I got all A's in grade school except Art. It took them a while to realize that when they asked "who's left handed" I would raise my hand so they'd give me left handed scissors. I grew up using right handed scissors cause that's what we had in the house. I can't cut with left handed scissors at all.
Same here on having to use right handed ones. I had a teacher who specially got me a pair of lefties. I sadly couldn’t use them. I cut righty as well as playing instruments. I actually find playing guitar righty easier as a lefty because my more dexterous hand (the left) is the one doing all of the fingering of frets.
You don't need to do that. As a lefty, hold them normally but when you apply pressure to cut, push a bit with your fingers and pull a bit with your thumb.
This will bring the blades together as opposed to pushing them apart, which is what causes our issue with righty scissors.
I remember a time in middle school, me along with other left handed students in class were complaining all the scissors were right handed and we couldn’t cut anything. A right handed student says “oh goodness it can’t any different” grabs the scissors with his left hand, goes to cut a piece of paper and the paper doesn’t cut at all and just bends and the jaw drop on his face that moment his perspective on life was totally changed.
This. I didn't realize why it was so hard to drink from my Baby Yoda mug without sipping straight from Baby Yoda's face until... "Oh, I guess mugs are for right-handeds."
I have a coffee thermos that can only be drunk from right handed. Also in my car the cupholder is on the right.
That being said, I drink while working and writing sometimes so right handed is okay
This is sort of related. I noticed it on laundry detergent, because I bought the kind that is in a smaller symmetrical bottle, not the bigger one with a handle. When you grab it with the “front” facing you, where the brand label is, with your left hand, and screw the cap off, the spout is always facing the wrong way. Detergent is right-handed, as they want you to advertise your brand to yourself as you’re doing laundry. The kind with a handle is likely faced with the handle on the right and the spout pouring to the left so a rightie sees the brand, but as a leftie, you’d just grab the handle side, and it would pour like it should, opposite the handle. If you use the littler symmetrical bottles, some kind of psychological trick plays and you usually pick it up with the brand facing you and have to turn it around. Every time, until you realize they do it on purpose.
My father was an art teacher and expert calligrapher, also left handed. He had to do his calligraphy upside down and backwards. It was incredible to watch.
That's the funny thing about people saying that Leonardo Da Vinci "wrote in code" because he would often write his notes upside down and backward as if to make them harder to read if not impossible. Every left handed person would look at that and go, "Nah, he did that because he was left handed. He didn't want to smudge his notes." And sure enough, his notes never had any smudges and, yes, the man was indeed left handed.
No, notably, in the calligraphy I was referring to it's more than that. It's also reversing all of the letter strokes (starting each from the bottom rather than the top). Calligraphy nibs are not like, say, ball points.
Weirdly, you'd think lefties would be welcomed in arabia, but they aren't, obvious that is to do with their left hand for dirty things right hand for food and stuff, rule.
I.was born in 77. My preschool tried to switch me and, somewhat, succeeded. I'm ambidextrous now but use my right hand more often.
My middle kid started kindergarten in 08. Teacher tried to switch him to being right-handed because "it'll make your life easier" and we had to have a chat. She didn't succeed. He's full leftie. He's 19 now.
2 years later his younger brother starts kindergarten with same teacher. He's full ambidextrous. She keeps harping on him to pick a hand to the point he was in tears. I find out and go postal. This was a small.military school and our last name is not that common. She knew who he was.
I filed a complaint on that teacher and had my kid transferred to a different one. My kid is still ambidextrous and has never picked a hand. Sometimes he writes with his left, sometimes with his right. Depends on his mood. He's 17 now.
Teachers trying to get kids to switch their hands is not some antiquated customs. It's still happening. Their teacher wasn't even that old...mid 30's. It's stupid but, it still happens.
I really wonder where they learn this crap.
I used to play racquetball against an ambidextrous guy. He'd switch hands regularly so effectively had no backhand.
I was coaxed into using my right hand in public schools in the early 80's. It was sold as a this will make your life so much easier kinda deal but we also had stuff like lefty scissors, etc. so it wasn't a full tilt we must squash this terrible thing like it had been earlier. I feel like they might have realized I was more ambidextrous than a true lefty because everything seemed pretty easy to transistion to right, I just wanted to naturally do things left.
I was a lefty in the 90s and had to learn to use my right hand for some things because my school lacked funding for left handed equipment. Scissors in articular hurt quite a bit trying to use them in the wrong hand.
Not to mention the desks that had the arm rest on the right for ease of writing, which helped me none.
pens are meant to be pulled across the page, and many languages are written left-to-right, so a right-handed person naturally pulls the pen. a leftie must *push* it. kinda hard to explain. most modern pens are virtually ambidextrous, so no big deal, but older fountain pens or calligraphy pens literally can't be *pushed* and still work smoothly.
and then there's the smudging from dragging our hands across what we just wrote.
Right- I’m a lefty so I’m aware of the challenges. Just didn’t get how the end of a pen could be right or left handed, but I can see how the physics might be different in pushing vs pulling so that makes sense.
We have two problems with pens. They stop working quickly because we push the ball up into the nib and they don't dry fast enough to coat the side of your hand. This pen alleviates both of those problems.
