt. Also, it is the principal of the thing!
hey
i have a question, why RH people always ask when they see a LH person writing or doing anything with a LH, this make me to be ashamed to do anything with my LH infront of RH people because i know that they will be suprised. i like being a lefty, but sometimes i experience lots of challenges like if i’m in taxi my left hand must be where the window is because if someone sits next to my left hand i feel so uncomfortable, mostly i’m uncomfortable with certain things and i’m afraid of accidants, horror films, i have lots of sympathy PLEASE HELP! is that normal?
NO this is not normal your FREAK. I am left handed stop making a fuss over nothing and get on with your life and think about people who have actual promblems i.e. a disability which actually has a serioous impact on their life. There are many people out there who are left handed. Just be happy that you have something ever so slightly unusaul which could make you appear to be slightly interesting or quirky.
Amelia, that was harsh and unkind. Are you sure you’re one of us?
I kind of get that too- if i am walking next to someone, they have to be on the right side of me because i feel kind of cramped if they are on the left side of me, blocking my arm.
Well, I am certain I am left handed, but am definitely not one of ‘you’. I apologise if my comments caused offence and appreciate it may be a tad harsh to refer to the other person as a ‘freak’.
However, I find your comments quite intriguing and worrying. I am aware of some very minor difficulties I have found over the years of being left handed e.g. inky hands failing at using scissors etc. But am able to appreciate the minuteness of this and put it into perspective.
I find it quite disturbing that you feel the need to be part of an exclusive left handed club.i The hand you use whether its left or right shouldn’t define you as a person. If it does it shows you clearly are not a very interesting person if you have to resort to this as being one of your important traits. The exclusiveness of this site is also discriminating to right handed people. You need to accept you are not disadvantaged by being left handed and have the potentially to have the same capability and assets as a right handed person.
hiii ! don`t think like that! why u get ashamed when u face to rh? i have a question: when u see RH`s acts, u won`t get shock and ask u r strange for me?! cuz of this they get shock too when they see us!
always think u r unique between others! not strange one!
be happy!
my grandfather and aunt are lefties and im ambidextrous. i was originally RH but changed to LH because if i broke my right arm, what would i do??
how come there’s no more newsletter update?? it has been 2 months…..
Hi;
you can’t imagine how excited i was when i found out that there was a web site and a club for left handed people like me. i am Africa, an when i was in a boarding school the class i was in when i was 7 years and the only left handed pupil in that class.
And my teacher used to hit me with a wooden duster whenever i used my right hand. The problem was when i was learning to write in nursery school, my teachers encouraged me to use my left hand as much as i could but when i went to this school i would dread working uo every time we were to have that lesson of math.
But that was it until she had to leave, i was all bruised so she was fired and that was the end of my misery
I am RH but my 7 year old son is LH,since moving into year 3 at school his work has gone down as he is being made to do joined up writing and to get his hand writing slightly neat he has to write slower.
If he prints he finishes his work in line with his class mates,but as he is being always told off for being untidy in his writing,all his time is going on his writing and not into the work he should be doing.
Can anyone help with ideas on how i can help him do joined up writing fast and neatly PLEASE
When my daughter was in primary school in the early 80s, I discovered Anything Left-Handed through a newspaper article. I purchased stationery materials from them via mail order. Enclosed with the order was a pamphlet detailing the following to assist left handers to master joined-up writing:-
When a RH person is about to write on a sheet of paper, they will position it on the desk in front of them, but slightly to the right, so that the left edge of the paper is in alignment with the centre of the body. They then write with the pen/pencil by pushing it towards the right edge of the paper. A LH person should, when placing the paper on the desk, position it slightlyto the left and align the RIGHT edge of the paper with the centre of their body. They then write with the pen by pulling it towards the right and working away from the left edge of the paper. My daughter has never developed a “hook”, didn’t have smeared ink on the paper (she had the proper left-hand pen) and her writing today is neat, legible and tidy. I suggest you encourage your child to practice and keep on practicing until it becomes second nature to align the paper correctly at the start of the exercise in school.
I went through that at school. I wasn’t allowed to be left handed,and was hit often. I was also called lazy because I couldn’t be bothered to do it the “right” way. As a consequence, I never learned how to write properly and still write like a doctor does.
My advice is, to go to the school and lay down the law about your left handed child. Tell them to let your child develop naturally or you will get legal on them. That should stop the rubbish coming from them.
Noel.
I am a 53 year old lefty, also growing up in the states and going to a cathoilc grade and high school when in 2nd and 3rd greade the nuns tried to frorce myself and the one other boy who was a lefty to be right handed and the outcome was not good we both started to fail some clases and both endured 2 years of speach therapy for sturddering and sluring our words.(nuns were the order of the Blessed Virgin Mary -BVM- but renamed by the two of us as the Black Veiled Monsters). Growing up we have kept in touch and alwats talk about our troubles fitting in. I did fit in as a telepone co. splicer witch was good there was always a need for a lefty in that job for in the manholes where space is at a preimun a lefty was in demand for splicing on the right side of the manhole. The troubles that i’ve had is a hobby of cabnet builder almost all woodworking tools are built for right handers. So you have to adapt witch means that you must disable some of the safty features on these tools and rework the sawdust exhaust ports of you are always getting it in the face. Almost all table saws are built for right handers and the major portion of the table is on the right side of the blade so you learn to use your right hand (not safe for me) or when cutting your left hand passes right over the blade.There are some tools that you can special order as a left handed but very expensive. In the 1970′s a left handed tape measure was $27.00 just for a tape measure! As for the genitics factor none of my grandparents or great grandparents were left handed my dad was one of 4 boys him beeing the oldest and a identical twin and both were left handed and the two younger were righty’s. I am the youngest of three with two older sisters and they are both righty’s the other twin had four boy’s and olny one is a lefty. go figure. and yes sometimes safty is an issue for left handers but beeing such a small portion of the population it goes overlooked.
Jerry –
I can connect to your story. My hubby went to Catholic schools, also. He is now 70 – so this was in the very early 50′s. His hands are a mess!! He WAS left handed – but the nuns did not want him to be. Every time he picked up a pencil with his left hand, the nun would have him place his hand flat on the desk and then whack his fingers with a 3-cornered ruler. That, along with breaking his fingers several times over the years, all fingers on both hands are very crooked. He uses both hands (pretty much equally) … but, I believe he is still more a lefty.
Hi
i’m 16 : i have to tell you guys that as a teenager and a indian makes me mad enough !
In our culture if anyone wright or eat using left they are bad luck or simply for them i’m a uncultured girl. My family let me do what ever i want to do . But the problem is as we are lefties we are used to doing stuffs in left. Even cutting a paper or anything . But the people outside there they think i’m a symbol of bad luck and not good to do this and that. At school , i’m the president of my celeb. So for the new students i need to take their names. As their parents with them : they will ask me , why are using left , your parents didn’t tell you to not to use left. Bla bla bla : even i ignore them i feel like something is wrong with me. But i would never say i hate to be a leftie : it is just that the situation i’m going thru is quite barbaric to me. They even tease me !
Btw : Thanks for reading my comment
Hey Suhe,
How Are You. What You Need Too Tell Those People Who Harass You About Being Left handed Is With Out You, Biblical History Would Have Never Been Written. All The Scribes Were Left Handed And Were Picked To Do The Work Of Writing The Information Down As The scribe Because A Left Hander Was More Accurate In Writing. It Is Why The Scripture Is Written From Right To Left Rather Than Left To Right. Their Abilities To Remember And Accuracy To Remember Was Greatly Expressed As Well Because It Seems A Left Hander Can Remember Things Better Than The Right Hander As Well.
Also It Is Whom G-D Chooses To Be King Of His People. King David Was Left Handed As He Became An Expert With The Sling Shot And Killed Goliath When Everyone Else Was Afraid. Since Everyone Who Is A Soldier Is Taught To Hold The Sword With The Right And Shield With The Left, Then Being Left Handed Was At A Disadvantage So They Taught All Left Handers How To Use The Slingshot!
The Next New King David To Be Must Meet Some Criteria:
One: That He Loves The LORD G-D With All His Heart Soul And Mind
Two: To Be Fully Versed In Scripture
Three: To Apply His Given Knowledge
Four and Lastly To Be Left Handed As It Is His, Of King-man-ship, By G-D Given Birth Right.
Yes That Is Correct Being Left Handed Is A G-D Given Birth Right From The LORD G-D And Not Man! Man Can Only Intercede To Try And Change It But Can’t Control Whether You Are Born Right Or Left Handed! I Sincerely Hope This Helps You Next Time You Speak With Your Colleagues.
May The LORD G-D Bless You And Keep You.
Jan
I grew up in the 50′s. In the 6th grade we were issued pens during class for penmanship. Of course these pens were made to be used by right handed people so I always bent one the two points of the pen at some point while writing. My teacher called me stupid for doing so. I write, throw, shoot guns, bows and play billiards left handed. The fly in the ointment there is I am right eyed. Aiming while shooting a gun or bow or playing billiards and being right eyed is challenging. Being left eyed is more desireable but; what do we lefties do. We adapt. I kick with my right leg. My father being right handed turned me around to bat right handed instead of left handed. I could bat left handed as well but I was always told to bat right handed. In American football playing the quarterback position was always given to right handers. My high school coach said a left hander would never play quarterback for him because they are not smart enough. Modern times now we have many left handed quarterbacks. My brain must be one tangled wiring mess to have all of these odd opposing left and right things going on lol. My parents,siblings, wife, children are all right handed. One of my four grand children is a lefty. Life is good.
I am a lefty and my husband is a lefty. Our 1st and 3rd sons are right handed. Now I know what my parents went through when they tried to teach me to tie my shoes or even learn how to hold a pencil. With 2 lefties as parents, it was so very difficult to teach our sons to tie shoes and other simple tasks. Our boys had to compensate for our left handiness. It was very frustrating for all of us but we managed to do it. Our 3 sons are grown now.We so hoped for a left handed grandchild but no such luck !! lol
Kari
ps. it was easier for my husband to teach our boys how to use a pen since he was forced to use his right hand til the 3rd grade in school back in the 1950s.
Lefties pwn!
I’m left handed and I’m the only left handed person in my family. For the past years, I found that my hand writing was terrible and searched ‘left handed writing’ on youtube. When I found this website, I was so happy and my parents promised me that they would buy my some items for me on my birthday. I’m only 11 and I had the same problem when I was in 1st grade, I did mirror writing.
