Are you right handed or left handed. If left handed, did the teachers try to make you change? I am right handed. but i

[debm55]

always thought it would be difficult to be left handed. I was a teacher for 43 years and I knew teachers who tried to make kids change.

[Ziggysmom]

1. Yes, I'm a Lefty! Back in the 1960s it was common for the teachers to try and make you

use your right hand. That has left me being ambidextrous for many things. I only write with the left hand, but golf, bowling, batting, crochet and using a scissors I can do very well right handed.

I'm all mixed up!

[debm55]

35. No you are not, you are lucky to be able to use both. I tried but couldn;t.

[brewens]

2. Why is it that lefthanders are flakey? I never figured that one out.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-02-sp-1512-story.html

[debm55]

36. I think that they may be different but I wouldn;t call them flakey based on what arm they throw with.

[SharonAnn]

81. Why have so many presidents been left-handed?

[debm55]

82. I didn't know that. Thanks. Maybe, they had to work hard at a young age to stand up for themselves and overcome

barriers

[DFW]

111. Interesting question.

Clinton and Obama certainly are.

[Upthevibe]

96. brewens.......

I've never heard that left-handers are flakey.

President Obama and President Clinton are both Lefties - as is Oprah, Paul McCartney, Michaelangelo, Jon Stewart, Bill Gates, Mozart, Nikola Tesla, Ruth Ginsberg, Leonardo da Vinci, and others.

[brewens]

98. It's an old baseball gag. Not everyone remembers. Announcers used to joke about it. Here

is some history on it. Sorry.

https://sabr.org/latest/moore-the-strange-occult-origins-of-the-wacky-lefty/

[debm55]

100. Agree, I have known Flakey , who write with their right hand.

[DFW]

112. I promise you, it's not universal

My younger daughter is left-handed. She is as solid as can be. Not yet 40, she balances her high-powered job, her two children, and her intense travel schedule (lives in Germany, been to both the USA and Africa in the last month). She joined the 1% long ago, all money she earned on her own, despite German and US taxes, and still goes around in flipflops and jeans. She grew up one way, was never a show-off, doesn’t see any reason to act differently just because she’s now well-off.

Definitely no flake.

[unweird]

3. My left handed wife is a bit difficult at times too

And my mother too. And that mean, 96-year-old woman across the street too. All of em lefties and definitely difficult at times.

[True Dough]

29. I'm a lefty and I resemble that remark!

I also notice your post count is a palindrome. Don't wreck it, or hurry to 3,333 next!

[debm55]

37. HAAHAHAHAHAH

[Clash City Rocker]

4. The teacher told my parents to leave me alone

She told them I might switch to being right-handed later, which I sorta did. I still will eat and do some other things with my left hand, but my right is dominant now.

[debm55]

38. Good for your teacher.

[CrispyQ]

5. My mother was a lefty & we had three others in the family & they got the corner spots at the table.

Mom loved this saying:

If the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind.

[debm55]

7. I love that.TY

[Siwsan]

6. The nuns did that to my mom and she did it to me

I can't drive a car using my right hand, or use a computer mouse with my right hand. Back in the day I played pool left handed. I do write right handed. I consider myself to be semi-ambidextrous. I also have zero sense of direction and dyslexia. I'm useless at math because I keep transposing numbers. I always wondered of the goofy brain stuff was due to being forced to be right handed.

[debm55]

8. Dear Siwsan, you shouldn;t have been made to change. That was insensitive what the teachers did to you.

[AllaN01Bear]

9. when my mom was little (during the great depression version 1.0) girl. that was not uncommon to try to

force lefties to change . if a teacher discovered her holding her pencil or paper the "wrong way" teacher would slap the students hand w a ruler .me , on the other hand . wanted me to become left handed as supposedly i was wired for right hand . i rebelled . hence now i am "ambidextrus " a friend of mine who i lost contact with had a cup that said " lefties have rights too." so, i am either or .

