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Lefty Disadvantages

Anything Left-Handed Being Left Handed
Being Left Handed

Lefty Disadvantages - Things Lefties Are maybe Not So Good At!

There are some things that we find more difficult because of our brain wiring and others that are more practical issues.

Things left-handers find difficult

Telephone boxes - receiver and coin slot on right TV & Hi Fi controls
Record Player Arms Writing
Scissors Trousers with one back pocket
Trouser Zips Polo (left-handed players not allowed!)
Hockey (left hand players not allowed in Field Hockey - Ice hockey is OK and there have been some very successful left-handed Ice Hockey players) Tying shoe laces/ties
Writing in binders/files Cheque book stubs
Pens on chains in Banks Cash dispensing machines
Ticker barriers on underground (ticket has to be put in with right hand)
Computer number. keypads (on right) Dining in restaurants (bump elbows with R/H diners)

Medical equipment

Club member Michael is a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician and tells us he has problems with right-handed equipment...

"My manual sphyg (blood-pressure cuff) can only be inflated with your right hand. (There are ambidextrous ones, but they are more expensive.) And I had problems learning to fit a cervical (neck) collar, until I discovered that they can only be pushed across with the right hand, not pulled with the left. Obviously, it would be completely impractical to equip hospitals and ambulances with both left and right handed equipment, but I can dream"

Handshakes?


It is traditional and socially acceptable in most countries for a handshake to be made with the right hand. If a lefty tries to use the more natural left hand this causes confusion and makes people uncomfortable

We understand that a left-handed handshake is used as a recognition device by some secret societies and has "sinister"
connotations (we can't win can we?).

If anyone knows more about this or has any thoughts, please add a comment below.


Right Annoyances

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Is it Me?