Thanks for helping me.
Hi all,
I’m 22 years old and I love being a lefty. Out of my 5 biological family members, I’m the only lefty and was teased most of my childhood. I love reading and one read something where lefties were being forced to be right-handed and their left hand was cut off to ensure they would be right-handed. After reading that, I told every lefty I knew that they should embrace the fact that they are left-handed because they are unique and I count a privilege. Now I have an adopted sister who is left-handed, and I get to teach her everything I know about the struggle of living in a right handed world. I even taught her 1st grade teacher how to teach her
I found some perks to being left-handed. After reading about mirror writing (writing completely backwards to the point you need a mirror to read) on this site, I began to ask questions. My parents said that I used to write backwards a lot as a child. So in high school and college, as well, I used it to my advantage. Whenever I had to do a creative writing, I would use mirror writing. The title would always be “Mirror Writing: A Left-handed Art”. With that my only other line that could be read forward was “To read this paper, use a mirror, or turn the paper around and hold it up to the light.” The rest I would write completely backward, from right to left. I would always get an A for creativity because no one else would think to handwrite a paper completely backwards. (It also helps when writing in a personal journal or diary, right-handers struggle to understand mirror writing.)
You should try it sometime. I’m teaching myself how to mirror write in cursive. That makes it harder for people to read and I love it.
Oh!!! Don’t forget International Left-Handers day every August!!! Yes we have our own day, bet you didn’t know that!!!
ALRIGHT! I JUST CAN’T WAIT!!!
My mother is right-handed,but my dad is two (I speak about my foster parents).My brothers are right-handed,but
I’m two-handed.I write with the left-hand,but I do everything else with the right (I draw with two-hands).
im the youngest of eight an my middle sister are lefties, no one else is including distant relatives
I’m 25 years old, soon to be 26 years old. I am left handed, have been all my life, I was never ashamed to be left handed, until very recently, in fact since I started looking at this site. I was shocked to notice a left handed spoon for sale! How hard is it to use a regular spoon, every spoon I’ve had the pleasure to use has been pretty symmetrical, not a single one has had right handed connotations, i find it very strange that a spoon be made specifically for left handed people. it freaks me out a little.
Also people are talking of ‘tools’ being used in school, i got on fine when i was younger with a regular set up of stationary, i can’t believe such a big deal is being made out of being left handed these days with schools helping out, i remember left handed scissors but apart from that i cant think of anything specifically left handed i’ve used since then when i was a kid just those scissors, but only used them because the teacher thought i should, i hand no issue with using right handed ones in my left hand.
can anyone answer me this, is there a severity of left handedness? because i’m left handed but i’ve not encountered the issues many people on this site have, i’m a little bewildered by it all and think maybe i’m just slightly left handed.
I’m so confused by it all, i never knew half the stuff the site sold ever existed. i only checked this site out after a friend mentioned it, i’m glad i took time to look at it. its all very interesting if not a little strange. I’m certainly going to think more about being left-handed, i hope this doesn’t give me a complex.
Hi Ross
I too have been left handed my whole life and I 39. Also I never felt shamed but I have felt I lived in a right hand world. Were when do ever day things were different or just not the norm. I mean in high school when I would get a a desk that was made for lefty’s it was great. I got by doing all the things I need to do growing up with what was arable. The world is not made for us we are the excisions to the world. Just thi video cameras are made for a right handed person stuff like that get to me. If I had one I would a just and find a way to use it. But I should have to. That why this site is great. It giving is a voice and helping with items that work for us so we are the norm and if a right hand person come to our place there the ones that will have to just get by. Ha
So you see my fellow lefty this is about us and we are just ever day people that just use there left hand and this site is a place to learn and feel we belong take care Dana
Danamichlle,
I feel you have missed the point of what I was saying, however you have made me feel a little less ashamed of myself, for that I thank you. The world never ceases to amaze me, although I know feel a lessened sense of belonging, I believe that will settle in due course. Regards.
I understand what you mean. I think there are different degrees of left handedness. I write using my left hand but have taught myself to use scissors with my right… I could never find good left handed scissors until after I finished school. I work with several people who are also left handed, and they have varying degrees of difficulty with things like writing in binders, and opening doors.
Geez, that’s uneblievbale. Kudos and such.
I agree with you Ross. I do almost everything left handed. A lot of the products I’m sure are just for fun. Most household implements are as easy to use left handed as they are right’. Your example of a regular spoon being a case in point. There is absoloutely no reason to make a left handed spoon. However, there are other item that work very well and benefit a ‘lefty’. I find a left hande can opener easier to use; also scissors. My Sister recently opened a needlework shop. I visited her there and spotted the scissors. I bought them and found them much easier to use. Not that I use scissors very much but hey; I still like having them. My guitar is a left handed one which is great. One can of course just swap the strings around. I have done this in the past but the bridge is wrong. I do own a left handed calligraphy set which gives me occassional fun. All in all I like being left handed. I have 6 siblings. They are all right handed. My Mother was right handed and my Father was a ‘lefty’. More power to ‘lefty’s I say. I’m told that we are generally the artistic ones. Well, if Leonardo De Vinci’ is anthing to go by; maybe we are
We left handers are in our right mind!!! lol
Hi, My mother was born left handed, but she broke her left arm and switched to her right.
My father is right handed. Myself and my brother are left handed, but my younger sister is right handed.
HI,
I wonder if anyone out there is left handed and has Multiple Sclerosis as well like me
Statistics say that 62% of women with MS are left handed
Hi Kathryn – I have multiple sclerosis and I am left handed! -I did not know that. how strange! I have just bought a pair of left handed dressmaking scissors from this site as I started a course and the teacher had to cut out my material for me after she seen me butchering my fabric. My 17 year old daughter is left handed also so it made my life alot easier. I was taught to use my knife and fork the right handed way and as this is normal for me I passed this on to my daughter. I also knit the right handed way!
Wow! I didn’t know that. My wife is left handed and was recently diagnosed with MS…after more than 10 years of being told her symptoms were “all in her head.”
I have four elder brothers only the second eldest and me are left handed taking after our dad. my mum is right handed.
I wouldn’t say i am talented i do make jeweelery so maybe creative but my lefty brother is extreamly intelligent he is one of these super teachers he was a head teacher but missed teaching.
I am very left handed and sometimes find it hard I love the left handed knives as I constantly cut myself with right handed ones having to make sure i always had plenty of plasters lol.
I do sometimes find myself confused over the use of right handed items i know it may sound weird but if i try to use my right hand to write i can’t even hold a pen properly it just throws my brain right out of sync it feels so alien to me.
lefties are freaking TALENTED!! including myself.. LOL! almost everybody in my school are telling me that i’m talented. I can SING harmoniously, DANCE explosively, DRAW dextrously, play 3 different SPORTS competently, DECLAIM rigorously, ACT creatively and cognitively PARTICIPATE IN CLASS intelligently. Let’s also include the fact that im GREAT-LOOKING:) when they ask me why am i like that…
I always tell them “it’s because im a LEFTY!”
Celebrate being left and being great!
how bout you?
I celebrate with you! I am 39 years old and a lefty as well and always been proud of it! I am from South Africa and from childhood have always been getting comments from others that I am writing with the wrong hand. As talented as you are, I have several degrees: only started studying on 2000: a BA degree, a B.Psychology, a honors degree in Psychology, a Masters degree in Early Childhood Intervention and currently I am doing my research Ph.D. Guess what? My 4 and a half year old son, Reece is a lefty as well!!!
Enjoy!
Hello
My eldest sister was left handed, middle sister right handed, I am left handed and my twin sister is right handed. Both my parents were right handed. I have two sons; both are left handed, their father being right handed. I would be very interested in any research into hereditary left handedness.
It almost sounds like a sexual genetic trait – where a marker for a certain trait (haemophilia, for example) is linked to the XX XY chromosomes.
More specifically, it’s linked to the extra bit of the X chromosome that women have two of (XX) and men only have one of (XY).
It’s a bit complicated but it essentially means that men are more likely to show a genetic trait – hence two sons with left hands, whereas women can show it, but they need to have twice the amount of genetic markers than men before they do – they can however carry the markers in their genes without showing signs of the traits and pass it on to the next generation without realising they have an anomoly.
I don’t think for a second that this is the whole story regarding left-handedness, and it’s been a while since I studied genetics (traits tend to be effected by one genetic marker), so I’m a bit rusty, but it could be a good place to start.
Some links below on the subject of sexually-related genetics
Hope that helps a bit..
Cheers
Charlie
http://anthro.palomar.edu/biobasis/bio_4.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_linkage
*(traits tend to be effected by one genetic marker)
sorry – meant to say they tend to be affected by more than one genetic marker.
hi
since i was a little kid people used to told me that if i continued using my left hand to write i was gonna have problems with dyslexia, and after doing some research i found out that it only happens when you try to use both sides of the brain (trying to use both hands) or when someone is foced to use their weakest hand, after doing that a lot of people understand why its so important so use the hand you feel more comfortable
Good day Lefties,
I am about to start my MBA Dissertation topic, and the topic i itend to use is
“The myth about Health and Safety of Left handed people in the workplace”
Kindly forward me you contribution and suggestions, and that will be highly appreciated.
My email address is: gladman.lamani@sasol.com
Best Regards,
Gladman
I am a right handed mother of two children. My 11 year old is left handed, and the 9 year old is right handed.
Until I read through this blog today, I had never realised that paper positioning might be an issue for my 11 year old. His handwriting is certainly pretty poor for his age!
Mostly he has adapted to the right handed world without it ever being discussed (because he’s never mentioned it). Yes, he writes with his left hand, but he uses cutlery in a right handed way for the most part. He also uses right-handed scissors – I did get him some left-handed ones, but he never bothered with them.
He is also particularly bright, and especially at mathematics. I read somewhere that an assessment of the recognised geniuses in the world through history shows a much heavier weighting of left-handers: Leonardo da Vinci (massive polymath), Einstein, Napoleon, Michelangelo, Bill Bryson etc. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/aug/13/2
I am ambidextrous but mostly I use my left hand.
