Righties, lefties, ambidextrous...

[sashime76]

Do we detemine someone is right-handed or left-handed by which hand the person writes with? I recently saw Larry Bird sign autograph for a fan left handed. I had watched him play on TV countless times but it wasn't until then I discovered he is really a "lefty", or, is he ambidextrous?

I do a couple of things left handed so I guess I'm a righty. I was wondering if there is a general rule of defining righty or lefty? My older son writes, eats, cuts and bats left but throws right. Is he a lefty? My younger one is just the opposite, everything right handed except eating/holding spoon.

So, are you a righty? lefty? or both?

[snowy]

I'm a lefty and I can say that because we live in a right-handed world, a lot of lefties end up learning to do one or several things right-handed: for instance, I bat, throw and shoot right-handed. I also use scissors right-handed, as it was just too hard to find left-handed scissors where I grew up. However, does that change the fact that my left hand IS my dominant hand? Nope. I still set the table backwards (which irritates the hell out of my right-handed family) and I'll never be able to write or eat right-handed.

Mainly we define handedness through the two biggies: which hand do they write and eat with? Usually, but not always, these are the same. If someone can write/eat equally well with both hands, they're ambidextrous. The key with ambidexterity is being able to do tasks EQUALLY well with both hands.

[killeena]

I write and do most other things with my right hand, but I play hockey and baseball and whatnot left handed. Maybe I am a righty with left handed tendencies? I dunno.

[Charlatan]

Down with Righty!

[the_marq]

"handedness" is typically defined by the hand used for writing.

My brother writes with his left, plays golf right, and swings a baseball bat left.

I was ambidextrious till I was around 10 years old. Then a teacher thought it was a bad idea for me to be able to wrtie with both hands so she forced me to write with my right. TRouble is, she was left handed so I learned the wrong way to write.

Now when I try to write with my left hand it comes out mirror image... its weird.

[Scorps]

I shoot left in hockey and golf, I swing left in Baseball but I right with my right hand....I find that wierd!

[StanT]

I'm right handed, but left footed. I've worked hard to turn well in both directions on skis, but I always land on my left side when the going gets tough. My right-handedness is hopeless.

[Scorps]

Originally Posted by StanT

I'm right handed, but left footed. I've worked hard to turn well in both directions on skis, but I always land on my left side when the going gets tough. My right-handedness is hopeless.

I right footed


god damn im wierd

[little_tippler]

I am left-handed simply because all the important things I do with my left hand. I don't do this while eating though, my mother never set the table different for me and I got used to the fork in my left hand and the knife in my right. I do like to hold my spoon in the left hand though. Also, here I am using the mouse with my right hand...eh go figure. But I feel that my right hand is weaker and generally less skillful with most tasks than my left - so that's a good way to define if you're lefty or righty.

[fhqwhgads]

I write with my right hand, but I do everything else left. This is because in school when I would pick up the pencil with my left hand, I was told that it was incorrect, and I was to use my right. Prolly why my handwriting was so screwy all these years. Damn fasicists.

[stevie667]

I used to be completly ambidextrous (i mean completly, write and do anything perfectly with both hands) until i was about 8/9 when i cut open the palm of my left hand, pretty much destroying all the nerves in there.
When i got full contol back, i was a righty. Judging by where i get most of my personality and phsyical traits, i most likely would have turned out a lefty otherwise.

Guess my fate doesn't like leftys, lol.

[akito]

I'm left handed. I'm the only person in my family that's left handed, as well. I still get crap for it to this day.

And as with previously said statement, we do live in a 'right handed world'.. just one of the many reasons left handed people die sooner than right handed people, hehe

[Pip]

I'm a righty; I write with my right hand and tend to do things better with my right. But I can do almost everything fairly well with my left hand too, like needlework and eating and painting. When I was a kid I was afraid that my right hand would be damaged somehow so I practised doing stuff with my left hand. I went through a couple of penmanship books, so I can write with my left, but it's neither pretty nor fast.

[lindseylatch]

I'm a BIIIIIG lefty. Althouth, general, left handed people tend to do thing better with their right hand than right handed people with their left hand. So, a lefty writes better with their right hand than a righty with their left hand.

With snowboarding I can go regular or goofy, which is totally useful and awesome, cause I suck at toe-side turns, so I can go all the way down only doing heel-side turn.