[debm55]

39. As a teacher I heard stories of teachers tying the left hand back so the child could not use it. Terrible.

[LakeArenal]

62. The nuns tied Mr Lake's left arm down.

He’s a little ambidextrous.

But his mom broke her right arm and became totally ambidextrous.

[debm55]

65. How sad for Mr.Lake. If people knew what went on and kids dare not tell their parents.

[LakeArenal]

72. In my life parents, Catholic or not, sided with teachers and principals.

[debm55]

74. They did at one time much so. Now it is the complete opposite. There child can do no wrong.

[Midnight Writer]

10. Back in the 70s, we got a new boss in our office who decided everyone had to be right-handed.

He would actually stand behind employees working at their desks and if they used their left hand to write he would yell at them.

You'd think he would have something better to do as an office manager with 60+ employees.

And yes, he was an outspoken conservative Republican.

He was eventually arrested and convicted of stealing supplies from the company. He would actually drive his pick-up truck up to the loading dock and load up pallets of supplies that he had ordered on the company account. His defense at his trial was that he was being persecuted by liberals because of his activity in Republican politics.

Some things never change.

[debm55]

40. He sounds like an ass.

[highplainsdem]

11. Started out writing left handed. Immediately encountered a teacher who insisted i hold the

pencil in my right hand, and I did.

[debm55]

41. So sorry for you highplainsdem. Using scissors, writing etc, takes extra work on the part of the teacher to work with

child. Sounds to me like some of the teachers on this thread were just too darn lazy to give it the extra effort.

[Harker]

12. I'm right handed, but I shoot pool and sweep left handed.

Frankly, I'd rather shoot pool than sweep, but I quit playing when one of the two guys I beat in a game of "screw your buddy" started beating the other with his cue stick.

I guess they thought they were hustling me.

[debm55]

42. That;s different Harker. I hope you didn;t get hurt.

[Jrose]

13. I'm right-handed, but when I went to art school, some teachers...

encouraged those who were right-handed to draw, paint and even write with their left hand (and vice versa).
Switching to the other hand often encourages more creativity.

[debm55]

43. I was going to say, I have a BS in art education. Going to college we sometimes experimented using the other hand.

[brush]

86. I've always heard lefties were more creative...something about the right side...

or the brain governing lefties and vice versa for righties..

And I think there's definitely something to that as I always loved to draw when I was a kid. Once in high school my art teacher (yes, back in the day art was still an elective) saw that I and two other students were good at drawing likenesses of the student models/other classmates, and arranged special assignments for us.

I went on and majored in art in college and became an art director in the publishing field.

[Different Drummer]

14. My earliest memory is of being ambidextrous with a preference for left-handedness.

It wasn't a teacher who influenced me to change into a righty, but my mom. Of course, she was a teacher, but I never had her in school.

[debm55]

44. Are you now a righty, lefty or both?

[Different Drummer]

90. Strictly righty...though my politics leans left.

[debm55]

94. Yes

[LisaM]

15. Left handed, no one ever tried to make me change.

Computers were actually more of a problem. The mouse was originally configured with a curve for right -handers (they are better now). People STILL say "right-click" rather than "alternate click", which probably bothers me more than it should. The scroll bar is always on the right and I don't think anyone's devised a program where you can switch it.

[debm55]

45. Good that no one had you change.Thank you LisaM.

[Probatim]

16. I went to catholic school in the 70s - the nuns tried to beat it out of me.

As a result (or because my parents dropped me on my head), my fine motor skills (writing, eating, brushing my teeth, shooting a rifle - dominant left eye) are all left-handed. Everything else is right-handed.

I think being left-handed makes it easier to adapt to things. So many little things are meant for righties and you just have to adjust to them.

[debm55]

46. Thank you Probatim. You have a very interesting story. Thanks for sharing.

[BlueKota]

103. I am right handed

But I also went to Catholic school. Our teachers used to walk up behind us in penmanship class, and try to take the pen out of our hand. If they couldn't they would rap our knuckles with a wooden ruler because they said it meant we were holding our pens too tight. It happened to me on a frequent basis.