Comments 92

  1. Seth
    Got tossed outta phy ed grass hockey for refusing to play right handed. I also brought my hockey stick and a Chelios sweater which might’ve swayed them to toss me.
  2. Karen Barklay
    Two things:
    I find a lot of businesses put their card machines pushed up against something immovable on the left side, so I have to twist my hand around to tap
    Second thing is hot water use. I am almost 70 and only recently realised that because I turn on the tap with my left hand, that I automatically turn on the hot water whether r or not I need it. So I think left handers use more hot water!
  3. Sally Narine
    Agree with all the above it’s a right sided world .Is there a left handed nail file & clippers
  4. Judah
    In some places in Africa it is considered a taboo to give or take anything with the left hand. Really annoying considering its a natural response. Also whiteboards can be a pain
    1. Karen Barklay
      I had the same problem in PNG. It took me a little while to realise why I was being yelled at!
  5. Emily
    I've always had problems with coffee pots. A lot of the lids to pour the water in, open to the left...therefore getting in my way and making it very awkward. I've learn to adapt to many things being a lefty, but some things, I just don't have the control I need to do with my right hand. Also, doors at school that are in a bit of a cubby that open to the right. Try opening those with your left arm and you get all tangled up and trapped! ha!
  6. amy
    im a lefty my husband is not OUR son is a lefty. I have bad balance and everything kooks backwards its very difficult playing games with others but I do have high IQ 135. I love that we are rare
  7. Barb
    Ladels that pour.
    Steak knives sometimes cut better right handed .
    No one wants to teach a child how to bat left handed
    My mom was right handed and taught me how to crochet by standing in front of a mirror.
  8. Louise Humphries
    Most things are difficult for left handers as many things are made for right handers without the makers even realising that the lefties might not benefit from these things. These things vary from school desks in America to right handed scissors.
    Its true that left handers are almost always forgotten about when making anything for anyone to use.
    I personally am a leftie and its really not fair that we may get segregated for specific things. to be honest I think thats bullshit.
  9. Will
    It's fine as long as you remember or are used to it, otherwise you put the ticket in with your natural left hand, opening someone else's barrier for them, and walk straight into yours.
  10. Vince Hardt
    One of the greatest inconveniences for left handers is not mentioned above: the tray table on an airliner, with a single cup indentation on the right for cups and glasses. We are packed in like sardines to begin with, so having a drink in the wrong place makes it all the more difficult. There has actually been some progress here. On a United Airlines A-320 recently, I was pleased to see the tray tables had two such indentations, right and left. However, on the return trip on an A-321, there was only the single right-handed holder. It's time for this idea to take off! (pun intended)
  11. Lefty McGraw
    Every time I butter my toast it falls apart. My family, all right handed, same butter, same bread, same toaster and their buttered toast is perfect. The culprit is those nasty little serrations on one side of the blade. I'm nearly 50 and I only noticed this recently. No wonder lefties die younger.
  12. Jamie
    School Pencil sharpeners ( crank on right), microwave buttons, lawn mover power cord (pulling to start motor) stick shift, bike and moped gear controls, dinnerware settings, debit card swipe and placement on counters, manual can openers, vehicle key ignitions, blinkers, wipers, etc..., toilet paper holders, movie theater cup holders, vacuum cleaner attachments.
  13. Bill Crabbe
    I'm writing a brief article on left-handedness for our newspaper and just found this. I had hysterics reading it aloud to my wife. I am predominately left-handed, although cross-dominant, as I do many things naturally right-handed. I could identify with virtually everything on this list. My favorite was the shoe-tying one. My mother used to tell me that was beginning to get concerned about my development because I couldn't figure out what the hell she was doing while trying to teach me to tie my shoes. She finally had an insight and taught me to do it backwards, which I picked up immediately and still do to this day.
  14. Paul Merron
    Who told you our brains are wired differently? they lied to you. Why did they tell you this, well because of their prejudice. Left brained or right brained does not equate to left or right handedness. Folk lore, and other misleading beliefs make left-handedness a problem for left-handed people. if you are told you can not do something with your left hand as a child by your parents and teachers then you will believe it. Here is an example, I was told that I would not be able to play football because I would not be able to aim a kick properly with my left foot. Just think what a stupid and prejudice statement that is. Why on earth would I not be able to aim the ball properly? Well here is the answer. My sports teacher, who was a right handed person, assumed that my left foot was going to be as useless to me as his left foot was to him. Yet another stupid and prejudiced assumption made by right handed people.
    I proved to him that I could be extremely accurate with my left foot AND my right foot.
    Earlier in school when learning to write I was "encouraged" to write with my right hand and although I could do it I found holding the pen in my left hand much more comfortable. Well that was until my teacher gave up trying to make me right handed and accepted that if I was going to write with my left hand I should do it as follows. I was to contort my wrist in a tight curve so that my fingers lay above the writing line and therefore the pen lay at the same angle to the paper as it would if it was being held in the right hand. Oh, writing just became uncomfortable again. The answer was to get myself a left hand fountain pen (ink pen) tell my teacher to get lost and get on with writing. I do not smudge ink all across the page, my writing is neat and legible and I can write pretty fast, my left hand is a mirror image of a right handed writer. Here is the other example of how this stupid prejudice of teachers is put into another perspective. Middle eastern countries who's writing reads from right to left also have a very strong biased to using the right hand for writing, eating etc. Their left hand is only used for purposes of cleaning. The point I am making is that when writing right to left should it not be impossible for them to use their right hand to write?

    OK there are some problems for left handed people but they are not huge, scissors shaped for the right hand can be uncomfortable but not impossible. You mention trouser zips and I do not understand that at all. You do realise that that trouser zips are one way on male garments and the opposite on female garments. Are all females left handed? Cheque stubs I have had some issues with but then the world is a right handed one. Is your right arm really as useless to you as the left arm of a right handed person? I don't think so.