[goddfather40]

Let's see...
Things I do left handed: Write, Eat, Swing a bat, swing a golf club
Things I do right handed: Throw, Play hockey

The throwing aspect has a funny story tied to it. My first day of t-ball I show up with a left handed mitt and started to throw the baseball around left handed. The coaches and my dad noticed I couldn't throw for shit, but they chalked it up to me just being a 6 year old kid with little baseball experience. Later in practice I nailed some kid in the face accidentally, and they then realized something wasn't right, so then they asked me to try throwing right handed. Turns out that I threw perfectly right handed and the rest is history. I wish I threw left handed so bad later in life. I was a mediocre baseball player who would have been a lot more sought after if I threw lefty.

[Boo]

Lefties RULE, Righties DROOL!

[ngdawg]

Originally Posted by fhqwhgads

I write with my right hand, but I do everything else left. This is because in school when I would pick up the pencil with my left hand, I was told that it was incorrect, and I was to use my right. Prolly why my handwriting was so screwy all these years. Damn fasicists.

Knowing your age, that truly surprises me that was done to you-parochial school by chance?
I am totally lefty. My grandmother used to tell my parents to change me, but they refused; my uncle was changed to using his right as a child back in the 30's. I am the only lefty in my family and both my children are righties. I couldn't teach them how to tie their shoes-spouse had to because I did it backwards. Scissors were never a problem-I just flipped their direction.
The nice thing about being the only lefty-I get the same spot at the family dinner table-the left end-so as not to elbow anyone while cutting my food.
Oh, and drawing and painting, since we are accustomed to seeing things left to right-I have to consciously remember to start on the right of a canvas or paper lest I end up with a fist covered in paint or smeared with mediums.

[akito]

Originally Posted by Boo

Lefties RULE, Righties DROOL!

Boo wins in this thread!

[maleficent]

Politics...extreme right...

Hands... used to be left...went to parochial school... the nuns didn't think left handedness wasa good idea so I learned how to write right handed (with crappy handwriting) Pretty much everything else I do left handed. I am convinced that this is the reason why Ihave such a hard time with remembering which is my right hand and which is my left hand...(the left hand makes an L - -I get it now)

[ninety09]

I'm right handed. I do everything (write, eat, masturbate, etc.) with that hand.

[Scorps]

Originally Posted by ninety09

I'm right handed. I do everything (write, eat, masturbate, etc.) with that hand.

And thx for letting us all know you masterbate

[Daniel_]

I'm fully ambidextrous, but chose to write left handed - it just seems to feel better.

When I get stressed, I have been known to "forget" to be lefthanded.

One time I was giving a lecture at college (presenting final year research) and I spent ages drawing molecular diagrams using both hands at once, doing differnet parts of the diagram at the same time - I didn't realise until I got a round of applause and was asked how much I'd had to practice.... :S

[paulskinback]

Leaning on Right Handed

Right hand: Writing, Racket Sports, Catching, Throwing + most things in general

Left Handed: Eating, Cricket

Ambi: Can eat both ways (get confused with spoon/fork combo - both need to be in left), kicking a football (soccer), Pool/Snooker, Masturbating (for variation - feels better lefty, learnt with right hand!) & Using the phone

[flat5]

I write left handed. Writing uses lots of muscles.
I think using a spoon or fork is a trivial task. I use the right hand.
Cutting is more involved. I cut with the left appendage.

[fhqwhgads]

Originally Posted by ngdawg

Knowing your age, that truly surprises me that was done to you-parochial school by chance?

You're not the first person to be suprised by that, and not the first to guess that it was a nun that was responsible. But no, it was a public school teacher in 1980 who "corrected" me. *shrug*

[guthmund]

I was left handed when I first started to write, but switched to my right hand soon after.

I screwed up my left arm pretty good and couldn't practice cursive with the rest of the class, so, I switched to my right, (It seemed pretty easy back then...?) so I wouldn't fall behind. When the cast and such came off...well, I just didn't switch back.

I can still write pretty good with my left hand and my left foot is the dominant foot (if it's even possible to have a "dominant foot") when it comes to kicking things.

[NoSoup]

I am very odd..