There was a time that I wanted to be right-handed, mostly because all through grade school I was the only lefty in my class and that made me feel a little weird and left out (no pun intended). No one ever told me that being left-handed was special and unique and because of that I beg my mom to teach me to be right handed, going back into my childhood when learning how to write. Luckily it didn’t work. I thought that was the only way to be normal, and fit in with other people. It wasn’t until I enter middle school that I wasn’t the only person that was left-handed, and that it was o.k and normal. Now I love the fact that I am a lefty and would not have it any other way.
Are there any other lefties that felt that way growing up, if so please reply back.
Thanks,
Brittney
Hi ,, I’m 16 years old , and I’m a left handed , it’s really cool
i think it’s spicial !!!!
yoo i think its pretty special too!! n im 17 now
jeeeeeeeeeeezz
When I was a baby and first started showing signs of LH, my dad would say, “No no. Pick it up with your RH.” My mom got onto him and told him that maybe I was going to be a lefty. And sure enough! Being only one of 2 lefties on my mom’s side of the family, she always told me that I was unique and special. And I still see it that way. Thankfully, I was never forced to change hands. However, my mom did try to force me to write with my hand bent way over so I wouldn’t drag my hand across the page and smudge my work. I fought her on it because it was too uncomfortable. Then those erasible ink pens were invented and that was the WORST! Those things smudged so bad, that my papers were always a mess.
I did have LH scissors in elementary school, but I have since learned to adapt. I actually find it easier to cut RH. So many people want to use the mouse LH, but I actually find it easier to mouse RH. That way I can write with my left hand and not have to take my other one off the mouse. After reading all of the comments, I find that several of you are directionally dyslexic. I’ve never had that problem. The only directional issue I have is telling north from south. That’s the one that gets me.
If handedness is genetic, how do you explain generations that have no lefties in them? I know that babies born to older women are more likely to be lefties. But my mom was only 33 when I was born. No one on my dad’s side of the family is LH and my great uncle on my mom’s side was a true ambi. I guess it’s possible that my female cousin and I got it from him, but how likely is that?
Hi Amanda,
You pose a very interesting question. My daughter is a lefty, and I and my her father are right handed. I have been inquiring about this since I realized she was left handed. I spoke to a doctor who has done some research regarding children born left handed when no one in their family is left handed. He had mentioned that a study is being done on this. One of the questions asked on this study was if the mom had been ill, not just morning sickness ill, but had a severe cold or flu during her pregnancy then there could be a link, but again this study is still very premature. I am still asking the same questions. I know there has to be another explanation other than hereditary.
I am left handed and have had a difficult time all my life with anything that turns. I seem to always want to go the opposite direction, with whatever I am working on requires.
My second and third grade school teacher was also the same lady that taught my father 24 years earlier. I told my mom that my teacher kept hitting my left fingers with a ruler, when she would come around and catch me writing lef handed, so we had a meeting with the her and the principal. I remember her statement still today, she said “I remeber your father and how many times I would hit his knuckles when trying to force him to stop writing left handed, and he never changed, so I guess you’ll be the same”. She said that Left = Sinister in Latin and that it was evil to be left handed. She said I would be a BAD person. I also had other teachers that had the same ideas concerning left handed students throught my educational years. She did stop hitting me but would tell me to sit on my hand and try to write with my right, but it just did not look as smooth as when I wrote eith my left. I learned to write both left and right handed and can still do it, after 47 years. I have noticed that I switch hands when I write. If I am standing to a chalk board,writing n a vertical surface, I write more with my right hand, but if I am sitting or standing writting on a flat surface that I write totally with my left hand. With vertical writing on the board, both left and right handed writings are indistinguishable as to where I switch hands. Does anyone else out there have this quirkyness to standing and writing.
I also have the same issue when using a knife or saw. When skinning an animal, like a deer, I use my left hand for all the very fine, intricate, meticulus cutting around the organs that can’t get puntured, and my right for the heavy crude cuts on the bones. My fine motor cutting skills are a 100 times better with my left hand.
I shoot archery left handed, and I had to pay more for my left hand bow. However I shoot rifle and shotgun with either hand. When I have the time for a slow prepared long distance shot I prefer to shoot left handed, however I shoot right handed for rapid jump shooting. Somedays I dont know which hand I want to use and this is frustrating too me. I carry both left and right hand rifles or shot guns with me and when I get to where I am going to hunt I asess at that time what gun I’ll use. My dad is strickly left handed, so he must be in that group of lefty’s that is totally right brained dominant, but I bet it would be very interesting to see mybrain activity on an EEG. Thats all for now.
hello there,
Iam left handed and very proud!!!. I am also a proffessional hairdresser and i also teach young people all asspects of hairdressing, this over the year’s has been interesting to say the least. I first of all i had to learn how to convert how i as a lefty would take my sections of hair etc the opposite way to which a right handed person would do this. so that i could demonstate where to stand and how sections were taken. i feel that being left handed gave me the versatilaty to learn this as not many right handed people can do this wit ease. also i was a great head start 4 lefty’s as they would progress so much quicker because of being shown the excact way. over the years i have experianced many troubles in finding good quaility scissors,some companies didnt even stock any l.handed one’s but had litraly hundreds of r.handed ones so there isnt much selection to choose from and also the price increase because of being left handed is increadable. it would be nice to see that companies take this on board and increase the choice n lower the price in future. also my boyfriend is left handed which is great because everyday house hold things are for lefties in our house which makes life that little bit simpler………. so all u lefties out there be proud that we are special and more creative than most r.hander’s…… einstien was a genius n he was a lefty, so to sum it up………lefties rule and there cool ha ha ha cheers to lettin me share my story. xx
i felt blessed than cursed by god and it’s nice to have some adience while writing or doing some work.
i’m a lefty but no-one else is in my family ,but thats good because i like to be different.my mom tried to make me write rh when i was little but that stoped.I still have a challenge working with some things ,but i’ll get used to it
Hi everyone,
It is always interesting to read about experiences of my fellow left handers in a right handed world.I am left handed left footed and grew up in Africa where it is witchy to be left handed.I could not be forced to use my right hand in school because i raised hell.Luckily I was a bright kid and very creative I always gave my school a prize in the needle work competitions, was great in sports and debate. I guess what you can call an all round lefty.I get teased a lot even though I am in my middle age but I am used to it now.
One thing that keeps irritating me is doors.I always try to open the door at the opposite end and this is not funny.When I build my own house I will make sure the door handles in the LEFT PLACE!
Hi Isabel,
I love your tenacity. Good for you. I hope my daughter stands up for herself someday and not let anyone tell her that it is wrong to be left handed.
I’m a 52 year old left-hander that deals with the world in my own way, as do we all, when faced with the right-handed standards. I’ve been a guitarist for over 37 years and learned to play left-handed without having the instrument restrung. This allowed me to pick up any guitar and play it, but also makes it difficult with certain guitar body shapes, hardware placement, etc. For most of my playing life, there has either been a lack of availability of left-hand instruments or a significant upcharge in procuring them, and my scenario requires even more customization, of course.
I am fortunate to have made good friends over the years who are excellent craftsmen and enjoy making the necessary adjustments for me to finish the guitars in such a way as to have a righteous body style and control configuration, yet still have the string intonation accurately adjustable for my playing approach.
It just seems that manufacturers should start taking into account the number of left-handed artists out there and be more prepared and willing to accommodate their needs. I know there are more left-hand style guitars out now, but those are not offered in right-hand stringing design, and manufacturers I’ve contacted do not seem interested in making any such modifications readily available. I am not the only one in the world to play in this fashion, and I’m certain there will be many more as time goes on; these days it appears more and more people want to play.
I am a 62 year old leftie, and was encoraged to be so even at primary school in the 50s something that previously was discoraged. I remember being given a pen shaped to my fingers, it was pink! anyone else from that era remember them? The only thing that was not available to me was a leftie guitar, so never got the chance of becoming a rock star. Throughout my life I have felt “differant” from others, I have much better spatial awareness, think latrally, have had many sucseses in my working life and am coasting down to a quiet retirement now, enjoying my uniqueness, and sharing my leftie experiances with other lefties. Perhaps we should all form a club with annual UK meetings somewhere central to the UK.. what you think?
am a lefty. and i feel great that im a chosen one in this world. i feel that ive been made as lefty for some reason. so i jus wanna show myself who i am to this world. im 16 yrs old and i want to start a software company after my studies. we are multi talented and we can do anything……….. hatsss offffff to lefties!!!!!!!!!!!!
did you know that about one in ten people are left handed…….
Like many of you, I am a total left hander. Though iti s not right to say Left Hander, because I use my left leg, my left eye, my left ears. I might say I am a left sider. When I sit in a room or a theatre, I prefer left side. If it is in the extreme left it is best. I never suffered any problems being a left hander. People in India are full of awe with us Left Handers, as they believe Left Handers are gifted people. So I feel privileged to be a Left Sider. And feel happy to see a community out there doing wonderful things. Best of luck your endeavour guys.
Hi all,
I love being a leftie! Although i do suffer when writing, i can’t write as fast as a right handed person, can’t use them nib or wet ink based pens as i would smudge the paper and leave hand prints all over!! Opening a can is another tricky event, which i have to hold the opener facing me and go backwards! cutting paper with a normal scissors is another daunting task, i never get a straight cut. Everywhere i go, i try to look out for fellow lefties. I manage a team of 4 staff, 2 of them are lefties! My future wife is also a leftie! As my in-laws said, all my kids are going to end up being lefties!
Hello.
I’ve been left handed my whole life and I’ve never been ashamed of it. Swedish schools are very, very strict with discrimination, so that’s never been an issue. It is, however, very difficult to find leftie scissors, so I often bring my own. Writing on a white board is a bit annoying, though, since my left hand erases what I’ve written. It’s impossible to achieve that without writing with my right hand or mirror writing.
I am gifted with mirror writing, and my English teacher finds it quite interesting that I’m fluent in both reading and writing it.
I personally think that we’re the ones who make the world go round. In my high school class we’re 3 lefties, and I find us all special.
Never, ever consider yourself weird, but gifted (except with premonitions, that’s a curse)
Serena A. Perry
i am a total left hander left footed when playing football, my left eye is stonger so i must be a complete leftie, great, o apart from politics when i have right views but not extreme
Hi,
I note that your website is designed with a right-handed person in mind… I’m just trying to imagine how different a site would be that was totally focused on a lefty user experience?! DISCUSS!
All my siblings are left-handed. I am left-handed. There, I’ve said it.