    Here in the joy in being left handed. Once you get over the belief of right handed people that you are somehow disadvantaged then you can get on with using both your arms and legs. I am predominately left handed and I can do pretty much anything with my left arm or leg that a right handed person can do with their right arm or leg. The advantage for me is that because the world is a right handed one I have also trained my right arm and leg to be able to do these thing equally as well. So I have two perfectly usable arms and 2 perfectly usable legs. I feel so sorry for people who can only effectively use a right arm and a right leg.
    1. blackbombchu
      I believe what I read that the brains of left handed people are wired differently. Although the handedness of somebody can't be fully determined from their brain structure, the probability that somebody is left handed given their brain structure is not the same as the probability that they are left handed. I don't see a way to disprove that according to the selfish gene theory, because the evolutionary stable strategy of our past was for an uneven mix of handedness, natural selection was also going to create a tendency for left handers to have a different brain structure. I think there might actually be a slight tendency for left handers to be a bit less likely to be above a given amount of motor skill than right handers, though that tendency is much tinier than the teacher said it was. One possible reason is that left handers don't practice up their left hand as much because they have to adapt to the right handed world. They however also get an advantage from adapting to the right handed world, of being able to do higher skill tasks with either hand, although some of don't agree that it was worth having to adapt to gain that benefit. Another possible reason is that the better a gene is at making people with a genome that gives a tendency for right handedness fine motor skill, the less well it can make people with a genome with a tendency for left handedness, but since right handedness is more common, natural selection selected for genes that are better at giving people with a genome with a tendency for right handedness fine motor skill.
  15. Ryan
    Hey-o, late reply, but since the handshake and even the pledge of allegiance is injected as a social norm to do with the right hand, lefties can be trained out of using their dominant hand. The proper test to see if someone is left handed is to hand them a pen, ask them to lunch and see which hand they use, or even push them to see which hand they catch themselves with. That is the most foolproof. People can train themselves to eat or use computers with their right, but in a split second decision like falling, they will automatically put out the stronger hand. That's why when trying to determine which foot is your dominant, you have someone push you. which ever foot you step forward with is your dominant one.
  16. Ryan
    Eating! For one, formal place settings are not built for lefties. The silverware is on the wrong side and when you take a drink from your glass, you have to cross your plate to grab the cup, risking dirty sleeves, and you end up putting it down on the left side where it can get confused with the cup of the person next to you. Speaking of person next to you, any right-handed individual who ends up sitting on your left side will inevitably bump elbows with you. Cutting steak sucks. I have to maneuver the knife with my left while holding the fork in my right. However, I CAN'T for the life of me actually eat with my right hand, I'll end up holding the fork like a caveman and probably end up hitting my nose instead of my mouth. So, after I cut the steak, I have to cross the fork and the knife to switch hands, take my bite, and then switch back so I can cut again. So annoying! Also, doorknobs are on the wrong side of the door, shirt buttons suck, zippers on pants, fastening necklaces behind your head...iPhones make you swipe from left to right to unlock the screen, which makes sense for a right handed person. Pulling your thumb towards you is a more natural movement than pushing it away. Also, on keyboards, the important backspace and punctuation buttons are on the right. However I have less dexterity there so I don't type punctuation as fast as I could if it were reversed. I've had to train myself to use a computer mouse with my right.In the car, all of the radio equipment and buttons that require more finely tuned dexterity to find without looking are on the right. I think I'd be better off driving in England!
  17. Cayla
    When I try to flat iron the right side of my head it always comes out horrible compared to the left side 😂
  18. Roxanne Glisson
    Playing baseball as a kid was difficult i had to catch with my left hand take off the glove then throw the ball lol
  19. Simon
    I belong to a martial arts school and my teacher, unfortunately, makes me do things right handed even when it would cost him absolutely nothing to just leave me to my own left-handed devices. I've decided If he doesn't start showing more consideration soon then I'm quitting the school. A right-handed person who is too thick to understand that left-handed people need to do things left-handed is no use to me!
  20. Jane Cordner
    Useing a corkscrew to open a bottle of wine ,I find I have to turn the bottle instead of the corkscrew it's totally the wrong way round
  21. scott nyrkkanen
    Im a lefty and I feel that we have an advantage because of it. The fact that we live in a right handed world we have to adapt to do things right handed a lot of right handers can't use thier lefts like we can our rights
  22. Katy
    After i read some of website and comments, i still confused what am i? Lefty or mixed handed, or something else? I use my left hand to write and do common activity(like eating and brush my teeth) ,but i do sports like baseball, golf, bowling,tennis, table tennis with my right hand, and also to kick a ball, but in pressure and throwing i used my lefty. Anyone do the same like me?
    1. Sascha
      That sounds like something called cross-handedness, Katy, and it's pretty common. I am largely left handed but I brush my teeth right handed. I also use cutlery like a right-hander (but hold a solo spoon or fork in the left). My left-handed colleague does the same and also used scissors right-handed.

