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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….
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.
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…
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.?
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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
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
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.
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!
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?
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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 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..