Left handedness - asset or liability?
By 41Combedale
@41CombedaleRoad (5966)
Greece
August 21, 2021 1:07pm CST
I am left handed. My twin brother is right handed. I think this is quite a common trait in twins. I didn't know I was different until I went to school and the moment I picked up a pencil the teacher came along and transferred it to my right hand. It never worked because that pencil must have had a mind of its own, it always returned to my left hand. Eventually the teacher gave up.
It is sometimes a nuisance to be left handed. I have noticed that the design on the inside of my coffee cup is out of sight when I drink. Knives, scissors, potato peelers are generally designed for the right hand. I hold scissors, for instance, upside down.
I tie my shoes the wrong way, I have to re-arrange glass and napkins if I eat out and knitting and learning to crochet was an agony, if not for me at least for the one trying to teach me.
I could look for shops that cater for left handed people but mostly I just adjust. It was an advantage when I learned to type, apparently the most used letters are on the left side of the keyboard.
10 people like this
10 responses
@ThatDisha (4010)
• India
21 Aug 21
I am a left handed person too..in our culture there is a custom performed where the priest first write our name by holding our hand and then we start our schooling he told me to hold the chalk pencil and i took it from by left hand and he told my parents that i will be a left handed person and to let me use left hand as my dominant.. they were happy to know it as it is a good sign to be a leftie in our culture..they never had any problem with it..but as i joined the kindergarten my class teacher upon seeing that i write with left she tried changing it to right but it used to be very inconvenient to write with my right hand and i always used to change to my left.. one day she saw me writing with my left hand despite of being told numerous time not to do so..she got very angry, took a wooden ruler and suddenly clout hard on my left hand fingers..it was so painful that i was not able to move my index and thumb finger whole day..i didn't cried i didn't said anything, i didn't tell my caretaker about it
In evening when my parents came from work i showed them my hand and told them about everything that has happened
On the next day my parents went to school and screwed that teacher well
1 person likes this
@41CombedaleRoad (5966)
• Greece
22 Aug 21
That was cruelty and thankfully you had understanding parents and you have not suffered mentally, in fact it was great to hear that people think it is a good sign to be lefthanded.
@JudyEv (381971)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 21
@ThatDisha That's sad that she ended up like that when she probably needed psychiatric help.
@41CombedaleRoad (5966)
• Greece
30 Aug 21
There are lots of little inconveniences that we 'lefties' put up with. When I eat out the glass is always placed for the right hand. An injection in the left arm.
1 person likes this
@just4him (323168)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
31 Aug 21
@41CombedaleRoad I never knew there was a left-handed way to set the table. Nice to know.
@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
21 Aug 21
I am left handed too. Many of the things I use are designed for the right handed. My mom tried to teach me to knit, and it wasn't a success (she is right handed) At school I learned how to knit. My teacher insisted that I knit like the other students, and I still knit like a right handed person does. I learned to do it that way and it seems natural now.
1 person likes this
@41CombedaleRoad (5966)
• Greece
22 Aug 21
that happened to me too. I remember my righthanded mother trying to teach me to knit. I also knit righthanded as a result, but I think I would have knitted faster if I had learned to do it my way.
@kaylachan (84758)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
21 Aug 21
For me, being a left handed person wasn't much of a problem. When I had to write in school, the papers would get smudged because of how the notbooks were designed. I can see where it would be a handicap sometimes, like using a manual can oppener. Due to my CP my right side is weak. So even if I could use my right hand for something like that, I can't. So my husband ends up doing it for me, when I can't use an eletric.
@41CombedaleRoad (5966)
• Greece
22 Aug 21
I remember the smudges and my writing was not very good, it was difficult to write a sentence in a straight line if the paper was unlined.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (84758)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
22 Aug 21
@41CombedaleRoad I had the same problem, but I'm also totally blind so I considered that to be why.
@xstitcher (39017)
• Petaluma, California
22 Aug 21
My younger brother is left handed. My father was, too, but like you, I guess, when he was in school they thought being left handed was "evil" or wrong or whatever, so they made him write with his left hand. It made him ambidextrous.
@41CombedaleRoad (5966)
• Greece
22 Aug 21
Something good came out of it for him then. A double handed man! One of the lucky ones I think otherwise we would all have become ambidextrous out of convenience.
@JudyEv (381971)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 21
Thankfully the days are past when teachers tried to force righthandedness on people. It is good that at least some tools are available for those who are left-handed and just the other day I saw coffee cups that were designed for left-handed people.
1 person likes this
@41CombedaleRoad (5966)
• Greece
22 Aug 21
Really? Did they have a design inside the cup so that we can see it as we sip? Did they charge more....?
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381971)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 21
@41CombedaleRoad Yes. When you held the cup in your left hand you could see the design inside. It was as if they'd put the handle on the other side. If you do a search, you will come up with some examples.
@crossbones27 (52905)
• Mojave, California
21 Aug 21
Well, its a right handed world. You know I do everything right handed , except I eat left handed. Just something I did as a kid and I never changed it. I would say liability, but not totally, unless its a specific tool made for right handed people and you are left handed.
It must be a thing because does get brought up every now and then and then their is this guy and he does not mention anything, unless he sees a need. He makes a point to say left handed guitar.
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