      I bat left handed but bowl (cricket) right handed. I don't know the science behind it. To be honest I have largely taken it for granted/derived amusement from it. It does get some comment at backyard cricket matches!

      I just see myself as a leftie with some crosshanded tendencies, maybe borderline ambidextrous because I can write proficiently with my right hand. (It's usually readable if not pretty). My GP told me people with this configuration tend to have poorer than average balance. I can't argue in my case.
    2. Nishal koshy
      yep same here.i am using left hand for writing and i used to eat with my left hand but i changed it,now i can use both of my hands to eat.i am a right handed batsman(cricket) and a right handed bowler and the main thing is i have no control over my left hand in cases like aiming,throwing and also in case of strength.
  23. Qurrat
    The awkward handshake...I tend to give my left hand for a handshake and have known people who have on occasion refused to shake my hand unless i change it to right. I asked them why and they just gave me "the look" equivalent to social suicide and simply stated coz "you are just supposed to handshake with your right"
  24. tess stevens
    Ironing boead.The one I have to use in my place of employment,(dry cleaners) is static,and designed for right
    handed people.I have tried to iron from the other side of the board but the cord is attached to an overhead pulley
    Cuts across in front of me,
    .All the equipment is designed for right handed people.
  25. Colm
    When it comes to playing hockey (both field and ice) your dominate hand goes at the TOP of the stick. This means left handers shoot RIGHT and right handers shoot LEFT. Because in field hockey you have to shoot right, left handers actually have a huge advantage. Stickhandling, and shooting all require a strong left hand.
  26. Nordlys
    Strange, I do some things left handed (I'm ambidextrous) and I didn't notice those difficulties.

    I switch hand easily when i use the mouse (and my mouse is always setted on right-handed way, because the left handed way made my friend confusing and my old PC was quite defective, so when i setted the mouse on left handed way, BSoD increased.
  27. Trish
    My biggest challenge is combination locks, keys...anything that requires clockwise movement.

    I automatically turn outwards, as a right handed person would, except my outward motion gets me nowhere ;-)
  28. Trish
    Tying shoes? However is this a difficult thing to do? Laces are the same size.

    I do have issues with some things, but I've learned to adapt, as I'm sure more lefties.

    What I find interesting is I have a left handed mouse.......very few right handed people are able to adapt, even tech support figure it out. Quite often they think there is an issue hahahahahahaha
    1. Ellen
      It isn't the tying of the shoe that's difficult. It was learning to tie the shoe as taught by a right handed person. Us lefties don't loop the loops are right handed people do. I remember my mother becoming extremely frustrated.
  29. jorge sanchez
    that's why we adapt to become ambidextrous
  30. Duey
    Everything is designed for rightys commercial kitchens are awkward. Thats just one thing.
  31. Lesley Fyfe
    One of the most awkward things I find being left-handed is trying to write something down while on a mobile phone. I naturally have my phone in my left hand at my left ear and it feels unnatural to hold it to my right ear in my right hand, but I hold the pen in my left and cross my right hand over to keep the phone at my left ear. Is it just me who does this? I never realised how odd this looks until I was at my desk in work and the person opposite me burst out laughing saying I looked really uncomfortable as if I was tying myself in knots. It seemed to be normal to have the phone positioned on the right hand side of the desk (this was probably in the dark ages before the advent of headsets!)
  32. J.B.
    I was wondering if you could help me out with a question I have regarding a scene in my latest book. The scene involves my detective ascertaining the dominant hand on a suspect by shaking his hand. As a test to determine if he's left-handed, she offers her left hand to shake (disregarding all of the cultural implications of this). As a right-handed person myself, I know that this can be a little confusing at first, as we typically want to respond with our dominant hand. When we do shake, its harder for us to get the grip and and pressure correct, so it may come off as a little weak.

    However, what I'd like to know is how does a left-handed person fare with this? Do they shake hands much more naturally and comfortably, or has a lifetime of growing accustomed to shaking with the right hand leave them in pretty much the same boat?
    1. Trish
      We have been taught to greet and shake with our right hand, regardless of dominance.