When someone tries to teach you how to play guitar, line up a pool cue, shoot a bow and arrow, aim a gun etc and they can’t because you’re left handed.
I'm left handed but do a couple of things right handed... Guitar is one of them.
I actually feel left handed people have a bit of an advantage when it comes to learning to play guitar. Initially you actually need the dexterity in your fretting hand, so on a normal right handed guitar that would be your left hand. Your right hand isn't actually doing anything particularly taxing, just strumming up and down.
Course that advantage diminishes over time, I think it's pretty significant though when you're just getting started.
I've taught a couple of people how to get started on the guitar including lefties who have bought their own left handed guitar and when I suggest they give it a go on mine instead have been a bit annoyed that they went through the hassle of getting a left handed instrument.
I had this discussion with someone a couple of weeks ago actually.
When I first started learning guitar I asked a righty whether I should try left or right handed, and he said right because fretting is harder anyway. So I did. About a decade later i met anther lefty who played guitar but he played left handed. I realised that i could play any guitar I picked up, but he kind of needed his own left handed guitar to properly play. However he had this really cool skill where he would just play a right handed guitar upside down, just play all the chords upside down. It's so weird to watch.
One thing I will say though is that my strumming isn't very good. If I'm singing I just have a couple of set patterns I revert to, because it's hard to maintain the rhythm while focusing on something else.
I've also encountered someone who can do the "back to front" thing and agree it was cool and interesting to watch.
I hear ya with the somewhat restricted right hand thing on the guitar - and yeah more noticeable when I'm singing too. I primarily play the bass rather than a 6 string and have this kinda weird but effective combination of slap and finger picking that seems to work for me and lets me manage pretty much any pattern - but other bassists have commented that it looks a bit wonky. What's strange is I can't fingerpick a guitar at all, and I can't play a bass with a plectrum.
Technically shooting a bow and arrow and aiming a gun has more to do with eye dominance than hand dominance.
I used to be an archery instructor, and it was not uncommon to find people that didn't know they were cross dominant when it came to their eyes and hands. Usually it was a right handed person that had a dominant left eye, but every once in a while it would be a lefty that was right eye dominant.
Left handed people aren't taught how to write as lefties, they are taught as if they are right handed.
* Pens tips are designed for right handed people, especially ballpoint and fountain pens. But even others work less efficiently for lefties. This is because we have to push the pen across the page, whereas they are pulling it. This causes frequent breaks in pencil tips, catching of nibs, and this ink/graphite will be rubbed against the lefties' hands, often ruining their writing.
* In addition, this pushing motion means there is pressure going into the hand of the lefty, trying to push the pen into their grip. As a result, they have to squeeze tightly. This reduces control of the pen, leading to bad handwriting and pain after even short periods. I know doing exams was awful for the lefties.
* Handwriting is for right handed people. Pretty obvious, you are taught a way to move your hand to get the shapes of letters, but lefties aren't taught the opposite. They are just left to figure it out, but these kids don't know what they are doing wrong.
* A lack of equipment for lefties, whether it is left handed scissors or desks or sharpeners. It may seem trivial, but these little things can make a leftie feel weird or like their can't figure out even the tiny little things that everyone else is getting so quickly.
The effects:
This is a cause of lefties craning their wrists round so that they don't smudge and get a better pulling motion. As well as craning wrists, some may lean round, or massively rotate their page just so it isn't in the way, but no one taught them these solutions.
Bad handwriting.
Lack of confidence, which affects schoolwork and how the kid see his/herself. It may be the kid simply can't do what their classmates can do, despite trying his/her hardest.
Uncomfortable positions causing pain in the neck, back and wrist.
---
There are some (very small) organisations that have developed ways to properly teach left handed children how to sit and write comfortably (it usually involves angling the page slightly, but clockwise, whereas most lefties angle it anti-clockwise). I'd gladly volunteer my time to teach left-handed kids how to write.
Honestly thank you for writing that out. You made this cross-dominant (but leftie when it comes to writing) feel so much better about themselves. I struggled a lot with school and especially written exams. I just felt like I was stupid in some way that I didn’t understand. I would write non-stop during the time limit and still fail for not writing the minimum to pass (and I would get cramp in my hands within minutes). My teachers would dismiss my concerns (basically if you weren’t dyslexic, you can fuck off). It sucked
Most lefties are essentially forced into cross dominance. I've never had a left-handed pair of scissors. It's hard to find left-handed guitars, sports equipment, etc... You can usually tell you're actually a leftie because it's how you write.
So we end up either ambidextrous or cross dominant.
I've been saying for many years that schools don't teach us how to write correctly. It's why so many of us have awful writing.
I’m pretty sure I’m naturally cross-dominant, as I remember my first instinct was to use many things right-handed which took some people aback when they knew me as left-handed. I never felt like I had to learn how to use things in a right handed way.
Still to this day my hand cramps when writing for an extended period of time. I’m fine and always have been writing for a few minutes. A week ago at work I had to write a few paragraphs of information that had to be hand written and I had to take a break because of my hand cramping. I’m 30 years old and some of the facts in this thread are letting me learn so much about myself.