George.
how many are your siblings? my father is a lefty and i’m also a lefty.. i think its great to be left.
Hi.
I have a cousin who is left handed but that’s it. I had 2 older brothers, one passed away 5 years ago but they are both right handed, and my parents are righties as well. My surviving brother has 4 sons, none are left handed.
When I was little my grandmother baby sat me, she made me use some stuff for my right hand, like using a can opener, and a corkscrew (pain in the butt). Other than that I use my left hand for everything, and I finally realized why it is always difficult for a person to show me how to use a stick shift; any guesses? You got it, a right handed person is teaching me, and…here in the US the stick is on the right side! People still stare at me when they see me write but I know that we lefties are special. Rock on! And I like being different.
Several years ago I was working for the Employment Service. A number of issues drove me to represent my left-handedness to head office.
My work required me to quite constant use of a computer keyboard, and the entry of numbers (National Insurance numbers in particular) I pointed out that because the number keypad was on the right, my efficiency was affected. I was asked if it was possible to get left-handed keyboards. I replied that they were, although they tended to be more expensive than the generally available right-handed keyboards (though with the numbers of left-handed people around the worlk, I do not understand why this should be so).
I was told that clearly they should be considering the needs of a quite large minority. I asked how I could therefore get a leftie keyboard. I was told that I would need to acquire one through the Disability Employment Advisers’ route. I couldnt believe it. The person to whom I spoke (a fairly senior person in the organisation) quickly said that it didnt mean I was disabled (well what does it mean then), just that it was a route for the acquisition of non-standard equipment.
Why should it not be standard equipment?
Hey Chris,
Working in an office as you know is a pain in the butt. Everything is set up for and by right handed people including the desks, the keyboards, even the computer screens, and especially..the mouse. As for apartment buildings and offices, as you know we lefties are always bumping into the walls because they were built by righties. And we won’t talk about refrigerators, and front doors of homes and apartments, especially out here in the U.S. Don’t get me started!
I am the only one in my family who is left handed and after being forced to write with my right hand as a young child am now ambidextrous. It is very annoying when half of my family thinks i’m weird because I write with my left hand.
hi there i can write with both hands but mainly with my right ,my son is a left handed so its been helpfull being both as i have been able to show him letters ect,as he gets them back to front as his school dont have a clue ,i used to get told of a school for using both and i think thats why i use my right hand the most as they used to tell me off
once i knew that he was a lefty i did not force hm to swap and tyed to help him as much as poss as he is only 6
Hi! I’m from Argentina. I am 19 and being left handed is great! None of my parents is left handed, but my brother and I are.
Whenever I write, my left had is full of ink and everybody asks me: Oh! Are you left handed? ..really?
Well, anyway, I love being lefty.
Romina,
Your ink story sounds like me when I was younger. There are some gel pens that you can buy that won’t smear, so look for those. Cheers!
I am a dominant lefty. Coming from a family of 10 children, 4 of the 10, including myself, were lefties. I have no idea where we got it from, since both of our parents were right handed. I believe that left handedness is indeed, genetic, and that it must skip generations. My husband is right handed and our children are right handed, so I predict their children will also be lefties. Growing up in a right handed world, I struggled, but learned to adapt to using right handed scissors and desks, etc. Now I am an elementary school teacher, and I am going to make sure that I make adaptations for the lefties in my class.
I also don’t know if all you lefties are like this, but I find myself a very emotional person. I’m also a musician and my involvement in music over the years has helped me to channel my emotions in a healthy way. I think the best artists (for instance Leonardo Da Vinci) have been left handed because their work is a reflection of their emotional passion. I think I get into it way more into my music than the average person. I am wondering if this has anything to do with right brain dominance. I know I’ve read that the right side of the brain is more emotional and creative than the left side. I saw someone put a comment about this on facebook that lefties are psycho but genius!
Hi, Connie! pretty nice your comment.
Sometimes I think the way you do now. Being left handed makes us different not only for the obvious reason, but also because of our inside characteristics. Last year I started University and almost went mad trying to find a left handed desk. Unfortunately or not, I got used to the right handed one.
Many lefties learn to use right handed things so everything is eassier for the others, but not really for us. T
Hi, Connie! pretty nice your comment.
Sometimes I think the way you do now. Being left handed makes us different not only for the obvious reason, but also because of our inside characteristics. Last year I started University and almost went mad trying to find a left handed desk. Unfortunately or not, I got used to the right handed one.
Some days ago, a friend was saying that lefties are clumsy. But I think that it is not true! Lefties try to use right handed elemnts so that we don’t need to change things, and wjen we use those elements of course we do not use them the same way right handed do!
Hi Connie.
I think you’re right. I am a late bloomer when I took piano 20 years ago, I was 29 at the time. I admit it, I am emotional as well. They say guys aren’t emotional, well I am, not sure if it has to do with us being lefties or musicians, but I get very emotional.
Hello,
I am lefty and the only 1 in the family. I am 11yrs. old and i have no cousins that are leftys!!! I cannot belive this. Are you guys like this?
I also am the only leftie in my family. The only other leftie that I know of was my fathers uncle. I’m much older than you and I’ve managed to survive in a right handed world. Those desks in college almost got me in trouble. Twisting to write made it seem I was trying to cheat. I learned to sit near the aisle in the second seat and use the desk of the first seat for writing. I’ve also learned how to knit and crochet “backwards”. Watch how someone is doing something and turn it around in your head….you CAN do it.
I, too, am a “natural” left hander, no-one in my fmily is left-handed except myself. My parents, God bless ‘em, encouraged me to “be yourself”! When I starteed writing, I tended to write “mirror image” i.e. from right to left, and all my Dad said to me was “When you pick up you pencil, start on that same side of the page.” I later discarded the hooked or over-writing technique and started writing from the underside of the line, or “under-writing” as I hated washing my hand frequently and/or smudging my papers (the teacher were not tolerant of “dirty” pages)! As I grew older, I found myself doing final corrections of right hander’s work (I am a painter by trade), because most of the errors in painting were caused by the awkardness of the area in which the deffect occured. I have also become fairly proficient at Faux, or method painting (which earns me quite a bit more money than standaard house painting). Learning to adapt to function in a right handed world has taught me that I am gifted, as I have had numerous right-handers try to do the things I do, and immediately throw their hands up in the air, stating “it’s impossible!”.
Hi all,
I’m 20, living in Europe…& I’m a lefty too
Actually, I can use both my hands..it’s very odd. When I was first learning to write, I had this insane teacher who said that “only devils use their left hands”…she would smack my left hand if I tried to pick up anything with it…crazy! She got fired (yay!) but the damage was done (booo!) So, now I write with my left hand, but I sketch with my right. Paint with my left, but erase with my right. It’s all so muddled up. I play sports with my left-hand (tennis, softball), but I brush my teeth with my right. I hate….. spiral notebooks, scissors, ATM machines (always pull out my card with my left hand and then awkwardly have to swap)…doorknobs can be annoying too! I just got my first flat & the first thing I did was get new swing doors put in, with the doorknob on the right on each side. It’s hilarious seeing my friends & family get stumped trying to open the door (hee hee..revenge! 
). There’s still a surprising amount of stigma related to being left-handed, especially in Africa & the Middle East (we moved around a lot when I was growing up). Eh bien, you adapt (right hand handshake is almost natural now) & that’s life!
all the best to my fellow lefties
xxx
A
Interesting story since i had a similar experience growing up in Europe. I had my left hand tied up behind my back when i was in school and was taught to write with my right hand. Using my left hand was a sign of the devil. And on top of this i’m a red head (double whammy…) So now i write with my right hand but use my left for absolutely everything else.
I have enjoyed these stories on being left hand, ambidexerous and comparison or not to the right handers. I was in a family that was all right and so it was hard to do anything growing up to learn how to do it the left than the right. I had parents that accepted it. However being Catholic and having the nuns a child of the fifties that they had the thinking of the devil and wickness and wrong and going to hell. Anyway in the third grade the nun made me do it right hand and the class tormented me by saying ” right is right and left is going to hell”, Anyway she told me that if I told my parents that I would go to hell and such. Anyway I did this for most of the school year and then one night at home doing my homework my dad saw me doing it right handed and asked why and I cried the nun made me do it. Anyway there was a talk to the principal and nun and they stopped it however the damage was done and I was now ambidexrious person and do some things left as I favor it and others right. I guess as one of the people confused the mind however the mind seems to accept it and such. Yes the doors not marked and not left you learn as others have said in the other e mails. Anyway I am interest in the skip the generations and also some parents are left and the kids are. Then the comment 1 in ten is left interesting. Anyway I was adopted native american and wonder how all this fits with our group of people. I will be checking with my extended family as to how many are lefties and such. Anyway I will be checking this web page and also checking your people’s comments thanks Matt
I just joined the club. I have been reading all the comments and deffently can relate.
But the one thing I want to say is ITS GREAT BEIING A LEFTY!
Yes, I am also a LEFTY. And August 13th is also my birthday. Sharing my birthday with this positive awareness date. Can’t get any better than this. Life is Good.
Hello fellow Lefties! I am intrested in the way that we think about things, our artistic thoughts are in some ways greater that those of the Righties. I have been practicing how to draw manga and anime for about 4 years now, and I’m pretty good. I like to draw with charcoal pencils a lot, but my entire hand turns black in a matter of five minutes. Is there any way to not smudge up my entire pictures? And, please, if any Lefty out there knows the answer, what makes us who we are? Why are we said to be more artistic? Is your dominant hand determined before birth, or after? If someone out there knows, please tell me.
i am a right handed person and believe that being ignored for such simple reasons like being left handed is utterley unjust. its disgusting, rude and it simply outrages me that such stupid prejudice happens in this world. Its people like you who make the world a happier (and safer) place for our children.
I’m a 45 year old mexican lefty. I have always felt SPECIAL and different.
I do everything with my left hand, except answer the phone and kicking a ball. Through my life I have adapted to try-the-other-hand-jokes, desks, scissors, notebooks, ink pens, and all drafting paraphernalia needed when studying architecture 25 years ago. No SWEAT!!
Buuuut….I have an ENORMOUS problem trying to follow directions based on GO LEFT, GO RIGHT and so….and don’t get me started with trying to MIRROR anything in my brain or coordinate in front of a MIRROR, I simply don’t get it!!….but the WORST, trying to cut and serve yourself a piece of pie with a cake knife!!