      I automatically extend my right hand.
    2. Isabel
      I am 51 and I automatically always shake with my left hand, I am sorry but if any right handed person feels uncomfortable or confused by that ,it is their problem, I could feel just as uncomfortable by them shaking w/ the right hand and I don't, it might not be the greatest hand shake but, hey be and let be. It is a choice how you feel about something, I think people make to big a deal out of nothing. I embrace my left handedness, makes me feel special, so if some one looks at you weird because you are giving out your left hand, just smile, ignore it and keep going.
    3. Jane
      I'm very left dominant but shake with right hand and you would not be able to tell left handed ness from it.
  33. Jane
    Has anyone noticed that supermarkets now sell milk in right-handed bottles? The big (4pt) bottles now have an offset handle rather than one in the centre of the the narrower side. I find these very awkward to get out of the fridge and to pour from. Whoever thought that this change in design was a good idea?
  34. melex
    am happy to learn that there are people out there who understands and are ready to help LHP.
  35. sandra
    You should add using a camera to this list. If you are left handed AND left eyed then holding and looking into a camera's view finder is uncomfortable. When you go to look into the view finder your nose will touch the back of the camera making it hard to get your eye close to the VF. Also the handles on digital cameras are always on the right side which makes you have to hold it with your right hand. Just try to hold a camera with your left hand to take a photo.... next to impossible.
    1. Jane
      Absolutely!
  36. Stephanie
    I write left handed but do most everything else with my right hand. I do bat and golf left handed. My twin brother is left handed and does everything left handed. He even writes with the hook hand that is common among some left handers. My mother is left handed so was my maternal grandfather. I have a cousin who was forced to switch from his left hand to his right hand as a young child and had a hard time growing up because he was a natural born lefty but was made to do everything with his right hand. My brother and I had it easier with a mom who was also a lefty. My twin and I were also born in June under the sign of Gemini. So, we are twins born under the Gemini sign who are also both left handers. Weird or what?
  37. Margrethe
    A clear advantage is when you are writing music, you can, if needed, write the melody as the right hand plays it on the piano. Right handers have to either switch between pen and piano all the time, or play the melody with the left hand.
  38. Rachel
    I'm a left-handed child of two left-handed parents. I also have a cousin who's left-handed, and she taught her children and grandchildren to do everything the left-handed way, even though they're all right-handed. So it runs in my family. The only time I really had an issue with scissors was in kindergarten when my teacher accidentally gave me another kid's right-handed scissors to use. My biggest issues have always been writing in binders and braiding my hair.
    1. Kristina
      I feel like you just said my life putloud! I was almost failed and Kindgarden because They believed couldn't use scissors. It took my left handed the mother going down to the school to show them I needed my own special pair! I love being a lefty! However I'm stubbornand I refuse to go righties in many situations even though I feel I could. I'm a bartender now and I insist that the barbacks learn how to set up my well left-handed whenever I'm working! Let's never change!
  39. Sage
    I write with my left hand, but it's odd, because I cut with my right, play guitar with my right, play violin with my right, throw with my right, kick with my right! It's always natural to shake with my right hand too... So what am I? I fit into some of the advantages... I am a musical prodigy, and excel in math. I eat with my left though... So am I a lefty, righty, or ambidextrous?
  40. Josie
    Things I find difficult being left handed;
    Scissors.
    Writing
    Writing in binders
    Eating
    Getting dressed
    Handshakes
    Desks
  41. Pinkie
    This is why I love scouts. Left handed handshakes :)
  42. Jack
    I find it extremely difficult to use a can opener.
    1. Trish
      Me too....drives me bonkers!