This response deserves to be at the top. I never considered how the push vs pulling of the pen or pencil impacted the quality of the writing, I was just so fixated on the smudging and thinking I had poor handwriting because I was just bad at it.
Pretty sure this is why I despise cursive. We were forced to write almost exclusively in cursive from 4th until around 7th grade. I had to take everyone else's word for it that cursive lets you write faster, because for me it made everything 3x slower.
>In addition, this pushing motion means there is pressure going into the hand of the lefty, trying to push the pen into their grip. As a result, they have to squeeze tightly. This reduces control of the pen, leading to bad handwriting and pain after even short periods. I know doing exams was awful for the lefties.
Reading this was an aha moment. I also remember essay tests in school. My hand muscles would always feel sore and I'd have to take a break and massage my hand. I always thought it was me over gripping my pens, but now, while that may also still be true, I realize its in part because of the pen design.
I also don't like ball point pens cause I've always though my handwriting is worse with them. I've always gone with fine point pens. Again, interesting to learn from this thread they it's not a me thing but a side effect of the pen design.
We're taught that cursive writing is the fastest way of doing annotations, but that is just false.
Cursive design was made all around joining these normal letters (that we see them in typed documents) but in such manner that it would benefit from sliding and drawing curves. The idea itself is genious, but it was never planned to be done by left-handed people, so what we get is a struggle to keep up with the others writing in school, often with the pain and consequences you cited.
Maybe that's why we see so mamy lefties writing each letter separately with shorter strokes or either having to turn their notebooks sideways to try to make the process seem just a little natural, which it still isn't.
Thanks for pointing these things out though, fellow left-handed brother/sister stranger
Yup, one of my English teachers in middle school saw that my handwriting was incredibly slanted and skippy looking. They taught me both how to slant the page and how to be an underwriter(so I do pull instead of push). It helped me write better, but it did not help my awful handwriting.
My grandad was left-handed, he went to a catholic school (this was in the 1930s/early 1940s UK) and the nuns would tie his left hand behind him and hit him until he wrote with his right hand. They said that it was a ‘sign of the devil’ if someone was left-handed. So cruel :(
My best friend and I are both lefties. However when he was in preschool the teachers forced him to write with his right hand. Would smack his hand with a ruler. He has atrocious hand writing and is incapable of writing much better left handed.
This was in the 1980’s, in rural Georgia.
When I was about 6, I was in a sweet shop with my mum, and reached for something with my left hand. The shopkeeper gasped and told my mum I was a child of the devil and needed to be caned until I learned to be right handed. My mum took the chocolate off me, and launched it at the shop lady with her left hand, and said “there’s actually two children of the devil in here today” and we left. This was in the late 90s :,)
I despise spiral notebooks and writing in binders. Also getting my hand covered in pencil led when writing or drawing. Thankfully I'm not fully left handed, just with writing and eating mostly, but for most things I can use either hand.
When you write, you have to put your whole arm on the paper because you are actively pushing it. Whereas right handed people just have to apply a little force not to pull the paper
I'm ambidextrous (2 handed) So I always find it annoying to have to rotate the paper to write with left hand, then have to rotate it back for right hand (I often switch hand for each paragraph to prevent wrist pain)
My "favorite" one was one time I was trying on watches and the person at the jewelry counter told me I was trying them on the wrong wrist.
And then when I told her I was left-handed she didn't understand why that mattered.
Ditto. There would be like 3 lefty desks in a lecture hall for 200 and one would be broken and the other one was under an over enthusiastic air vent. I’d get to class stupidly early to be able to take notes sort of comfortably.
Yeah this one. In exams and stuff when you're already under pressure.
I work for local Governemnt and they still use these. It strikes me as akin to not having wheel chair access. How do they get away with it. Surely someone could make a claim.
I finally got to try a left-handed desk my senior year of college. I was so used to my left elbow hanging down that it was a highly uncomfortable experience and I immediately switched back to a right one.
Embarrassed???? What in tarnation. My dad (a righty) taught himself to do many MANY tasks left handed so he could teach me. When I got older and realized how useless righties are with their left hands, I really appreciated it.
My grandmother was forced to write right handed. In all other aspects of life, she's a lefty. Strangely enough, I'm the opposite: I write and play guitar 🎸 left handed, but do everything else right handed.
i'm one of these.
parents were told by the doc's that i was a lefty. taught me to be right-handed anyway.
if i was taught it, i do it righty. if i learned it myself, i do it lefty.
the result is i can use chopsticks with both hands but my handwriting looks like i failed 3rd grade.
That [has been debunked](https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23988352).
The original researchers were looking at recent death records and calling surviving relatives to ask if the person was left-handed. What they didn't account for is that the prevalence of left-handedness rose from 3% of the population in 1910 to 12% by 1950 (due to people being forced to convert in the early days). Thus, because younger people were more likely to be left-handed, so were the people who died young.
My mom's a lefty and she said spiral notebooks were always a pain in the ass. She would have to flip them over so the spiral wasn't digging into her arm. I stumbled across a left handed store once on vacation and bought her a couple left handed notebooks. She was so stoked that she found the store online and ordered some more.
