Right-handed or Left-handed? Please help.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

That should be easy for English speaking folks to remember. Rotate the character 270 degrees and it becomes "LH".

Spot on .... what a lateral thinker you are!!

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by medard

22% is a bit too much I think, normal would be 10-15%. But maybe left-handed persons care more about such polls than right-handed do.

A right-handed person does not know how difficult certain things might be for a left-handed person. Have look at this image, for example. For a right-handed person this looks just normal.. And this is just one example out of hundreds.

You'd be amazed at the amount of women who flush while still seated and that isn't an issue.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

For the one or two of you that don't read Japanese Stitchawl

Is handedness an issue when writing Japanese script?

Do the Japanese slag off at lefties in their community like a lot of other countries do?

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

You'd be amazed at the amount of women who flush while still seated and that isn't an issue.

As a woman that always amazes me when I hear of it too

[cromag]

Sounds like a sinister plot.

[twowheels]

As one who marked ambi I'm always a bit baffled by posts by people who indicate that they can only hold their ereader with their dominant hand. While I'm not truly ambidextrous (I suspect that nobody really is) I have extremely mixed dominance. That said, some of my computers have the mouse on the right, some on the left, some have two mice. If the computer is standalone it gets two, if there are two keyboards side by side, one goes on each side, etc. I notice no difference whatsoever.

Eating & drinking handheld food I prefer my left hand, fork in the right, though use chopsticks in both. Cutting, right. Writing I do right handed, but I can write passably with my left and I suspect that with little practice I could write just as crappy with my left hand as I do with my right.

I tend to favor strength activities with my left and dexterous activities a little more on the right, but not 100%. For any skill that I was not taught I tend to switch back and forth without thinking about it.

Definitely favor my left eye (monocular/gunsight), left ear (phone), and left foot (skating/skiing, though usually kick with my right).

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Is handedness an issue when writing Japanese script?

Some traditionalists say yes, but modern folk say no. When correctly holding a writing 'brush,' it is held vertically. Strokes (the parts that make up the characters and kana) are ALWAYS made in the same direction each time, just as if you were, when printing the letter 'T,' to make the vertical stroke first, from top to bottom, then the horizontal one second, from left to right. Because the brush is held vertically without resting the hand on the paper, in 'theory' there should be no difference between lefties and righties. Today though, most people DO rest their hands on the paper when writing with a pencil or ball point pen.

Do the Japanese slag off at lefties in their community like a lot of other countries do?

Exactly the same. It's VERY difficult to find left-handed kitchen tools, although all knife stores sell left-handed knives. (Many Japanese knives are only beveled on one side or the other, rather than both as is normal in the West. Trying to cut with a blade that is beveled on the 'wrong' side will turn sashimi into fishburger...


Stitchawl

[desertblues]

I am left handed at all things, but I was forced to write with my right hand (and Copperplate..) since I was a child. That's the only thing I do with my right hand.
That means that I should be able to do everything with my right hand, in principle. And I can; that is, for example drawing I can do right-as well as lefthanded, but I don't.
For the thing is: it doesn't feel 'right' to do it with my right hand. That is not my 'good' hand. It feels completely unnatural to me.

[Stitchawl]

I can put on my slippers with my right hand.
Does this mean I might be ambidextrous?

Now that we're getting more people answering the poll, the numbers are beginning to normalize. I think we'll see the percentage of lefties dropping down to the 10%-15% figures that the rest of the world uses.


Stitchawl

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I can put on my slippers with my right hand.
Does this mean I might be ambidextrous?
Stitchawl

More likely that you are just confused.

Personally, I do not think there is anywhere near as much to this "right hand" vs "left hand" thing as people make it to be. I think there might be a tendency or preference for one side, but that you can train the other side to compensate should you want to put in the effort. Just think about typing for example. Did you know that most right handed people type better with their left hand? The reason? No sure, but perhaps they tend to hold things in their right hand while they type with their left? Or we could blame the mouse, since a right handed person will tend to move their right hand off the keys to grab the mouse, while typing still with their left.

You write better with your right or left hand? Maybe that is because you spent YEARS training just one hand to write, while neglecting the other?

So that is just my opinion. I do think there is a tendency or preference for one hand or the other, I just do not see it anywhere near as strong as most do.

[Stitchawl]

I see it just the other way... (of course.) But that's because I'm left-handed.

I believe there is a dominant side, but that we do cater to it as well. No doubt that we ignore training the other hand in most usual activities, the fact remains that we have a definite dominance in hand, eye, and foot, as well as a different left brain-right brain approach to problem solving.

While we 'can' train the body to work well with both sides, this doesn't negate the overall dominance the body decrees.

This is the source of my confusion.


Stitchawl

[LovesMacs]

I am by nature right-handed, but I can write passably well with my left hand after having trained myself to do it.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Actually, quite easy to find. Easier than finding left-handed bolt-action rifles! Even the major sporting goods stores usually stock one for each model bow, or if needs be, can special order and get it quickly.

Stitchawl

Yes, I was aware of those but never actually used one. Growing up in rural Wisconsin, we used to do a lot of plinking of beer cans, gophers, highway signs, and (God forbid) those glass insulators on electrical poles.

My favorite firearm was a bolt action, single shot, .22 caliber Remington. I always reached across the receiver with my left hand to disengage the bolt for reloading. I got to where doing it any other way would seem unnatural.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

That should be easy for English speaking folks to remember. Rotate the character 270 degrees and it becomes "LH".

Would that make it an laying down, left handed box cutter? Or maybe a quarter turn, counter clockwise, left handed one?

[troll05]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I believe there is a dominant side, but that we do cater to it as well. No doubt that we ignore training the other hand in most usual activities, the fact remains that we have a definite dominance in hand, eye, and foot, as well as a different left brain-right brain approach to problem solving.
Stitchawl

I think you are right in this.
For hand use we might be trained to left or right, but I can't remember ever beeing trained for a dominant left eye or beeing goofy on snowboards for all my life