      Perhaps I should just splurge on a left handed opener.
  43. Di
    RE Field hockey comment....Hockey is made for lefties. You use your left hand to do a lot of stick skills and because I am a lefty my left hand is super strong so I am a great player because I can be dominant on the difficult side of the field. So ......you can take that one off the list!
  44. Chakra
    A lot of this stuff really isn't that hard for me to be honest.I think it's because I have adapted to a world filled with right handed contrapations. The only thing I have a difficulty with is zippers to jackets. When I zip up my jacket it takes me like 10 minutes! God, being a lefty is hard sometimes. But I wouldn't become right handed if I had the option, mostly because I think it's cool to be apart of the 10% of the world who is left-handed.
    1. Jane
      Have been a leftie for all my 50 years and just realised that the zip thing is a left handed problem....thought it was just that some zips were inferior quality :-)
  45. serenity
    I have problems with all of those but I cant help but to laugh at being left handed I wouldn't change it for the world
  46. Latifa
    Although I'm a lefty I understand why many cultures shake hands with the right. In Muslim societies there has always been a tradition of sharing food and many times people eat with their hands. So just to make sure everyone is remaining clean the tradition has always been to clean yourself in the restroom with your left hand and eat and shake hands with the right. I converted to Islam when I was 19 and had to learn to eat with my right hand because of this.
  47. SkyeBird
    I don't really have problems with the mouse thing, i adjusted to using it right handed. i use a knife with my right hand so i can eat with my left hand, and i use scissors right handed because i cut straighter like that. things that bother me are like tools, or butter knives. a lot of knives are serrated on the wrong side for left handed people...that bothers the crud outta me! i do find that i am a bit more creative than right handed people, and i am more inclined towards literature and reading. writing is a pain in the butt, i get the pen/pencil smeared on my had and the paper. also, writing on a chalkboard/markerboard sucks, i erase everything i write!
    i don't like how in the old days and still today even, being left handed was a sign of the devil or of evil.
  48. Nathan
    We have trouble with computer mouses, and also turns out we all might be slightly brain damaged! I have to sit side ways at school when writing. But we have a more analytical mind so it comes in handy with GCSE English liturture and language
  49. Kapree
    At school, when I write, the pen smudges everywhere. So does pencil. LOL, I'm the only leftie in my class and grade division. In the office, there are lists of which hand people wrote with on tests and stuff, and in total in our school (of 1233 students) there is only 2 left handers. Crazy, huh?
  50. bla bla
    The keypad on the right side of the keyboard is actually rather useful. You can enter numbers with your right hand while still using the mouse with your left hand. Much more efficient.

    Obviously, when they designed the keyboard the computer mouse didn't exist yet, so this is an advantage that we got by accident!
  51. Amanda
    Am I like the only left who has absolutely no problems with any of this? Well, except for can openers and bumping elbows with the girl I sit next to in Chem because we're too lazy to switch spots. I don't smudge when I'm writing (drawing is a different story) because I turn my paper sideways, which also gets rid of problems with binder/notebook rings. I use right handed scissors in my left hand without a problem. I use the computer mouse like any right-handed person would without difficulty, which also leaves me free for writing if I need to. I can shake hands comfortably with either hand, and I've even taught myself to eat with my right hand because I have to cut my steak with my left hand. People usually know where I need to sit at the table, but if I do get put on someone's right side, it's not really that big of an issue because I can tuck my elbows in or eat with my right hand, albeit a little awkwardly. And zippers? Really? You can't pull it up with your right hand at all? Actually, I used to have trouble tying my shoe laces, but that was when I was like in kindergarten. And my right-handed sister even ties her shoes left handed. Long story short, I don't see how so many lefties can have so much trouble with stuff I've been doing since I was a child. Then again, not all lefties are raise in a right handed family and taught to do things right handed. XD
  52. Keely
    When i have to hold something i usually hold it in my right and do what ever complicated thing with my left its so wierd
  53. Brett
    Actually... Regarding the right handed hand shake, Julius Cesar was left handed and made the right handed shake the norm so he could have his dominant hand free while he had the dominant hand of the man across from him in his grip, to prevent stabbings and things.