Anybody else?
I have difficulty with directions as well. When I was in gr. 2, my teacher would always tell me to “do everything I tell the class to do, just use the opposite hand”. Now, when I’m driving, I tend to switch directions. If I’m driving with someone who is giving me verbal directions, I ask them to point. That way there is usually less confusion!
I too have enormous trouble with left and right directions. If someone tells me to turn right, I turn left and vice versa. One of my mates says things like “turn your right” when he wants to go left. It’s funny, but it works. On the dash of my cars I have little stickers pointing right and left with the words printed on them. All I have to do is check them, and I turn the indicated direction properly. GPS devices are the greatest invention, because they use arrows pointing the way I need to go.
See, we do adapt people.
my mom was awesome i’ve been left-handed my whole life. my mom apparently what she told me is when i started school… kindergarten at a catholic school she told my teachers “dont you dare try and make my daughter right-handed” to this day i love my mom for that. there are some things i can do with both hands.but mainly its all leftie.
I am a lefty and proud of it. As a young child I too was encouraged by teachers to use my right hand thus my being able to use both. I write, brush my teeth, eat, and shoot a gun only with my left hand. I have never turned my paper at an angle to accommodate my left hand. I have been told that, to see my handwriting one would never guess that I wrote w/ my left hand. However, I comb hair , cook, bat a ball, kick ball,vollyball, play golf,tennis, wave,drive and mostly everything else w/my right hand. Also, My mother was right handed, my father left handed and myself and 3 other siblings are leftys. All kinda odd to me:)))
i am chance gomez i am left handed and proud i am from utah and none of my family is left handed besides me. and when i have my baby i hope that he or she will be left handed like their daddy. i really love this web site. being left handed is the greatest thing i can say that i love about my self
Hi there, i have been introduced about this website, and been doing research and trying to understand
the difficulties many of you faced. Being left handed in this society is not easy but i respect the hard work
many people and places make for making a easier life for many of the left handed people out there.
As myself, i am right handed but am currently doing a project on Left handed (the forgotten minority).
My plan is to inform those who may not be aware of the difficulties that left-handed people struggle with in
their daily lives.
And I am trying to do this by finding quotes or maybe collecting personal experiences from you all about, difficulties of using tools (everyday tools such as scissors, craft knife, tape measure, peeler, computer mouse & keyboard).
If possible it would be great if anyone that could spare their time after reading this could
leave me a reply of a sentence or two would be a great help for my project.
many thanks.
Hi Im 44 and a southpaw, there are only two living LH. in my immediate family my nephew and myself my great grandfather was too. I have never been treated any differently and although I realised that I was the only one on my family the have never made concessions or alterations . I have never had difficulty using scissors and can use my right almost equally as well , its probably as strong . I can write and draw with my right too. I think i did that because I m quite competetive and liked having the satisfaction of knowing that I could do tasks equally with my right, because there are some narrow minded right handed idiots who make stupid remarks about LH. being cack handed and Gammy. They are unaware of how many prominent figures in society are held by left handers, presidents, astronauts .
I am totally left handed. Back in the early 80′s at University we did a study on degrees of left handedness. It was quite remarkable to see the number of people who were not ambidextrous, but who used a particular hand for different tasks, e.g. writing with the left, using a knife with the right, etc. There were only a small percentage of us who exclusively use our left hands. Much of this seemed to come down to societal influences, such as how people were taught as children or the coping strategies they developed to live in a right handed world. I don’t know if I was luck or just stubborn, but I resisted all attempts to make me write with my right. I find I am good at problem solving and lateral thinking. I enjoy complex puzzles, although anything based on pure memory is hopeless. I have kitted mu home and work with as many left handed implements as possible, much to the frustration of my right handed husband when he picks the wrong tool. My biggest frustration now is the number of computer software programmes and games, which don’t allow for left handed cursor or mouse operation.
I wonder if this is of interest to you. Several years ago when I secured a position as a Sales Executive for a manufacturing company I had to spend time working in various departments in the factory. A fantastic experience in the main until I realised why I had a problem undertaking some of the tasks on the shop floor. Hand assembly machinery and tools were designed for right handers. Certainly difficult to master and effected, in a way your equilibrium. What surprised me the most was that you were expected to use the machinery irrespective of your handedness. Luckily for me it was only short term. Imagine the number of people being forced to use righthanded machinery who did not have a voice, still do not have a voice and just have to carry on regardless.
When I progressed through the management structure over the years I always made sure I took note of positioning so its beneficial for right and left handed people. Little things like which side of the desk your phone is, is extremely important.
It seems odd to me how in a working environment so little allowance is made for a left-hander within the workplace whether office or shop floor environment.
As a separate note, I am the only left-hander from both sides of my parents families. I don’t like anyone sitting to my left and make sure I am seated to the left of anyone. I lay a table left handed and constantly get ‘told off’. I like my peculiarities.
I am a 44 year old left handed Canadian. When I began kindergarten, my best friend was also left-handed, therefore I didn’t think left-handedness was unusual. My teachers never tried to ‘correct’ my left-handedness, either. Only my mother had no patience with me, especially when I offered to help her in the kitchen. I’m sure many other lefties can identify with the frustration of trying – in vain – to use a serrated knife, a wooden spoon, vegetable peeler, or any other kitchen implement. Home Ec. was another nightmare. I remember being reduced to tears and having to stay after class because I couldn’t knit or crochet properly. As a result, I still loathe cooking or any ‘domestic’ chore.
I can relate to fellow lefties about finding the precious few left handed desks at university. It’s torturous to have to use the ‘normal’ desks, which are already too puny to write on.
None of these adversarial experiences made me feel inadequate, however, just irritated. I’ve always enjoyed not following the crowd, and being left handed underscores this attitude.
When I was in Grade 4, one of the substitute teachers was left handed, and he asked for all of the left handed students to raise our hands. He felt compelled to share the sentiment he held dear, that left-handed people are like pearls in the sand. What a champ!
I do everything left-handed, including writing check marks ‘backwards’ (my Grade 5 teacher taught me by his example). I use a computer mouse with my left hand (though I’ve adapted to the right hand), and wear a watch on my right hand so that my left hand is free to write.
Whenever I see elderly left-handed people, I smile at them in solidarity. They’re especially cool, since they didn’t succumb to the pressure to change to being right handed or give in to the bad press about being a ‘lefty’.
Like most lefties, I love being left-handed.
Hi Pamela, I sympathize with your frustration with knitting and crocheting. However, I found my left-handedness to be an advantage when I started to crochet an afghan from a pattern design that was not symmetrical. My afghan just didn’t look like the picture in the pattern book, because the instructions were written for righties. Instead of trying to correct it, I created a different motif, entered the finished afghan in a contest, and was awarded honorable mention. A half-page color picture of my afghan appeared in a later issue. All because I am left-handed! If you want to learn crochet and/or knitting my suggestion is to find a lefty to show you how or find a booklet that shows you how to do it left handed. When someone asks me to teach them to crochet, I tell them I can’t unless they are left-handed. Good luck!
BTW, I am a 64-year-old American in Illlinois.
Hey, I am a left handed lady and visit the hairdresser often.I have noticed that there is a high percentage of lefties in hairdressing business.Something you might want to look into
Hello everyone,
My name is Tenish, I am 31 and am a proud left handed woman! My Grandmother, Grandfather, Mom & Dad and one of my four brothers are left handed also.. I had the hardest time finding lefty scissors as a kid so I just learned to use the right handed ones. What I want to know is why is it that when I’m holding cards in my hands (Playing Spades) my numbers look backwards or upside down? This happens everytime, is that a lefty thing or is it just me? Please respond, Thanks…
Left Handed People Make Good Lovers….
Ohhhh, that is SO true!
I remember playing as a kid and not being able to figure out how to hold the cards… it’s really uncomfortable!
So there’s an idea: ambidextrous cards! (Not left-handed, otherwise you’d have to find other lefties to play with!)
That happens to me too!! I thought that it only happened to me!!
I am a twenty three year old lefty. I believe my paternal grandmother was also left handed and one of my cousins on my mom’s side is left handed. Writing was always a challenge and I was never willing to curve my hand like most left handers do so I simply turn whatever I’m writing on to make it easier. I’ve had my fair share of detractors, mostly I remember my kindergarten teacher who insisted she had to force me to write with the ‘proper’ hand. My mom had to go and talk to the school about it as my parents had no problems with my left handedness. One of my other cousins began using his left hand and was forcibly stopped by my aunt who believed it meant he would ‘owe the devil’. I have no idea what that means! I have always felt it was special to be a lefty though and I always look out for anyone who is. We really are amazing.
Responding to comments:
I am 61yo and related to a lot of lefties! Every family has at least one on both sides (except the uncle that married a lefthander, oddly enough). I’m convinced it’s genetic. Growing up one brother was righthanded, the other three of us were lefties (he had to sit at the end of the table!) Later on, another righthanded sibling and half-sibling were born. I have seven children and seven grandchildren. My children: the first is “mostly” righthanded after appearing strongly lefthanded for the first year and a half of her life, the second is ambidexterous after appearing strongly lefthanded for the first year and a half of her life, the next three all lefthanders, and the final two righties! My grandchildren: The first is ambidexterous. Of the other six, three are righties, two are lefties, and the youngest (18 mos) can’t seem to make up her mind! She is the tie breaker…
My grandmother wanted my parents to turn me into a righthander, but they said no. She got so many lefthanded grandchildren (I was the first grandchild) she eventually went with the flow, lol. When I was in first grade, my stern teacher VERY unhappily kept turning my paper the direction for righthanders, scolding me. As soon as she moved on, I turned it back–so I could write!
I ended up deciding to use a computer mouse with my right hand (though it’s not quite as quick) for two reasons: 1) so my left hand is free for writing while doing so, and 2) switching click & rightclick really messed with my brain. In school I was always picked last for P.E. softball due to my perfect strikeout record. My very last game, I thought, what the heck, and decided to bat lefthanded, and actually hit the ball both times, much to everyone’s astonishment. (Shortstop still caught the ball, still out, but at least I hit the darn thing!)
I struggle so with locks & keys, and directions (I have directional dyxlexia). Sometimes my handwriting is really nice and other times terrible, depending on position, writing instrument and surface. Always a struggle. In college, I would take notes writing one line left to right, the next line right to left and backwards, and then repeat this pattern over and over. I read magazines back to front.
