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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsAre you right handed, left handed , or both, I am right handed
Last edited Mon Nov 4, 2024, 11:17 AM - Edit history (1)
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debm55
(60,705 posts)
rsdsharp
(12,007 posts)rsdsharp
(12,007 posts)
unblock
(56,199 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts) rsdsharp
(12,007 posts)
Probatim
(3,286 posts)I'm a Catholic school lefty - the nuns in grades 2-6 tried to beat it out of me.
To this day, fine motor skills (e.g., eating, writing, brushing my gum holes, etc.) are done left-handed. Gross motor skills (e.g., throwing, batting, swinging a golf club, etc.) are done right-handed.
What's even weirder, is that I shoot a rifle left-handed but I shoot a bow right-handed. It's like my dominant eye switches for the bow.
On Edit - my grandmother could put a pen in each hand and write the same sentence with both hands at the same time. Only one of the hands was doing a mirror image of the other. So basically, she'd right the same word forward and backward at the same time.
rsdsharp
(12,007 posts)I can shoot a hand gun right handed because I can move it to use my dominant left eye. That doesn’t work with a rifle. Oddly, I never had a problem shooting a bow right handed.
Probatim
(3,286 posts)I've tried off and on to shoot a bow with my left hand and it's even more difficult than trying to throw with my left hand. None of the muscles know what to do. It's quite comical.
DiamondShark
(1,167 posts)I can use a mouse left or right handed, most times it's right handed. But gamepad analog sticks I can't control at all with my right hand.
Probatim
(3,286 posts)You'd think that would fall into the "fine motor skills" cohort, but nope.
NotANeocon
(465 posts)it should be bidexterous or omnidexterous
WheelWalker
(9,402 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts)
lapfog_1
(31,906 posts)my dad was left handed... so baseball, tennis, golf ( especially golf ), I learned and played left handed.
I'm afraid I was never very good at sports ( except for track ).
debm55
(60,705 posts)
OldBaldy1701E
(11,164 posts)I batted with either hand. I could play tennis with either hand. In any other way, I am very right handed.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,493 posts)100% either right or left handed. Most of us do at least some things with the other hand.
Here's something intriguing about handedness: Everyone has noticed that some lefties write "normally", and others hook when they write. It turns out that the hooking or not hooking has to do with which side of the brain is running which side of the body, and no, it's not always the left brain running the right side or the opposite. Those who hook (if I'm recalling this correctly) have the left side of the brain running the left side of the body.
It's also the case, although extremely rare, that a rightie will have the right side of the brain running the right side of the body, and that person will hook when they write. After I read that book I took a closer look at my son (otherwise known here as My Son The Astronomer) is a strong rightie who hooks when he writes.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
if..fish..had..wings
(880 posts)when I was a teen I spent an entire summer using only my left hand (preparing for old age when I might lose my ability to use my right hand) and so there are many things I can do quite easily with my left hand even though I am not ambidextrous.
To this day I eat with my left hand. I can play ping-pong either way. And so on...
Additionally, I can do lots of things with only one hand, very useful.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
CanonRay
(16,173 posts)But I can do many things righty, such as mouse. I used to switch hit in baseball too.
debm55
(60,705 posts) North Shore Chicago
(4,243 posts)So therefore, I am left handed.
debm55
(60,705 posts)Foolacious
(540 posts)while their mother is strongly right-handed.
debm55
(60,705 posts) chowmama
(1,096 posts)I'm what happens when a left-handed person is forced to be right-handed as a child. Even had the 'we'll tie your left hand behind your back if we have to' threat, although they never did.
What can I say, it was the fifties. Left-handed was seen as a disability and nobody, including my parents, my teachers, and every other authority, was going to let a kid grow up disabled if it could be avoided. My handwriting is illegible unless I print, and even then it's problematic.
Now I sometimes do things LH on purpose, just because I can. Only writing, knitting and things with machines that are designed to be only for right-handers are exempt. And using both hands can really be convenient in a rushed lab.
debm55
(60,705 posts)
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
Upthevibe
(10,183 posts)I'm another one of those folks whose parents wanted her to write with her right hand even though I'm probably a lefty. My parents even had me go to school early while in elementary school and a teacher came in early to help me with my penmanship. To this day my handwriting is AWFUL! I truly think my parents thought things would be easier for me if I was right-handed so no hard feelings....
Now, I eat with my left hand and do some other things as well (I can't control my mouse with my right hand). Occasionally I'll write with my left hand.
debm55
(60,705 posts)you, Love Debm
ProfessorGAC
(76,739 posts)But because of piano & guitar, I'm reasonably deft with my left hand.
I still doubt I could write well with my left hand & it would be really awkward to throw left handed except for a short underhand toss.
I could dribble well with either hand when I played basketball, though.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
sanatanadharma
(4,089 posts)I have a dominant hand and a smart hand. The dominant hand is never right and the smart hand doesn't reach out to grab hot handles or punch people.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
BOSSHOG
(44,738 posts)I do crossword puzzles with my right hand. Medical folks say it is a good way to exercise part of the brain which is seldom used. Good for old folks.
debm55
(60,705 posts) BOSSHOG
(44,738 posts)And borderline illegible. I’ve been doing it for several months. My writing is getting better. And it does take concentration, I guess that’s a good thing.
PJMcK
(25,050 posts)Can’t dance.
Used to be right-handed but with computers, what difference does it make?