    Left handed Napoleon instituted driving on the right side of the road for similar reasons, so he could fight anyone coming the opposite way with an advantage.
  54. karl
    What I find annoying is the extra costs for buying something lefthanded or not being able to buy something because you are lefthanded ie. buying a guitar is probably the most difficult.I once had a shop owner tell me to learn to play right handed and then I wouldn't have any problems getting what I wanted. Strangely I kick a ball with my right foot.
  55. Collin
    I found when using my mom's (she is right handed) scissors in my left hand, I end up twisting my hand all the way around to cut! Does this happen a lot when using righty scissors?
  56. Vanessa
    I work as a pharmacy technician and it was REALLY hard when I first started counting medication! The counting trays are made for right handed people and my technique had to be modified. They do make left handed trays, but we didn't have access to any. The way I have to count and push the pills across the tray would make everyone I work with stare at me! I was much slower at first, but I can count them just as quickly as everyone else now! It's amazing once you think about it how much we have issues with! Another example, I break every hand operated can opener I have ever had. I twist it the wrong way until it just falls to pieces!LOL
  57. carrie
    I guess i have become so used to being in this right-handed world that my right hand has tended to take the lead on things except for things that require detail. I find this strange. I hate not being able to shake hands with my left hand and sitting on the right side of people either while eating or in a class that uses tables is a pain in the butt. I actually do wear my watch on my left hand though because it is more natural to look at my left arm than my right. I also dicovered that when playing basketball or percussion my right hand is way better than my left from people constantly saying to do things with your right hand. Does anyone else share these problems/tendencies?
    1. MIMI
      OMG!!! I thought I was the only one. I got used to this right-handed world that I only write, eat and comb my hair with my left. I can't even use a pair of scissors with my left hand. It just feels off. I brush my teeth with both hands. I tried using a left handed key board and mouse and it just wasn't working for me. I guess I have just got accustomed to living in this right-handed world.
  58. Zashna
    I'm left handed and have been since i first started writing but its not abnormal or anything where i live. its accepted, probably because we have SO many left handed people. Honestly, every third person i meet is left handed and we live on an island!
    I dont know how i learnt to do EVERYTHING with my right hand except write. so im pretty much okay with the daily devices. I can write perfectly with my right as well.
    If i even get tired writing in exams, ill just switch hands! so id say im glad im left handed and honestly dont see myself any differently than others.. So all the best to all those lefties out there who ARE having a hard time :)
  59. Katerina
    There is only one thing I can't get used to in this world thought for righties and that's the combination of a chair and desk(don't know how it's called). Practically it's a chair with an extended arm to form a small surface for writing. Of course it's on the right side and I've never seen one for lefties. When I was young I needed two of them, next to each other, one to sit the other to write. If it's possible to keep that "thing" folded at the side I prefer to put my books on my legs, otherwise I twist my body in order to write with the left and it's very uncomfortable because the elbow remains hanging in the air.
  60. albert
    im lefty! hahahha like reading all your comments about being left handed. i dont really use mouse anymore i prefer using laptop still, there i can freely use my left hand rather right.
    I think i adopdt mostly items for right handed . but i dont likely to use knife really scares me because i've experience to wound my self using that knife.
  61. Bikramjit Biswas
    Hellozz from India everyone.
    One of the. biggest dis-advantage I feel in a daily basis is the use of nail-cutters .
    And in my country being a left-hander is not usually greeted with a smile
    1. Dimitri
      Its been nearly a year since your comment but ahhh well hope you get it anyway...

      Ive looked up on the internet how lefties are treated in different cultures, and in india and muslim cultures I know they don't greet it with a smile like you said hahaha...

      But don't change it, its who you are! We are a special breed my friend, some of the biggest geniuses were left handed- einstein, leonardo da vinci, even BEETHOVEN. Tell that to someone next time if they tell you your left hand is bad, huh?

      ANd don't forget, its GENETIC. We are born with our hand, it has something to do with the way or brain is organised, and you can't change it naturally. True righties will NEVER understand.

      Keep doing what youre doing my friend!
  62. Britney
    for the lefties out there who r not so proud of who they are, heres a shocking fact. JUSTIN BEIBER is left handed!
    and einestein (please excuse my bad spelling)
    and julius ceasar
    and BARACK OBAMA
    and many many more of the famous ppl out there.
    Plus reserach have proved that left handed people earn more money that right handed people.
    I am soooooooooooooooooo celebrating left handers day on August 13th!
    Be proud of who you are and never try to change!
    Sincerly,
    A proud lefty! :D
  63. tp
    i am a learned lefty (not so much by choice). my right hand is not so useful anymore. biggest issue?? camera. i love pictures! but can't take them because my right hand can't do it anymore. can anyone tell me a really good reason why shutter releases can't be on the left side?......or at least the center????
    1. Lori
      b/c it was designed by right handed people. welcome to the lefty world. ;-)
  64. Emily
    If a lefty initiates a handshake, they should offer their left hand. Right handed people should learn what it feels like to do something that wasn't designed for them.
    1. Lizzie
      Totally agree!