Pet peeves: rightie schooldesks, potato peelers, knives, and can openers! Working as kindergarten teacher aide, my lefthandedness was appreciated much by the teachers who found teaching lefties to write very difficult. I had a Bible School teacher once, an elderly woman, who said she had been forced to be righthanded, and it was the hardest thing of her entire life! Maybe it’s the rebel in me, but I like being lefthanded and am proud of it. I think it was an advantage for my piano and flute playing, mixed feelings on violin/guitar. I do think it is handy to have your quickest fingers fingering on the strings.
Do I do anything righthanded? Yes–sweeping and vacuuming. I always sit on the left side of a room. So used to righthanded scissors I can’t make lefthanded ones work.
Nice site; glad I found it.
I’m a 13 years old, left handed. I’ve adapted to some things, when I was younger my brother wouldn’t let me switch the computer mouse (I don’t think I’d have wanted to use it left handed anyway though since it had a curve to it for right-handed people of course. I’ve only just realized why I’m so bad at cutting and stirring when I’m cooking stuff. Does anyone else feel wrong with using the big wooden spoons to stir left handed? I do. Unlike most people, I prefer to sit on the right side of everything. For that, I’m not adapting to anything, but I actually get slightly bothered seeing things in my right-sided peripheral vision, so I sit to the right. I’m very left-oriented, I usually sleep on my left side, learned left and right by thinking “left is your writing hand”, do cooking left handed, pick things up left handed, and just about everything. Sports are a big challenge for me. I’ve basically gotten used to the “do the opposite” for the commands in softball, but I remember this one volleyball camp when the coach was calling “left-right-left!” and I kept on tripping over myself because you just sort of go for the calling instinctively. When I was six years old, I played in a little league baseball team where I was the only girl. I basically sucked so bad even the other kids could outplay me. I remember brilliantly my brother telling me it was because I was left handed. I cried about that, and I’m so happy that my coach sat me down and told me about a famous baseball player who was left handed (Babe Ruth, I think?). Nowadays on my softball team, you realize we’ve got the advantages. I have to take one step less running to first, don’t have to turn my back on the action when catching on first, the fielders aren’t used to where I hit, and the pitchers have to adapt to me. Bonus. Being left handed rocks, right-handers are the norm, and famous artists (I want to be an illustrator) like Michelangelo, Mozart, Picasso, Beethoven, and even Da Vinci favored the left hand. Some of my favorite left handers are Marilyn Monroe, Ringo Starr, JF Kennedy, Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, and Albert Einstein. There’s more, I found these guys at http://www.left-at-the-start.com/famous.html We are awesome.
my name has 1 less l than yours
Hola tengo 37 años y soy un zurdo a mucha honra, cuando era niño mi maestro me golpeaba porque yo escribia con la mano izquierda, pero cuando vio que no podia dominarme dejo de golpearme, en lo personal me siento bien ser zurdo y a la vez orgulloso aunque muchas personas me han querido ver de menos pero eso para mi no significa nada.
creanme hay racismo en ser zurdo, esta es mi contribucion muchas bendiciones…
Hola Carlos,
La ignorancia es tener medio de no saber que intelligente son los izquierdos. No te rajas. Diles a todos que ser izquierdo es tener mucho taleto y sabiduria. Suerte!!
My husband and I are both lefthanded and both 64 years old, so we have long since adapted to the right handed world. Our email reflects our circumstance, starting out “leftytwo@.” I write the “right” way with my paper tilted toward the northeast, so I don’t have to curl my hand around to write. I have always felt lucky that some kind person helped with that early on, though I have no memory of it. No one tried to force me to be right-handed. My husband writes the “other” way, with the paper tilted to the northwest. He grew up with smudges on his left hand from dragging his hand across the page. Our sons are both righthanded, and I never even considered that a factor in teaching them how to do things. Dumb me! I have an identical twin who is righthanded, making us mirror twins. My older (jealous) sister used to say I was the black-sheep of the family, being lefthanded. Not only that, she declared that my twin and I weren’t really twins–just born on the same day. I never took her seriously, but I still remember it.
My son painted a tshirt for me that has an outline of his left hand with the words I requested written on it: “I’m left-handed. What’s your excuse?” I love it!
Leslie
Hi,
I’m 28 and left handed, my father tried to get me to write right-handed as a little girl but I resisted (I’m rebellious in many areas of my life it would seem!). However, unlike many of the other comments, I have no problem distinguishing my left from my right, I use a computer mouse in my right hand, I use the kettle in whichever way it’s facing (so either hand), I’m fine with right-handed notebooks etc as I angle the paper so that I don’t move my hand across the spirals. My mum is left handed where my father is right handed, so I guess I grew up in a household where I would have seen both ways of using things and went for whichever one felt right (ha – no pun intended!) for me.
Luckily I didn’t get any trouble at school for it.
However, my younger brother (he’s 21) was also made to write right-handed as a child, and he does in fact write with his right hand. His handwriting though does look rather spidery, and he uses his left hand for other things. So I think he was forced to use his right hand against his natural preference, and I don’t like to think what effect that may have had on him & other areas of his life.
Just thought I’d add my contribution!
Thanks,
Nikki
Hello.
I am a left-handed U.S citizen. I’m 23 years old, and I’ve lived in the U.S. my whole life. I’m the only left-handed person in my immediate family, and I only have one other left-handed cousin that I know of. Anyway, I remember my Mom always telling me I was no different than anyone else. She always told and tells me that’s just the way I am. I’m SO glad no one ever tried to get me to write right-handed. I totally suck at doing most things right-handed. My Dad too always strove and strives to teach/taught me to play sports left-handed. I remember getting a left-handed hockey stick, but I kick right-footed and I got a right-handed guitar, but I REALLY want a left-handed one. I also have some common lefty problems: I have a slight stutter and I reverse left and right directions all the time. I say “turn right” but I mean left. Someone asked if lefty kids should be forced to write right-handed, and I say NO! Right-handed people aren’t forced to be left-handed, why should I be forced to write with my right hand to accommodate everyone else? I’m proud of being a lefty, it makes me unique, and I feel I’m way better off than the rest of my family who are all right-handed. I’m way better with my right hand than I think other right-handed people are with their left hand.s. Yeah, I say do what comes naturally to you, if you’re left handed, be left-handed!
I’m a left hander but grew up in the sixties being made to use my right hand for everything else so I adapted eventually and now only write lefthanded.I’ve recently read that the theory is all left handed people are one of a twin-maybe the mother miscarried early on without knowing etc etc but..I find this very intersting-has anyone else heard of this theory.?
Ive heard the twin theory, but I dont believe it , funnily enough, my nephew and his brother are mirror twins, one is left handed with hair crown to the left, his brother is right handed with right sided crown.
Jane.
When I was at school they tried to make me write with my right hand, but they gave up and this was in the late sixties
I’ve heard the theory about miscarried twins, and while there may be some truth in cases, it certainly doesn’t apply everywhere. I know a young lady whose maternal grandmother has 22 grandchildren, 19 of whom are left-handed; the miscarriage explanation would be stretched mightily thin to explain that one. (I gave her a Yoropen for her birthday, and she raves about it. If you don’t have one, you’re just a few clicks away from Truth, Beauty, and Meaning where it involves writing utensils.)
I write left-handed, but many other things (like using a computer mouse) seem natural right-handed. It probably depends heavily on the initial experience; computer mouses (mice?) were foreign to practically everyone’s experience when introduced.
I am in the process of converting to right-handeness under duress. A neurological condition in my left arm has led to the paralysis and atrophy of the muscles in my left hand; I can’t hold a pen anymore, nor feel some of the fingers, and writing is out of the question. Hopefully this is temporary, but trying to learn right-handed writing has been a real revelation. Everything is backwards — you pull when you used to push. I don’t wish to permanently join the ranks of The Rest Of Them, even if practically everything is biased toward their perverse orientation in ways even we right-minded sort don’t realize.
My mom miscarried twins a few years before my sister and I were born…my sister was born first and is right handed and two years later I was born and I’m left handed.
For people in the military, we have to use semi-auto rifles that eject empty cartridges out from the right side of the rifle. As lefties take aim using our left eye with the butt of the rifle against our left shoulder, this leaves our right eye fully exposed to the hot, expended ammo cartridges that ejects out. Sure there are deflectors designed for lefty use but in my experience, it does not work, often gets lost or misplaced, or simply not issued.
I am left handed. When I was in school, the chairs had desk surfaces built in on the right side. I would always look for a seat where there was a vacant chair to my left and use that to take notes. Otherwise I had to scrunch up and turn my shoulder toward the teacher. I never saw a single left handed chair in elementary, high school, college, or graduate school and wonder if they exist. As for notebooks, I got tired of the spiral binding digging into my wrist, so I now buy only notebooks with the spiral at the top or composition books.
I don’t feel I need a left hand keyboard for my computer, but it would be great if you could move the scroll bar to the left side of the monitor where my mouse is. I’ve looked for programs to switch it but haven’t found one. Has anyone else found such a program?
HI
Regarding your question about web pages and scroll bars located on the left: Web designers can do this, in fact, I’m surprised they haven’t done this with this website!
I used to make scroll bars on both the left & right when I was web designing – it was very easy to do. Although I haven’t been a web designer for some years now, I should think it will still be possible to make left scroll bars. You would have to contact the sites you use most frequently and ask them if their designers can indulge you and us other lefties. Personally both myself and my partner are so used to using the scroll bar on the right now (we had to get used to it) that we don’t really notice it any more. (An added note: I used to design web pages in html and java in the notepad program, nowadays web designers just use wysiwyg programs and don’t really need to know any coding any more.)
Alternatively, you could rest your hand on the mouse and scroll up and down the page by:
Using the page Up & page Down keys
Using the up and down directional arrow keys (to the left of the number pad)
Or using the Home and End keys
Hope this helps? And good luck
Jay, Thanks very much for your reply and useful suggestions
When I went to college, most classrooms had at least one if not a few left-handed desks. I always made sure I got to class early to grab one.
I am left-handed, and my son is right-handed. He wants to be a lefty just like me…. I said that wasn’t possible. But then reminded me about my oldest son, who was lefthanded but broke his left arm at the age of 2 and learned to write like a righty. He thinks he can do it then other way around.
My daughter Naomi is left-handed, too. He wants to be like her.