Then people wonder why I still jump a mile 50 some years later when someone walks up behind me unexpectedly.

[debm55]

104. Very sorry for this BlueKota. I deeply hope you can overcome this, It's a damn shame this happened to you. Lazy teachers

who did not know the first thing about teaching.

[SOteric]

17. I'm a true ambidexter.

No one tried to make any of the students in my classes change, but then, it seems they stopped doing that sort of thing before I got to be of school age.

[debm55]

47. That's great. You shouldn' t have been forced to change.

[GreenWave]

18. Lefty forced to convert to righty tightie by Mom!

No more easy dingers at playground (was a rectangle)
But sweep broom like a lefty!
Grab hockey stick and shoot like a lefty. (1 goal whole career, lucky shot at that)
Left arm saved my life as I stumbled and fell upon metal fence with tridents. Entire body weight halted mid air. Left arm felt mangled for about two years. Magnesium every day brought it back.
And as you should never pitch a lefty inside by knee, this happens to me now on the right side and Krakatoa East of Java!

[debm55]

48. Thank you for your response.

[Bucky]

19. The same people who impose dexterity reassignment therapy oppose gender affirming care

We live in a irony-blind society

[debm55]

49. Yes the world is screwy right now. Thank you , Bucky.

[abbeyco]

20. A lefty but ambidextrous

Back in 1970 trying to teach cursive to me was driving my teacher crazy. Each time I picked up my pencil, or anything in class, with my left hand, I had to put it down, put left hand behind my back & continue with my right hand.
I did that at home & my parents went into orbit and the next day I was able to pick which I wanted to be. I write & eat with my left and do everything else right handed. I can still write legibly with my right hand.
Lefties unite!

[debm55]

50. Good for your parents. It does take extra time on the part of teachers. Some are just to lazy to give it a try with a

child.

[Jeebo]

21. I always wonder, if ...

... left-handed people are southpaws, why is it that nobody ever calls right-handed people northpaws? (The spell checker is even putting a dotted red underline under that word.)

I am a northpaw, and if I had to write with my left hand, nobody would ever be able to read it.

Which segues to another thing I often wonder, when somebody loses his/her/zirs favored hand and has to learn to do everything with his/her/zirs other hand, how hard is that for him/her/zir to do? In that situation I don't think I would ever be able to write legibly.

-- Ron

P.S. -- Somebody please correct me if I used the gender-neutral pronouns ze, zir, zirs incorrectly.

[debm55]

56. It would be hard but my guess is it could be done.

[Lunabell]

22. Righty here.

And my left hand is basically useless except to offer balance to my body, lol. I have tried to write left handed and do things left handed, but I can't. When holdings a baby, I have to have my right hand free with the infant resting on my left arm. I feel very discombobulated using my left for anything. I can't even use it for my personal hygiene.

Heaven forbid I should lose use of my right one. Well, I guess I'd just have to learn.

[debm55]

66. Lunabell, I have some use of both. Use to hold my baby boy in the left arm so he could be closer to my heart.I can do

some things with the left and do. Writing with my left hand was never mastered though.

[Mad_Dem_X]

23. Proud lefty here...never had any pressure from others to change.

I've tried to write with my right hand, but it looks horrible. LOL

[debm55]

57. Great.

[keithbvadu2]

24. Lefty used to be associated with Satanic. Some folks probably still believe it.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=left+handed+means+satan&form=ANNTH1&refig=6f6fbc075e224c4d99c582404cb539d6&showconv=0

[debm55]

58. Yes, I went to a catholic school. I remember that.Those were the days, when there were 60 kids in a room. For some nuns,

they should have long retired.

[thatcrowwoman]

25. Right handed but sometimes I try using my left hand. Maybe make a few new wrinkles in my brain?

When my Norwegian grandmother was a girl, the teacher would bind her left hand behind her back when there was writing to be done. When I was a girl, I noticed that anytime my grandmother was writing she’d tuck her left arm around her back. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around it.
🕊🩵tcw

[debm55]

59. thatcrowwoman, I heard stories also about tying the the left arm behind the back. How cruel.