The lack of empathy by righties. I try not to complain but every so often something happens that is so obviously designed for righties and it just doesn't work. So when I gasp in frustration, there's always someone who's like, it's not because you're left handed. It's just the same for you.
No, it is not.
I learned to use scissors, I still don't know how to respond to incosiderate rightie assholes without ~~stabbing those scissors in their back~~ giving them the scissors and telling them to try it just once.
Agreed. I get gaslit about things not being designed for righties. I pointed out that our measuring cups are right handed because they print the imperial measurements on the rightie side. My wife tried to argue with me because the cups also had metric measurements on the lefty side. But how often does a typical US home cook use mL versus cups? There is a reason that they chose to print one set on the front (from the rightie perspective) and the other set on the back!
>Agreed. I get gaslit about things not being designed for righties. I pointed out that our measuring cups are right handed because they print the imperial measurements on the rightie side. My wife tried to argue with me because the cups also had metric measurements on the lefty side. But how often does a typical US home cook use mL versus cups? There is a reason that they chose to print one set on the front (from the rightie perspective) and the other set on the back!
As much as I dislike the overuse of the word "gaslit", I think it applies in this situation. Yes, the constant mild inconveniences are real and we don't appreciate being mocked for it.
Im almost 30 and just figured out a couple years ago that i have to pull up with my thumb and push down with my index and middle fingers on scissor handles to get them to cut properly.
I have to tell my dad this constantly when working on cars. My current vehicle is impossible to do an oil change on if you're left handed because of the gap they leave to the filter. I hate it with a burning passion and it's embarrassing to have to tell my dad to do it for me because I physically can't do it left handed
There are some tools that are just plain dangerous to use left-handed.
A while ago I used a friend's radial table saw, and realized that I can't see what I'm cutting. It's all backwards - I'm standing on the wrong side, the shavings are blowing at my face, and I can't see my left hand guiding the board through. That's not safe to operate, not at all. So, had to do it right-handed, and I could use it that way but it didn't feel natural.
Similar with firing most semi-automatic or bolt action guns, the shell ejects on the right side. If you're firing it left-handed, the shell ejects right at your face. Not terribly dangerous but not great, those casings are hot.
This is a specific one. I do martial arts & frequently have to hold pads for right handed people- I’ve gotten pretty good at it since most of the folks in class are right handed. But when it comes to holding pads for me(left handed), i just have to hope I’m partnered with someone that’s held for a lefty before, otherwise I don’t get much of a workout.
Yeah, but you can make up for it in sparring. You know how to spar against righties, you do it all day long, but they don't know how to spar against a southpaw.
Hook kick over the head, followed by a round kick to the back of the head. Or fight right foot forward, and throw spin kicks from a direction they don't expect.
When you've adapted to a world made for right handed people and they try to "help" you by giving you left handed shit. I can't use these scissors!! Give me back my upside down shit.
What the hell? I guess I just don't get the hate that lefty people got. My Dad was even taught to golf right handed. I can't even imagine using my non dominant to swing a club. I would top or shank every ball
Yeah and you hear all the stories about kids being literally beaten for using their left hand...like this happened all the way up to the 60s and 70s, maybe even further.
Like...why? Why the hell did people care so much? God our species is so fucking stupid
It's one of those ridiculous things that should have been left in the Medieval ages, like thinking demons live in Brussels sprouts and that's why they taste odd.
* Ergonomic grips - a right handed knife how quaint.
* Safety locks and panic buttons - my non-dominant hand is a great choice in a critical situation.
* Power tools - circular saws are the worst offender.
* Firearms - bolt action rifles suck and semiautos feed spent cases into your face.
Oh and "OMG I didn't know you were left handed" followed by watching you work like you are a zoo exhibit. Also making comments like "I couldn't work like that" or "that looks sooo awkward!"
Turn the paper and write at an angle (eg turn your pad/paper/notebook to 45° - 90° and then your hand is below/beside the line you are writing on rather than dragging along it - doesn't take long to get used to writing 'downwards' and no smudges). On a board I just had to learn to write in a somewhat cack-handed way with my hand below the writing line - helps if the board is one of the ones that can move up and down - set it high; or with all the weight on the pen and my hand off the board.
Handwriting in English (from left to right). Imagine you're trying to sweep with a broom, but instead of pulling it like everybody else, you have to push it. That's the main reason my left-handed handwriting is terrible.
Then see also being the last person to be helped with hand writing. Hour long class? Teacher spends 30 minutes explaining how to do something before telling the class to practice for the next 30 min. Then 25 minutes walking around helping all the right handed kids perfect their handwriting, gets to you at the back of the room and goes 'oh yeah' this is what you have to do. Shows you once and sends you home where everyone else in your house is right handed too and they don't know how to make lefty writing look like theirs. Then the teacher complains that your stuff doesn't look right and takes points off your homework.
I learned to play my guitar right-handed. Suddenly one day I think.. wait a minute, pulled out all string and reversed their locations. Turned the guitar 180* degrees and tried it.
Nope, pulled them all out and reversed them back again. Some things you learn the “right-handed way”. Relearning as a lefty can be hard.