(wink)
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
Clash City Rocker
(3,546 posts)That was the sixties, when parents actually worried about that sort of thing. But my parents left me alone, and I gradually switched to my right hand. I still do a lot with my left hand, though.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
Opbrg
(118 posts)Both my parents were left handed and only 2 of us out of 5 kids ended up left handed.
debm55
(60,705 posts) right
Charlie Chapulin
(387 posts)I shoot a long gun and draw a bow lefty. I shoot a pistol and write righty. I swung a bat and threw righty (shoulders are trashed now). I rode a skateboard and a snowboard goofy - another lefty thing. And I could throw darts with either hand.
Just a crazy, mixed up kid.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
buzzycrumbhunger
(1,937 posts)My brothers and son are all lefties and I guess I didn’t fight it because everything they wrote was smeared, which would have made calligraphy really difficult for me, but there are things that are just too awkward and I have to do them left-handed, like work a keypad, dial a phone, and I used to study by taking notes with my right hand and highlighting my textbooks with my left, which was pretty handy.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
True Dough
(26,695 posts)left-hand dominant, but everyone who knows me calls me underhanded. Any idea why that would be, deb?
debm55
(60,705 posts)
True Dough
(26,695 posts)for somewhat of an explanation...
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1018&pid=2089888
Enter stage left
(4,572 posts)So I'm rapidly learning to be left handed.
I have zero motion in my right wrist, it is solid from my elbow to my fingers.
My fault, decades of abuse doing the things I loved. I wouldn't change what I did, I enjoyed it too much.
Tennis, karate, volleyball and racquetball. You have to use the wrist for all of them.
debm55
(60,705 posts) Enter stage left
(4,572 posts)If I could do it again, I would. I'm 79 now and enjoyed it those sports for about 70+ years.
I'll take that over not doing them in any life I can live.
The Blue Flower
(6,505 posts)I write with my left hand; play guitar and sports with my right. I paint in oils and can use either hand when my arm gets tired. In high school, I tried doing my homework with my right hand for a week. By the end of the week, I was stammering, which made sense when I learned that the part of the brain controlling handwriting is the language center. The stammering stopped when I went back to writing lefthanded. My writing was pretty poor using my right hand.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
49jim
(593 posts)My late wife was left handed, our oldest son is left handed and two of four grandchildren are left handed.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
Clouds Passing
(7,946 posts)Taught myself to do many things with left hand too
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
aka-chmeee
(1,226 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts) 
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
no_hypocrisy
(54,919 posts)Kindergarten. My teacher freaked because I used BOTH hands to write my name on the chalkboard.
With her Psychology 101 textbook on her lap, she convinced my mother I had to be converted to use my right hand.
I found writing and using scissors to be unwieldy with the hand attached to the red ribbon on my wrist.
I got used to it incrementally.
About 25 years ago, my mother confessed to the conspiracy. Of course, I was dismayed and angry. But not helpless. I chose to "take back" my left hand.
Well, not entirely. I'm now ambidextrous. I open doors with my left hand. I go up and down stairs using the left railing. I eat with my left hand. And yeah, I still write with my right hand, BUT, I *can* write with my left hand (backwards like DaVinci and forward).
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
TommieMommy
(2,907 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts) 
justaprogressive
(6,925 posts)but as a long-term guitarist my left hand is pretty darn adept! 
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
AllaN01Bear
(29,521 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts) Sanity Claws
(22,414 posts)I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
debm55
(60,705 posts)
catbyte
(39,165 posts)in an unfortunate ice skating mishap when I was 8. The doctor said it would help with the strength in my left hand. I can still do it, but I almost always use my right hand. Except I'm a better bowler if I use my left hand and I play guitar like I'm left-handed. Go figure, lol.
debm55
(60,705 posts) Srkdqltr
(9,770 posts)As with a lot of left handers they can use their right for a lot of things.
Ocelot II
(130,568 posts)Can't do much with either hand.
debm55
(60,705 posts)
Rocknation
(45,006 posts)Last edited Fri Aug 29, 2025, 12:41 AM - Edit history (1)
But I consider myself to be "naturally" left-handed because that is the hand with which I perform my most vital activities: eating, drinking, writing. Everything else I do right-handedly, including throwing (punches) and playing guitar.
Rocknation
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
marble falls
(71,950 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts) OLDMDDEM
(3,188 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts) 
Gaytano70
(1,234 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts) coprolite
(365 posts)only the gifted overcome it.
I'm left handed
debm55
(60,705 posts)
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
NEOH
(319 posts)…And thank you so much too!! 😊
area51
(12,695 posts)but my optometrist noted that my left eye is dominant, and believes I was originally left-handed.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
City Lights
(25,843 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts) Aussie105
(7,929 posts)Grab a pen in each hand.
Write something with your dominant hand, do it slowly while looking at what that hand is writing.
Tell your brain that the non-dominant hand should copy and follow every movement.
Practice that a lot.
It does funny things to the inside of your head (non technical explanation)
I call it . . . transferring fine movement motor skills from one hemisphere of the brain to the other.
I'm left handed, but slowly learning to be a right hand writer. (For no particular need)
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
Farmgirl1961
(1,665 posts)Left-handed for using scissors and cutting my nails. When I was younger, for some reason I fantasized about being ambidextrous and spent time practicing writing with my left-hand. So, I can manage writing, throwing and evening doing cartwheels with my left side, but it's definitely my weaker side.
debm55
(60,705 posts) 
hauckeye
(801 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts) 
Elessar Zappa
(16,385 posts)debm55
(60,705 posts) 
Mad_Dem_X
(10,196 posts)In both senses of the word.
debm55
(60,705 posts)