[dameatball]

26. I am right handed. When I was in Little League.......

I was a crappy hitter so my dad tried to get me to hit left handed. Turns out I couldnt hit worth a crap that way either. But I looked cool in my uniform!

[debm55]

60. I love your post. Thank you.

[Glorfindel]

27. Right-handed.

I have always felt bad for lefties, since it is SUCH a right-handed world.

[debm55]

67. So very true.

[sdfernando]

28. I am right-handed

But I do many, many things with my left hand..if you catch my drift. 🤪

[debm55]

68. You are bad.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

30. I understand 40% of psychopaths are left handed...

My adoptive mother was left handed, but I repeat myself.

[debm55]

69. Sorry IrishAfricanAmerican., been there too

[ms liberty]

31. I am strongly lefthanded. My mother was ambidextrous.

When I started kindergarten I was already reading and writing, because my sister used me as her student in playing school, so she taught me to read and write at 3.
So when I started kindergarten (1964 or 5?) and then first grade, my teachers were told to leave me be, there was nothing wrong with being lefthanded and since I was already ahead of many other students, they did.

My sister died Tuesday in a car accident. She was 72.

[area51]

32. I'm sorry for your loss.

[ms liberty]

51. Thank you.

[debm55]

70. Oh ms liberty, I am so sorry for you. May the memories of your sister be a blessing to you. Love, Debbie.

[ms liberty]

77. Thanks, deb.

[electric_blue68]

105. Oh my goodness, how awful! So sorry.

[ms liberty]

113. Thanks.

[area51]

33. Right-handed,

but my eye doctor thinks I was originally left-handed as my left eye is dominant.

[debm55]

71. area51, that is interesting. Thank you.

[Dave in VA]

34. Leftie here

and yes my first and second grade teachers would tie my left hand behind my back and force me to write with my right hand. If I turned in work from home and they could tell that it was done with the left hand they would throw it away and make me redo with my right hand. (Sorry for the run on sentence!)

I cannot do a damn thing with my right hand and they ruined me from developing those fine motor skills with my left hand.

Oh well, I survived. Played classical piano, earned a master's degree in special education. Hit the hell out of a baseball left handed.

[debm55]

73. Dave, your post is an illustration of your strength. I salute you for the power you had/have over your life.

[ailsagirl]

52. My brother & sister are left-handed-- I'm ambidextrous

[debm55]

75. That;s interesting. Question, is your writing the same?

[Liberty Belle]

53. Leftie,born in '57. No one tried to make me change, though when I fractured my left wrist,

being a tomboy I learned to throw a softball right-handed and bat right-handed.

I had a lot of trouble writing right-handed, though, and was glad when my wrist healed.

[debm55]

76. Thank you. Can you still do things with both, The medicine I take gives me tremors in my right hand. I have been relying

more on my left. Everything is fine except for the writing.

[Eugene]

54. Right-handed, but my Kindergarten teacher said "You write with your right hand."

1968-69 school year. I never heard that again.
I remember left-handed writing being tolerated
around grade 2 or 3.

[debm55]

63. Eugene, I am so sorry that she said that to you.

[OAITW r.2.0]

55. I am a Righty, One of my sisters is a artsy leftie.

She painted the Dead's 1st album Mandela. Pretty fucking cool to see in the cellar. as I descended downstairs,

[debm55]

61. Great, OAITWr2.0. I am glad she was able to continue being lefty.

[OAITW r.2.0]

64. She is 69 and going strong. If you go to No. Conway, NH....and need a ticket, my sister is there to help....

at Cranmore.

[debm55]

78. We are going to New England after Thanksgiving for another feast/ get together. I will see how close we are .

[OAITW r.2.0]

85. Portsmouth, NH is a great place to start. Then go up Rte 16 N for 2-1/2 hours and you will be

in the heart of Northern New England. My advice.