My question: is it possible to make yourself a lefty? If you tie your right arm to your back, and your right-handed, and you use your left hand for a while, can you make yourself lefthanded?
Thomas Fokhart
Hi Tom! I was born right-handed but suffered a bad fracture of my right arm not too long ago where the radius and ulna bones were literally snapped. Thankfully I had no problems adjusting to day-to-day life because in fact, with the exception of writing where I often ‘alternate’ hands I have in fact become a pathological lefty, using my left hand for all other motor activities.
I started training myself in my other hand when I was in my preteens and would practice it with certain actions. My initial attempts were not good but once I got around it and learnt the proper hand positioning, grip, etc., I steadily improved myself to such an extent that it became even better than with my right hand! Writing was a much longer process, but it’s improved to a fairly decent standard.
With kids, they need to be careful not to rush things, and forcing them to do things by ways like tying their hands might prove counter-productive. Like in my case, I think a preteen age or into their teens would be a good age to try, since their brains are perhaps more able to adjust to things than when they’re much younger.
Hope this is of help!
IM a lefty, the only 1 in my family. When i was a kid- my Mother was scared becasue i read books from right to left- we also used to turn toilet paper around the opposite way & I wont even discuss the iron. I work in music (plays keyboards), but my left hand is stonger than my right. Im proud of being a lefty & I too comment when i see someone else whos a lefty. Its lonley out there!………..say does anyone know if you can get a mortgage for left handed people?????
Hi Rhonnie,
I thought I was the only one to turn the toilet roll the other way, it drives my mum mad when I change it in her bathroom. I would say Im probably as dexterous with my right as my left because in a right handed world we have to be adaptable.
It fascinates me the way in which we do things differently , I wear my watch on my left too.
Jane.
I am left handed, left footed ,and sided, but yes bizarrely, i text with my right hand, I have looked into this and it does depend on the left or right brain dominance – apparently i,m equal dominant although i,d have strongly argued on that point as i could never adapt to sewing machine, peelers, set and t squares, hockey sticks etc etc, One of the questions asked by you is whether children should be forced to write with their right hand. If you are doing developmental psychology you should know about speech development. forcing a child to write opposite their dominance can cause stammering or stuttering.
Interesting you should mention stuttering when you force a lefty to use their right hand. When i was a child, i was forced to learn how to write using my right hand, having my left tied behind my back and i used to stutter a lot. My mom actually helped me a lot with the stuttering and now it only comes out when i’m very stressed out and very angry. It’s kind of fasinating to think those 2 things to be related on some level
Hi Everybody,
Initially had difficulty in eating (being Indian we use hands to eat) as eating with lefthand was not right… maybe learned to adapt at a younger age, writing was time consuming but picked up in due course.
Major problems came when got enrolled for Interior Design Diploma, first day of drafting class was a nightmare blank sheet at the end of class, well using two tools( T square and set square simultaneously) meant for righthanders was a challenge… again learned to adapt.
This site has been very encouraging and helpful.
Thanks.
One more thing – my bank has supplied me with left-handed chequebooks since I registered with them. They make writing a cheque so much easier! Alack, alas, cheques will soon be consigned to the dustbin.
Hi there.
I am proud to be a lefty and, like many of the people here, am the only one in my family (well, my step-dad’s a lefty,too, but obviously, I didn’t inherit it from him). I always notice if someone else in the room is a lefty, and I do comment upon it – but in a positive way, i.e by pointing out that we are both members of an exclusive “top 10%” club.
I am a “proper” lefty. This made it easier for me to learn the recorder and flute when I was younger, but I was – disgracefully – refused guitar lessons! Now, at age 33, I’ve tracked down a cheap left-handed guitar for beginners and am finally going to learn to play after all these years…
Being a lefty made it harder for me to play hockey at school, as sticks are designed for the majority. However, I adapted – eventually. I still smudge when I write, so never use fountain pens. I found knitting difficult to learn at first, too, but again, I picked it up in the end. I use my left hand for everything bar texting – bizarrely, my right thumb is my texting digit of choice. And, of course, I use my right hand for those things that, over the years, we lefties have been forced to adapt to, such as knives, scissors, tin openers and the computer keyboard and mouse. I keep meaning to buy a lefty kit, but of course, this is only good in your own home, not elsewhere. I only use the top row of numbers on a keyboard, though – never the numbers pad on the right.
Anyway, happy left-handedness. Enjoy your sinister and gauche status!
You can purchase left handed hockey sticks
I had one at school in the early 60′s.
In later years I asked mum where it was & she had given it to a right handed cousin! I can only imagine the confusion it caused!!!
The very WORST piece of equipment I have ever come across is those stupid seats with the writing shelf stuck on them ALWAYS on the right! I ALWAYS refused to sit at them
I a leftie & I’m proud!
I am both hands bot mostly lefty. Just sayin!!! I dunno how but i just picked up a pencil with my right hand and wrote but I am left-handed.
Weird.
Totally left sided in all things…………………..except when I use a cricket bat, but I bowl left-handed, I can only assume the first person to ever show me how to hold a cricket bat was right-handed. I well remember my mum sending a letter to my primary school in the ’60′s telling them I was not to be made to write right handed and the teacher getting quite sniffy over it, especially as we used those horrible “nib on a stick” type pens, with ink in an ink-well……………….happy days !!!
Gary
S.W. London
To answer those who intrigued by people who are left handed I give this answer.
I am left handed for writing, reaching for things, playing sports, lifting things in fact just about evrything including writng this answer I tend to favour my left when typing words. Curiously though I use a computer mouse and touch pad with my right hand never been able to work that out also I favour my left foot when climbing steps, jumping and kicking. As joiner and carpenter being left handed often comes in very handy when helping my fellow right handers and yes i have learned to adapt to a right handed world of tools and machines, well it was either that or lose a finger or two. With out sounding smug as left hander and footer I have found that I have learned the art of adaptability.
However theres the question of, should adult right handers try to coach child left handers to write with their right hands, absolutely not there is nothing wrong with either hand methods and it will simply cause distress to those being complelled to change. For academics to try to put some analysis to this is shear folly and smaks of there being some future idea to “cure” left handers once the reason for it found. After all why try to find the reason for being left handed if your not going to do something with the answer, it would be a waste of time.
I’m a 19 year-old lefty neither of my parents, grandma’s or my 3 brothers are left handed my one grandpa was a lefty my other grandpa no-one’s sure about. I find that there are certain things that don’t feel comfortable in my hand like hair and tooth brushes some hair dryers. When I was little I had trouble with telling my left and right sides from each other, I also used to put my shoes on the wrong feet. I also used to open my school excercise books the wrong way too. My eldest neice is also left handed but uses her right hand for some things. Does anyone find it annoying that people comment on you being left-handed?
Hi there
I need some help and I hope that u can help me, I’m a right-handed person and I’m studying developmental psychology, one of my assigment questions are (should teachers and parents urge left-handed children to use their right hand? Give reasons for or agianst the change.) In my opinion i would say no they should not, there are nothing wrong with someone who is a lefty. But I would like to know from the eye of a lefty what would your answer to this question be?
I am a lefty, and I think that the child should be allowed to use the hand they are more comfortable using. Being left handed is not a bad thing; afterall, I’m the only left-handed child my mother had. I turned out great compared to my right-handed siblings. Just thought I’d throw that out there. There is nothing wrong with being left-handed.
You are absolutely correct Monica. Being left handed is great, and many left handed people accomplish great things in life. Good advice you give.
Being a Southpaw is probably easier now than in the past and society tends not to consider us to be cack handed or linked to the devil ,( Ive researched this quite alot and most countries have derogatory terms for the left which really irritates me.) I am 43 and although my teachers tried to discourage me from sprawling across the desk, and gym teachers were a little rude if I missed the ball I experienced no problems, Who cares if I missed it , I was great at javlin , hockey and hurdles. I can hit a ball quite well with my right, more than most rights are capable of.
My paternal great grandfather was the only other southpaw in my family and my nephew too, although his twin is a right.
In answer to your question , children should be encouraged to use their dominant hand, I find that most southpaws are ambidextrous anyway and adapt to activity or exercise, a lot of schools and nurseries are happy to provide left handed scissors, and even pens, Ive never had a problem using scissors but as a nursery practitioner I have seen children struggle using standard type. I believe discouraging children to change handedness from left to right would have a detrimental effect on the child , both physically and psychologically. I would be interested to know the results of your research.
Hi there,
It is only myself and two of my cousins in my whole family who are lefties.
With regards to your question, I agree with you. We should not be forced to use our right hands but sometimes we are unintentionally. I use cutlery and kitchen appliances as a right handed person would (although I do mix sauces, etc as a leftie). I believe I do this because I learned through observation as a child and I often wonder if I would still do this if one of my parents was left handed. I did struggle with my hand writing when I was younger and although noone in my family tried to force me to use my right hand, they did try to correct my posture which in fact made it more difficult to write (but it did prevent future back problem so I’m not complaining at all). My school was very supportive and arranged for me to have separate handwriting lessons. My tutor taught me how to hold the pen comfortably and angle the page so I didn’t smudge the ink. Now I am often complimented on my handwriting! I work in catering and sometimes find that when I set a table, I will place the cups so the handles point to the left and have to go back and change them, but I usually just laugh about it – no major disaster.
As soon as my parents realised I was a leftie, I was not forced to use my right hand for anything, however I have been surrounded by right handers both in my family and society in general, so I have unconsciously learned (maybe naturally or adapted – I may never know now) to do a lot of things as a right handed person.
I hope this helps you with your study
Kind Regards
Assuming that using the right hand is correct should NEVER be forced upon anyone!
My mother went potty when I first went to school in the 1950′s and I had to put my left hand upon my head The teacher soon corrected her method of teaching me (the only leftie!)
Attempting to force children to use, what is to them, the wrong side of their brain, can have terrible consequences later in life, leading to confusion over LEFT & RIGHT and can severely curtail an education
I have a policy of switching all the taps, doors and other household equipment to suit me
I pity the people who purchased our first house as it possessed a in built hob with all the switches on the left! to say nothing of the cold water coming out of, what to them, should have been the ‘hot’ tap.
At work, in the NHS, it was a nightmare!! ALL the equiptment is made for righthanders and you attempt to scan a heart with your right hand when you are SO left handed it’s impossible. Everything was switched around when I had a clinic running All the notes, were to me, running in the wrong order, the desk in the wrong place & so on – It drove the nurses & clerks potty! The upside was that no one ever wanted to steal my pens or scissors!!