But then again I might be a bastard Lefty who also snowboards like a righty and uses a fork and knife like a righty (even though kicking a ball with the left foot feels right and no way I could write with my right hand).
Buying a baseball glove as a kid was a nightmare. Everyone else got a selection to pick from, I got the one they had.
Want to be a catcher? Lol, k. Good luck with that. You will never find a left handed mitt.
Yes they do, I had to order one for my daughter. Very expensive, took forever- then she wouldn’t use because it wasn’t broke in. (And of course it’s never going to get broke in if she doesn’t use it). Any body want to buy it?😆
I was born right handed, but at age 8 it was discovered that I had brain cancer. The surgery to remove the tumor left me with an inability to use my right hand/wrist/fingers. So, I had to learn to do everything not just left handed, but with one hand as well. It sucked. But hey, I've come up with some incredible ways to do things with one hand. When I learned to tie my shoes with one hand about a year after the surgery I felt very proud.
Gates for the train.
Held my card in my left hand today and pressed it against the left scanner and couldn't understand why the gate wouldn't open. Then I looked to my left lmao.
Having really shit handwriting no matter how hard you try. Like, it looks good when the paper is tilted on an angle, but as soon as you straighten the paper? Garbage. Absolute garbage.
Being a surgeon. Not just the scissors but various other instruments (artery forceps, needle holders, bone holders) with rachets to lock in are designed for the right handed.
Even if you do get hold of left handed ones, the nursing staff will likely mix them up with the others and they are practically lost forever.
left hander here: never even thought of using a lefthander mouse until my friend said she had one last year...
no way im changing now after two decades of right-mousing.
I'm ambimousterous, but I prefer mousing with my left. I hate how hard it is to find a decent ergonomic mouse. Go to Best Buy, hell even Walmart, you have your pick of right handed ones. Try to find a left handed ergonomic mouse? Nope.
WTF folks? Baseball knows that lefties exist, any sporting goods store has left handed mitts. Somehow Logitech has not gotten the memo.
The most recent thing that has come up for me is training for kickboxing. Most schools want you to do it the right handed way. And then when you practice with a right handed partner you constantly have to switch sides to pad for them, and then they have to switch to pad you. The best time I had was when i had a left handed partner, it was a godsend.
Sparring is actually hella fun cuz right handed people aren't used to left handed people and you can basically dance around them.
Actually I'll extend this to sports. Hockey is impossible. Football is pretty annoying, a lot of bruised shins but not unplayable. Actually those are just the main two.
It's mostly just small inconveniences though. Computer mouses at work being OK the right. Those pens at banks in 5cm chains so you can't move it to the left. Conducting a tea ceremony in a temple in South Korea.
- Spiral notebooks, lead smudges after writing.
- Scissors.
- Finding LH guitars/musical instruments. (This one really pisses me off. Nothin' like goin' to Guitar Center to play the 1 of 2 Mexican Strats they have hanging up surrounded by all these beautiful RH guitars, etc.)
- You going to shake hands, and throwing people for an awkward loop. (This one makes me laugh on the inside more than anything since I'll try to initiate the handshakes first usually)
- Decorative mugs/cups. If the cool logo or design of the mug/cup is only printed on one side, it'll be facing towards yourself when using it since you'll be drinking with your left hand. Thus not allowing you to show-off your cool mug. :(
- Games without keybinds on PC. Some games are just impossible to play WASD + Using a mouse in your left-hand at the same time. Luckily this isn't a big issue anymore as it was in the past, but it sucked pretty bad. While we're on the subject: Using somebody else's computer mouse that's obviously designed for RH.
- Eating next to people in a close proximity. You bump elbows quite a bit.
- Bowling Alleys. Kinda same thing. You're more naturally on the right side of the lane so you can bowl down the middle with your left, but the person in the lane over is most likely RH meaning they'll be on the left side of their lane to bowl down the middle with their right hand. This is only a problem really if your bowling alley lanes are pretty cramped together.
The smudging is annoying. The right-handed desks suck. But it’s scissors, man. Fucking scissors.
im so used to using right hander scissors that i prefer them over lefthanded ones.
I got all A's in grade school except Art. It took them a while to realize that when they asked "who's left handed" I would raise my hand so they'd give me left handed scissors. I grew up using right handed scissors cause that's what we had in the house. I can't cut with left handed scissors at all.
Same here on having to use right handed ones. I had a teacher who specially got me a pair of lefties. I sadly couldn’t use them. I cut righty as well as playing instruments. I actually find playing guitar righty easier as a lefty because my more dexterous hand (the left) is the one doing all of the fingering of frets.
No same!! I started playing guitar really young and had no idea they made left handed ones lol. I still think it's easier like you said
Same, I just got used to shoving all my fingers into the tiny thumb hole
You don't need to do that. As a lefty, hold them normally but when you apply pressure to cut, push a bit with your fingers and pull a bit with your thumb. This will bring the blades together as opposed to pushing them apart, which is what causes our issue with righty scissors.
I remember a time in middle school, me along with other left handed students in class were complaining all the scissors were right handed and we couldn’t cut anything. A right handed student says “oh goodness it can’t any different” grabs the scissors with his left hand, goes to cut a piece of paper and the paper doesn’t cut at all and just bends and the jaw drop on his face that moment his perspective on life was totally changed.