[marble falls]

79. I'm left handed. I learned to write with a right handed slant, at the black board I used my right hand ...

... I could write backwards with my right hand.

[debm55]

80. That is a great post, Marble Falls, TY.

[walkingman]

83. I write left-handed, born 1950, and don't remember being told to change.

However, I do everything else right-handed and my right arm is for sure my dominant arm. Never thought about it that much. I am the only person in my family that writes left-handed. My penmanship is not good.

[IzzaNuDay]

84. They tried to make me switch, but failed

Back in the 60’s. My mother tried, and I rebelled. The teachers tried and I ignored them. My grandfather gave me a pair of left handed scissors but they were useless to me.

Today, I’m semiambidextrous. When I iron or use cooking utensils, I unconsciously switch hands. Which is not a bad thing because I’m not fatigued in the end. I write left handed only, and use a pair of scissors or a mouse in my right hand!

[debm55]

92. Very good, IzzaNuDay

[chouchou]

87. Lefty

Was stuck in a Catholic school in 7th grade. Told the Nun she was wrong about my being lefty and I won't change and the Mary lie being a virgin was for stupid people.
Got thrown out assholes. I was a nasty little fucker.

[debm55]

93. Good for you. Stand up for what you believe

[chouchou]

95. Thank you. Mom taught me much!

[pansypoo53219]

88. i am right handed, but i am pretty ambidexterios. my grandpa was a lefty made right handed + he had an

awesome right-handed signature. they really beat the lefty out of him.

[Chainfire]

89. I am the opposite. I am right handed and my left hand is only good as a decoration.

[debm55]

91. That's sad

[Upthevibe]

97. debm55...........

I'm THAT person who was forced or at least strongly encouraged to write with my right hand. My handwriting was so horrible (with my right hand) that I remember going into school early in the mornings for one of the teachers to help me with my penmanship.

To this day, my handwriting is atrocious. As I grew into adulthood, I started eating with my left hand. I think as it turns out, I do some things better with each hand. I'm not ambidextrous because the real meaning of that is:
A person able to use the right and left hands equally well. That's not me.

I use my computer mouse with my left hand and can't control it with my right hand at all. And there are some things I naturally do with my right hand.

[debm55]

99. Same here, Upthevibe. Thank you for heart felt post

[onecaliberal]

101. Lefty here.

No serious attempts to change that. My father was also a lefty.

[debm55]

102. GreatandTY

[NotASurfer]

106. I'm a northpaw

But I mouse left-handed. Used to putt left-handed the few times I found myself on a green, dominant eye thing I guess

[debm55]

108. Thank you,

[yellowdogintexas]

107. A friend was lefthanded and her first grade teacher tried to make her switch

when her mother found out she raised hell with the teacher too

[debm55]

109. Good for that mom.

[DFW]

110. Right-handed. Teachers tried to change my handwriting from illegible to legible

They achieved only moderate success. My wife suspects she is a latent lefthander, since German schools in her day used to force lefties to change. Her handwriting is a mix between runic and classical Arabic. If she were to leave only a written will, everything would go to the horse, and we don’t have a horse.

Our younger daughter is a lefthander and we spotted it early on. By the time she started school here, German teachers had been enlightened, and handled it perfectly. My mom was lefthanded, so it didn’t just appear out of nowhere.

[debm55]

114. Great and thank you DFW,

[Delmette2.0]

115. I'm left handed andso was my Mother

She was sorry for letting the teachers force my older brother into changing.

She told the teacher every year not to try to change me. She felt that she did alright in the world so would I.

She was correct.

[debm55]

116. Thank you, Delmette2.0 You had a great mother for standing up for you

[DUar17]

117. I'm a lefty.. as in writing.

I do almost everything else with my right hand. But once I had broken my left arm and had a cast on I had to write right handed. It was difficult at first but it actually looked like my normal handwriting. 😁and forget about hammering, my aim is way off.

[debm55]

118. Thank you DUar17