      Speaking as a lefty, (and being the only lefty I know) I do find it hard to wright and I will never
      Have good notes. Right handed people (my sister) always laughs when I draw something and It
      Turns out like a cloud because of the smudging.

      If This happens to you when you do art, Just say: At least left us can draw unlike you righties!

      Because the right side is naturally better then the left side :( but that means that lefties think
      With the better side of the brain! Suck it Right Hands!!!!!
  65. James
    I am a lefty, but I have been able to adapt to just about anything right handed, especially the mouse, all's it take is a little practice and determination, more natural lefty's are ambidextrous, than natural right handed people, give it a try, and don't ever give up!
    1. tp
      you can actually change the buttons on your mouse to reverse the functions =)
  66. Jacky Martin
    What really annoys me is when I carefully move up to three glasses from the right to the left side of my place setting in a restaurant and when the waiter refills my glass, he/she refills it and MOVES my glass to the right side. How annoying is that?!
  67. Cin77
    Yes! The computer mouse is a real pet peeve of mine. I always make sure to replace a righties mouse after using their computers (usually I have just fixed something they have broken) but if they use my computer and the mouse is on the left? They let me know about it, like its my fault I didn't think of them when I set the computer.

    The bread knife thing is interesting, I've always been made fun of because of how I cut bread (thin at the top, thick at the bottom) Now I have a defense. And watches, oh my gosh don't get me started. I was given an awesome wind up watch a few years ago and winding it up while it was on my wrist? No way!

    Watch pockets in jeans are a real nuisance, they are always on the right side and my right hand is too stupid to use it with any confidence. I could go on for hours... cameras, my digital alarm clock (when I set it my hand is over the display and kind of need to contort my wrist to see what I'm doing) and can openers and ...
  68. Jess
    My top annoyances: the computer mouse. It's always on the wrong side. Especially at the public library, where the cord is permanently stuck on the RIGHT side and can't be moved to the left.

    Eating in a restaurant/formal setting is probably my worst complaint. How embarrassing to sit at a formal dinner, only to drink out of someone else's glass, or to continually bump the elbow of the person sitting on my left, or to (dreaded fear) upset my plate due to using my clumsier right hand to pass food, etc. If people wanted to make my life easier, they'd put me on the far left side of the table - but of course that never happens.

    Cameras are another thing I'd rather avoid than use and look clumsy/stupid. Ever use the camera with your left eye and try to press the shutter release with your LEFT hand, only to have the owner of the camera give you that unbelieving look? :) Yeah. It's annoying.

    But you know? Being left-handed makes us tougher, lol! With all the hard knocks we survive ... :)
  69. Fifi
    I insist on having my pc mouse on the left - really annoys me when others use my desk at work & don't replace it on my correct side. When using someone else's computer, I make a point of always swapping others' mice (mouse? Meeces?) back to the right when I'm done. However, they still have a right moan when they use my desk…now they know how us 'deformees' feel. Bah! *shakes left fist in the air*

    And another thing…! Why didn't anyone tell me to restring my guitar as a southpaw when I was a kid? Totally entrenched in the upside down, Hendrix-style now. Perhaps in hand position only, unfortunately!
  70. Dougie
    Cameras always seem to have the shutter release on the wrong side. Only ambidextrous camera (well camcorder) I've seen is the Samsung QB10.

    The subtlest one is the bread knife. Its blade is serrated on one side only. When we lefties cut a loaf it all goes badly wrong with diagonal slices or slices that are fatter at the bottom.

    The next one is wrist watches. The start/stop/lap buttons on my stopwatch are on the wrong side. Wearing it on the right wrist just wasn't ever thought of by the designer (the buttons could be configurable).

    And finally computer mice. I've always used mine with the primary buttons the right-handed way and the mouse mat on the right of the keyboard. That was to avoid confusing my right-handed colleagues. The habit stuck until the days of the laptop with a trackpoint and a touchpad. But they are still predominantly right handed things.

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