Even when I am knitting, I see ladies stareing & on occasion they asked ‘how are you doing that?’
I just reply that I am Left Handed!
In short NEVER mess with those who show a tendency towards their left hand – you could ruin their lives
i use a left handed tape measure, scissors, knives, boks, pens EVERYTHING I can get hold of to make my life as it should be – easier & LEFT HANDED!
Try it yourself – put your right arm in a sling & attempt to live that way for a week It will at the very least give you an enormous headache & yet you will have trouble opening the bottle of analgesia
For your records – out of 5 children 2 of us are lefties. Both parents were right handed. My sister (right handed0 has 2 children, both left handed. Both my children were right handed & one of my two grandchildren is left handed (but as she is only 2 years old, this may change of course)
Good luck with your project
Gill
Lynette
That’s an interesting story. I am left handed and have two brothers , also LH. My parents are both RH. I did have a grandmother, who was also LH and she used to talk about a LH AUNT WHO WAS FORCED BY HER FATHER TO ALWAYS USE HER right hand. i’VE ALWAYS BEEN PROUD of BEING A LEFTIE OR SOUTHPAW. i ALSO HAVE A LH NEPHEW IN Connecticut ONLY ONE IN HIS FAMILY.
I grew up in the U.S.; specifically, a small town on the coast of central California. It’s a little shocking to look back at how attitudes were so primitive and downright silly when it comes to left-handers. My first grade teacher (while teaching us how to write) insisted that the papers on each desk should all be tilted in the same direction. That made it virtually impossible for me to write. There was a member of my (adopted) mother’s family who was related to my mother’s sister’s husband by marriage. This aunt felt it was her duty to make the community aware that there was an undesirable in their midst. I was the undesirable because I was adopted and my mother and father are unknown. According to her, nothing good could possibly come of an abandoned baby and that, by definition, I was should be viewed as suspect. When you added left-handedness to that, it leads to a very frightened and insecure child who was amazingly clumsy and self-conscious.
I am so gratified that people are finally recognizing this is simply a difference in how we use our brains, or how the brain is constructed. This opens the door for more understanding. Applause for you and this website.
Attending high school in the 1960s, the cartridge ink pens would smear across the page and on my left hand as I wrote on the page. That was the “mark” of a lefty back in the day. But my most embarrassing lefty moment was on a vacation to Acapulco and I borrowed someone’s waterproof camera. As I was trying to take a picture of my husband surfing, I just held up the camera and snapped away. I could not wear my contacts on the beach, so my vision was not at best. Well once the pictures were developed, they were photos of everything behind me… my beach towel, the parking lot in the distance, etc. It appears that I had moved the camera over to look through my left eye, and having it backwards, all the shots were behind me! Also, when they first invented blow hair dryers, the motor cage was on the left side. My hair got caught in it and it took a straight edge razor to cut it and my new hair cut was extremely short. There are numerous items that are designed strictly for the right hand use. We should stand up for our lefts!
Thats why I like dugital camera’s, its easy to tell which way round they go, and you dont have to hold them up to your left eye while fighting with the tiny button on the right!
I love being left haneded! My best friend is left handed too so we can share the same problems! It means that we’re unique! Left handers do it right remember! My mum has taught me how to do stuff right handed, so I question whether I do it right… I do it left *hehe* It’s a pain though, as I’m starting secondary school soon, and I’m going to have to adapt to all the things AGAIN!! It would be better if there was a left handed class! For all the left handers at school teachers should do that. I always go on this site! It has helped me with so many things! Writing the lefty way, I’ve even learnt how left handed sharpeners are different to right handed sharpeners etc. I love the clothes too, left handers do it right, just the way to get recongnised when I’m out and about that I’m a lefty!!! LEFT HANDERS RULE!
Hi there
I grew up in South Africa nearly sixty years ago now and both my parents (from the U.K.) and brother born after me were right handed. I just had to fit in and have always used a kettle right handed and I usually stir my coffee right handed but always use my left when cooking at the stove. At school I was told I could hit a ball against the wall as I wasn’t good enough to play with the other right handed children – hence grew up with no interest in sport. I would play golf or hockey right handed (two hands) but tennis etc. would be with my left only. I have adapted perfectly (I think, anyway!) but our natural tendency is to fold things from right to left and not the other way around, and that is how my right handed daughter does it too, having grown up having to help me at home. I have read that we have many more lefties in the Southern Hemisphere but am not sure if that is really tue. I work in an office with 12 people on the staff and 4 of us are left handed which is much higher than the usually quoted 10% of the population.
One thing I have taught myself when giving directions is to turn my body in the direction I am talking about. This way I don’t confuse the person I am giving directions to. B/c I also have a tendency to confuse my right/left with directions, which my husband thinks is funny, I just end up turning my body. He understands that being a lefty I do things backwards. It is nice to have a r/hperson actually understand. when we go out to eat I always have to sit to the outside and when I was in college I always sat to the left of the classroom and at the end of the tables. this helped not only disguise the fact that I was left handed, but also kept me from getting into the way of other ppl. It sounds bad but that was something I just grew up with just to make things easier for myself. So next time you have to give directions, try turning in that direction and maybe it will help.
I’m another lefty who finds a hard time telling my right from my left when giving or receiving directions from and to other people (I’ve confused a few cab drivers!) Although in my language “right” does not mean “correct” I have come to more or less the same conclusion as Ree Gibson, that we assume “right” is correct, but for our brain left is correct.
And to Donna, not only your grandchildren are not the only siblings both lefties, my dad and another one of his four brothers are lefties, while one is ambidextrous by nature, making the weird the norm in my family! Me and my son are both lefties and I’m expecting another child (hope she’ll be a lefy, too)
As most lefties, I’m kind of awkward, but creative and good for languages. What about you?
I have a freckle on my left hand that i’ve always used to tell left from right so i gues i’m lucky that way.
I just learned a couple days ago that they make left-handed notebooks and special scissors and everything so now i’m all excited and want some for christmas!
I have a freckle as well. That doesn’t help me with right verses left though…I still do the L thing occationally. Holding both index and thumb of both hands up and whichever one make the L is left…yeah lol. I didn’t know they made left handed notebooks. That is really cool and would be helpful with the binding getting in the way all the time…
I try using the L with both hands, but the one on my right hand looks just as much like an L to me as the one on my left – I figure it has to do with being so accustomed to doing things backwards
i am both handed. i can remember when i learned to write, having the pencil taken from my left hand and put into my right hand. i was trained to use my right hand, but since i have grown up, i have gone back to using my left hand for many things.i can even write with either hand, but since i don’t have as much practice with my left hand writing, it is not very neat. it took me years to even know which was my left hand and which was my right hand.and i do still struggle at time with the directional problem. neither of my children were left handed, but both of my grandchildren are left handed. i think they are the first brother and sister i have seen who are both left handed, although i imagine plenty of them exist. just sharing some thoughts.
I had the exact same situation as you. The pen was taken from my left hand and put in the right hand. Now i’ve gone back to using my left hand but I can now write with both just as neatly as each other.
i remember that from kindergarden to 6th grade my teachers complained that i write messy with my right hand (i didnt even hold the pencil right, i held it with all 5 fingers). my dad told me that when i was 4, he made me write with my right. he then let me write with my left and i learned to write with my left in only 3 weeks. im 13 and it has been 2 years since i started using my left hand. now i do everything with my left.
I am left handed, and frequently transpose directions, say right when I mean left, etc. I also try to avoid giving directions to others to avoid leading them astray.
Spatial awareness about myself and which hand/side/foot is left or right is not a problem. The knowledge that I have adapted to and am living in a right-handed world has raised the question-”is this natural for me as a lefty, or is it a modification to the right-handed world?” Curious. We definitely have a different thought process than the other 90% of the people around us. I also think we have much more flexible thought patterns.
I’m left-handed and have spend my life adapting right-handed equipment to my needs. Now, as an occupational therapist, I find I have creative ideas for what will work for a lefty that my right-handed counterparts don’t have. I have ordered several of your products to use in my practice, and have recommended them and your website to their parents.
Also, in response to what Ree Gibson wrote, I have the same problem! I thought I was the only one. I did figure out how the problem came about. When I was little I was told “you write with your right hand” as a general truth. No one actually bothered to tell me I didn’t. So I had no idea it was a directional thing. I thought your right (write) hand was the one you write with, whichever side that might be, and the other was… well, your other hand… I have since learned the error of my ways, but I continue to have difficulty with left and right.
I’ve had people tell me the thumb and index finger of the left hand form an L… I said they both do. People tell me,”Well, yeah, but one of them is backwards.” Since I’m also dyslexic, I just look at them and say, “Yeah… one of them is…but which one?”
I don’t know whether this directionality problem is inherent in lefties, though.
I’ve never thought of being left-handed as being an issue, and I’ve never been bullied for it. It was because of my left-handedness, though, that my primary school invested in left-handed scissors. However, one thing I stuggle with daily is telling my left from my right. I’m always mixing up which is which, and once in a driving test (I’ve had a few!) I turned right when asked to turn left; it wasn’t what failed me, I hasten to add! I also say ‘right’ when I mean ‘left’, and the other day I came up with a theory – Right is correct, but my left is correct, so in my head my left hand, being my ‘correct’ hand, is my right hand. Thus, right is left and left is right.
I just thought I’d throw this out there and see if other left-handed people have a similar issue and if I’m right (no pun intended), perhaps more study can be done to investigate this intriguing notion?
I just realized today. My daughter is 9 and i never knew that being left handed was an issue. Now that I have realized and I am trying to help her learn properly I realize that schools should do more about this…no one has ever told her how to even hold her paper the correct way. Being write handed and not familiur I had no idea..
Hi Crystal,
I know exactly how you feel. I wish once I knew my daughter was a lefty I could have encouraged her more. Now that she is in school I am working with her teacher to give her the tools she needs to do her best. It is the concept that being right handed is the correct way, because we live in a world where the majority of people are right handed, but that doesn’t mean we have to sit back and do nothing to bring up awareness at the schools and try to work with them. Good luck.
Hi Susan,
My daughter is 4, and i am reading about being left handed and trying to help her who is left handed , please let me know how you are helping her at school. What are the tools teachers can give her to help her.