I throw darts with my right hand, but baseballs with my left.
I shoot right handed but bat left.
I can bowl or golf either right or left handed.
I can eat with either hand.
I write with my right hand...

So that makes me right handed, right?

[NoSoup]

Originally Posted by Pain Train

And thx for letting us all know you masterbate

I'm confused by this response... this is still the TFP, right?

[Tbird]

I write, eat, and paint left handed, and I throw, bat, and use scissors right handed.

[streak_56]

I write with my right hand but I eat with both, I can use either for cutting my food. Everything else is basically right handed, but I know there are a few things that I use left handed.... like my tools. I do that because I always thought that if I didn't use my left arm it would look smaller than my right, so I started using my tools left handed and it just became normal for me to do.

[raeanna74]

It's all determined my the SMALL motor control. Most people can do larger motions easier with either hand. When it comes down to making small precise motions is when it becomes difficult.

As a teacher one thing that we were told to watch for was which hand the kids put in the coat first. If they consistantly put their left in first then they likely would turn out lefthanded and we'd be careful not to force a right handed writing on them. So many teachers used to FORCE kids to write right handed even though they were better with their left. I think they handicapped some kids in a way. Now it's becoming better for the left-handed kids.

[mingusfingers]

I swing a bat or stick with my left, write with my right, and have recently started kicking with my left after I broke my right femur.

[Seer666]

I write with my right hand, but everything else i do south paw. Used to win most my sword fights when I was hanging out in the SCA for a little bit because of that. No one likes figthing a lefty. Screws them up.

[Ace_O_Spades]

Originally Posted by NoSoup

I'm confused by this response... this is still the TFP, right?

Funny, I was thinking the EXACT same thing.

[Daknjak]

I am dominantly left handed, which means I eat, write so on so forth. I bat right handed, and golf right handed. I don't know why, just feels right. I couldn't swing a bat or club lefty if I tried. I believe your "handedness" is determined by which eye is dominant. So, if you hold up for hand like a gun, close one eye to aim, the eye that is open, is your dominant eye, and hand as well. If you hold up your right hand, and close your right eye, your just fucked in the head. (Just kidding)
Too bad we can't show examples of people trying to write their names with the opposite hand. Would be pretty interesting.

[Cicero]

I'm left handed, bat right handed, play golf right handed etc. Now what I don't understand is why some parents/teachers were so strict in forcing someone to use their right hand. Besides using a pair of scizzors or a can opener I don't see what the big deal is. And now for my left handed story, my father told me that as a child my mother would tie down my left hand to encourage me to use my right hand more. The rest of the story gets a bit fuzzy, I can't recall if he stopped her or if she gave up in frustration because I refused to use my right hand. Too bad she's gone, I'd get a good laugh hearing the story from her.

[World's King]

The girlfriend is left handed. We have fun sitting next to each other while we eat. It's almost a game.

[boom29]

I am right-handed, but have a fascination with being ambidextrous. I could pretty much pass for a lefty, except for the writing part; I just don't practice enough to get good at it. Of course, when I throw with my left, I'm not as consistent as I am with my right, but at least it looks good.

[shesus]

Originally Posted by maleficent

I am convinced that this is the reason why Ihave such a hard time with remembering which is my right hand and which is my left hand...(the left hand makes an L - -I get it now)

I also have trouble remembering my left from my rigth and used to have to the L thing with my fingers. Now, I use my wedding ring. This can be a bad thing since I teach first grade. Oh, well....

I am a lefty and it isn't so bad. There are many things that took me a long time to learn. One of those was sweeping the floor and raking leaves. I don't know why, but my form is awful. Cutting vegetables and stuff is also a problem. I constantly cut myself, but that may be clumsiness on my part. My grandmother actually bought me a left-handed vegetable peeler, but by the time I got it I couldn't use it because I was used to the left handed one.

I also hate right-handed scissors. I have to put the wrong fingers in the thumb hole and they always get pinched. I have left-handed scissors, but I am beyond hope now at using those.

Spiral notebooks are also a pain because I get indents in my arm.

Oh well, the struggles of a south-paw.

[Grasshopper Green]

I'm completely right-handed. I've been observing my son with interest; he seems to pick things up with his right hand, but he'll eat with either hand....he hasn't learned to write yet, so I guess we'll just have to see.