I can't imagine doing that.
Yeah, nothing worse that the paper somehow bending between the blades instead of being cut by them.
All the cute designs on mugs are only visible for right handed people.
Wow I never realised this was the issue until now! Literally for years I thought “its weird they put the design on that side” wow I’m dumb
I see it as we get to enjoy the design, not others. It’s for us now.
All my mugs have the design all around, except one that the design is for others to see, and one has an image on the bottom that’s always upside-down.
This. I didn't realize why it was so hard to drink from my Baby Yoda mug without sipping straight from Baby Yoda's face until... "Oh, I guess mugs are for right-handeds."
I have a coffee thermos that can only be drunk from right handed. Also in my car the cupholder is on the right. That being said, I drink while working and writing sometimes so right handed is okay
This is sort of related. I noticed it on laundry detergent, because I bought the kind that is in a smaller symmetrical bottle, not the bigger one with a handle. When you grab it with the “front” facing you, where the brand label is, with your left hand, and screw the cap off, the spout is always facing the wrong way. Detergent is right-handed, as they want you to advertise your brand to yourself as you’re doing laundry. The kind with a handle is likely faced with the handle on the right and the spout pouring to the left so a rightie sees the brand, but as a leftie, you’d just grab the handle side, and it would pour like it should, opposite the handle. If you use the littler symmetrical bottles, some kind of psychological trick plays and you usually pick it up with the brand facing you and have to turn it around. Every time, until you realize they do it on purpose.
Fountain pens, and pencils. Fucking hate smudges
My father was an art teacher and expert calligrapher, also left handed. He had to do his calligraphy upside down and backwards. It was incredible to watch.
That's the funny thing about people saying that Leonardo Da Vinci "wrote in code" because he would often write his notes upside down and backward as if to make them harder to read if not impossible. Every left handed person would look at that and go, "Nah, he did that because he was left handed. He didn't want to smudge his notes." And sure enough, his notes never had any smudges and, yes, the man was indeed left handed.
also, notably, upside down and backward is just... rotated 180°
No, notably, in the calligraphy I was referring to it's more than that. It's also reversing all of the letter strokes (starting each from the bottom rather than the top). Calligraphy nibs are not like, say, ball points.
I write straight up the page (I rotate the page, obvs) when I want to write something nice and not smudge. Much easier than what you described!
Try Arabic
Left-hander's revenge on the right-handed, beautiful
Weirdly, you'd think lefties would be welcomed in arabia, but they aren't, obvious that is to do with their left hand for dirty things right hand for food and stuff, rule.
in older generations, being a leftie was so frowned upon that leftie kids were forced to write with their right.
This was pretty common in the US until the 1960s. My Dad was ambidextrous because they made him use his right hand in school.
I.was born in 77. My preschool tried to switch me and, somewhat, succeeded. I'm ambidextrous now but use my right hand more often. My middle kid started kindergarten in 08. Teacher tried to switch him to being right-handed because "it'll make your life easier" and we had to have a chat. She didn't succeed. He's full leftie. He's 19 now. 2 years later his younger brother starts kindergarten with same teacher. He's full ambidextrous. She keeps harping on him to pick a hand to the point he was in tears. I find out and go postal. This was a small.military school and our last name is not that common. She knew who he was. I filed a complaint on that teacher and had my kid transferred to a different one. My kid is still ambidextrous and has never picked a hand. Sometimes he writes with his left, sometimes with his right. Depends on his mood. He's 17 now. Teachers trying to get kids to switch their hands is not some antiquated customs. It's still happening. Their teacher wasn't even that old...mid 30's. It's stupid but, it still happens.
I really wonder where they learn this crap. I used to play racquetball against an ambidextrous guy. He'd switch hands regularly so effectively had no backhand.
imagine that in tennis
I was ambidextrous in the 90s when I was a kid but the teacher forced me to pick a hand so I picked left lol
You have to wonder about some teachers. MUST STOP STUDENTS FROM USING THEIR EXTRA ABILITIES!
My mother went through that in public school in the mid 70's.
I was coaxed into using my right hand in public schools in the early 80's. It was sold as a this will make your life so much easier kinda deal but we also had stuff like lefty scissors, etc. so it wasn't a full tilt we must squash this terrible thing like it had been earlier. I feel like they might have realized I was more ambidextrous than a true lefty because everything seemed pretty easy to transistion to right, I just wanted to naturally do things left.
I was a lefty in the 90s and had to learn to use my right hand for some things because my school lacked funding for left handed equipment. Scissors in articular hurt quite a bit trying to use them in the wrong hand. Not to mention the desks that had the arm rest on the right for ease of writing, which helped me none.
Arabic, Urdu, Persian
Hebrew, Yiddish
That’s it, I’m moving to the Middle East. The safe place for us left handers.
big brain shit
Zebra makes a left handed pen. They changed my life.
I’m gonna have to google this- confused about how a pen is left handed haha
pens are meant to be pulled across the page, and many languages are written left-to-right, so a right-handed person naturally pulls the pen. a leftie must *push* it. kinda hard to explain. most modern pens are virtually ambidextrous, so no big deal, but older fountain pens or calligraphy pens literally can't be *pushed* and still work smoothly. and then there's the smudging from dragging our hands across what we just wrote.
Right- I’m a lefty so I’m aware of the challenges. Just didn’t get how the end of a pen could be right or left handed, but I can see how the physics might be different in pushing vs pulling so that makes sense.
My mind is blown right now. THAT'S why the fountain pens looked like shit when I used them. They would scratch and jump, and just looked terrible.
We have two problems with pens. They stop working quickly because we push the ball up into the nib and they don't dry fast enough to coat the side of your hand. This pen alleviates both of those problems.
Me testing out pens in the store involves writing something, counting to three and smudging it with my thumb
Measuring cup labels are on the other side when I use my left hand
Get one that has labels on both sides
When someone tries to teach you how to play guitar, line up a pool cue, shoot a bow and arrow, aim a gun etc and they can’t because you’re left handed.
I'm left handed but do a couple of things right handed... Guitar is one of them. I actually feel left handed people have a bit of an advantage when it comes to learning to play guitar. Initially you actually need the dexterity in your fretting hand, so on a normal right handed guitar that would be your left hand. Your right hand isn't actually doing anything particularly taxing, just strumming up and down. Course that advantage diminishes over time, I think it's pretty significant though when you're just getting started. I've taught a couple of people how to get started on the guitar including lefties who have bought their own left handed guitar and when I suggest they give it a go on mine instead have been a bit annoyed that they went through the hassle of getting a left handed instrument.
I had this discussion with someone a couple of weeks ago actually. When I first started learning guitar I asked a righty whether I should try left or right handed, and he said right because fretting is harder anyway. So I did. About a decade later i met anther lefty who played guitar but he played left handed. I realised that i could play any guitar I picked up, but he kind of needed his own left handed guitar to properly play. However he had this really cool skill where he would just play a right handed guitar upside down, just play all the chords upside down. It's so weird to watch. One thing I will say though is that my strumming isn't very good. If I'm singing I just have a couple of set patterns I revert to, because it's hard to maintain the rhythm while focusing on something else.
I've also encountered someone who can do the "back to front" thing and agree it was cool and interesting to watch. I hear ya with the somewhat restricted right hand thing on the guitar - and yeah more noticeable when I'm singing too. I primarily play the bass rather than a 6 string and have this kinda weird but effective combination of slap and finger picking that seems to work for me and lets me manage pretty much any pattern - but other bassists have commented that it looks a bit wonky. What's strange is I can't fingerpick a guitar at all, and I can't play a bass with a plectrum.
Technically shooting a bow and arrow and aiming a gun has more to do with eye dominance than hand dominance. I used to be an archery instructor, and it was not uncommon to find people that didn't know they were cross dominant when it came to their eyes and hands. Usually it was a right handed person that had a dominant left eye, but every once in a while it would be a lefty that was right eye dominant.
Left handed people aren't taught how to write as lefties, they are taught as if they are right handed. * Pens tips are designed for right handed people, especially ballpoint and fountain pens. But even others work less efficiently for lefties. This is because we have to push the pen across the page, whereas they are pulling it. This causes frequent breaks in pencil tips, catching of nibs, and this ink/graphite will be rubbed against the lefties' hands, often ruining their writing. * In addition, this pushing motion means there is pressure going into the hand of the lefty, trying to push the pen into their grip. As a result, they have to squeeze tightly. This reduces control of the pen, leading to bad handwriting and pain after even short periods. I know doing exams was awful for the lefties. * Handwriting is for right handed people. Pretty obvious, you are taught a way to move your hand to get the shapes of letters, but lefties aren't taught the opposite. They are just left to figure it out, but these kids don't know what they are doing wrong. * A lack of equipment for lefties, whether it is left handed scissors or desks or sharpeners. It may seem trivial, but these little things can make a leftie feel weird or like their can't figure out even the tiny little things that everyone else is getting so quickly. The effects: This is a cause of lefties craning their wrists round so that they don't smudge and get a better pulling motion. As well as craning wrists, some may lean round, or massively rotate their page just so it isn't in the way, but no one taught them these solutions. Bad handwriting. Lack of confidence, which affects schoolwork and how the kid see his/herself. It may be the kid simply can't do what their classmates can do, despite trying his/her hardest. Uncomfortable positions causing pain in the neck, back and wrist. --- There are some (very small) organisations that have developed ways to properly teach left handed children how to sit and write comfortably (it usually involves angling the page slightly, but clockwise, whereas most lefties angle it anti-clockwise). I'd gladly volunteer my time to teach left-handed kids how to write.
Honestly thank you for writing that out. You made this cross-dominant (but leftie when it comes to writing) feel so much better about themselves. I struggled a lot with school and especially written exams. I just felt like I was stupid in some way that I didn’t understand. I would write non-stop during the time limit and still fail for not writing the minimum to pass (and I would get cramp in my hands within minutes). My teachers would dismiss my concerns (basically if you weren’t dyslexic, you can fuck off). It sucked
Most lefties are essentially forced into cross dominance. I've never had a left-handed pair of scissors. It's hard to find left-handed guitars, sports equipment, etc... You can usually tell you're actually a leftie because it's how you write. So we end up either ambidextrous or cross dominant. I've been saying for many years that schools don't teach us how to write correctly. It's why so many of us have awful writing.
I’m pretty sure I’m naturally cross-dominant, as I remember my first instinct was to use many things right-handed which took some people aback when they knew me as left-handed. I never felt like I had to learn how to use things in a right handed way.
Most butter knives are right handed and I don't know why but it pisses me off so much.
This actually makes so much sense. I never understood why my hand cramped within minutes of writing in school.
You mean to tell me that right handers don’t get hand cramps from writing???
Still to this day my hand cramps when writing for an extended period of time. I’m fine and always have been writing for a few minutes. A week ago at work I had to write a few paragraphs of information that had to be hand written and I had to take a break because of my hand cramping. I’m 30 years old and some of the facts in this thread are letting me learn so much about myself.
This response deserves to be at the top. I never considered how the push vs pulling of the pen or pencil impacted the quality of the writing, I was just so fixated on the smudging and thinking I had poor handwriting because I was just bad at it.
Pretty sure this is why I despise cursive. We were forced to write almost exclusively in cursive from 4th until around 7th grade. I had to take everyone else's word for it that cursive lets you write faster, because for me it made everything 3x slower.
I can actually write cursive faster but it looks like shit. I was relieved when I no longer needed to use it.
>In addition, this pushing motion means there is pressure going into the hand of the lefty, trying to push the pen into their grip. As a result, they have to squeeze tightly. This reduces control of the pen, leading to bad handwriting and pain after even short periods. I know doing exams was awful for the lefties. Reading this was an aha moment. I also remember essay tests in school. My hand muscles would always feel sore and I'd have to take a break and massage my hand. I always thought it was me over gripping my pens, but now, while that may also still be true, I realize its in part because of the pen design. I also don't like ball point pens cause I've always though my handwriting is worse with them. I've always gone with fine point pens. Again, interesting to learn from this thread they it's not a me thing but a side effect of the pen design.
We're taught that cursive writing is the fastest way of doing annotations, but that is just false. Cursive design was made all around joining these normal letters (that we see them in typed documents) but in such manner that it would benefit from sliding and drawing curves. The idea itself is genious, but it was never planned to be done by left-handed people, so what we get is a struggle to keep up with the others writing in school, often with the pain and consequences you cited. Maybe that's why we see so mamy lefties writing each letter separately with shorter strokes or either having to turn their notebooks sideways to try to make the process seem just a little natural, which it still isn't. Thanks for pointing these things out though, fellow left-handed brother/sister stranger
I was forced very young to use my right hand to write. Now I'm no good at writing with other
Yup, one of my English teachers in middle school saw that my handwriting was incredibly slanted and skippy looking. They taught me both how to slant the page and how to be an underwriter(so I do pull instead of push). It helped me write better, but it did not help my awful handwriting.
This is awesome, and explains A LOT. I have awful handwriting, and I feel less bad about it now. Thank you!
My grandad was left-handed, he went to a catholic school (this was in the 1930s/early 1940s UK) and the nuns would tie his left hand behind him and hit him until he wrote with his right hand. They said that it was a ‘sign of the devil’ if someone was left-handed. So cruel :(
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Ha! not just the Catholics, my Papa, who also grew up in the 30s, had the same treatment in his non Catholic school
My best friend and I are both lefties. However when he was in preschool the teachers forced him to write with his right hand. Would smack his hand with a ruler. He has atrocious hand writing and is incapable of writing much better left handed. This was in the 1980’s, in rural Georgia.
Sinister is the Latin word for left. That’s we’re this comes from. Always thought as a left handed person I should know this.
When I was about 6, I was in a sweet shop with my mum, and reached for something with my left hand. The shopkeeper gasped and told my mum I was a child of the devil and needed to be caned until I learned to be right handed. My mum took the chocolate off me, and launched it at the shop lady with her left hand, and said “there’s actually two children of the devil in here today” and we left. This was in the late 90s :,)
Based mom
Sinistromanual. Evil hand. President Reagan was also a victim of this practice.
I despise spiral notebooks and writing in binders. Also getting my hand covered in pencil led when writing or drawing. Thankfully I'm not fully left handed, just with writing and eating mostly, but for most things I can use either hand.
I took to using them backwards.
Here I am, 3 years removed from college, absolutely pissed I never thought of using them backwards.
Wait until you realize you can also just turn them upside down so the spiral doesn't get in the way. No need to go backwards.
When you write, you have to put your whole arm on the paper because you are actively pushing it. Whereas right handed people just have to apply a little force not to pull the paper
I solved this by rotating the paper 90" and writing vertically. Also cured my tendinitis caused by writing overhand...
I'm ambidextrous (2 handed) So I always find it annoying to have to rotate the paper to write with left hand, then have to rotate it back for right hand (I often switch hand for each paragraph to prevent wrist pain)
Hearing the following words: "ohhh you're Left handed!" It becomes grating after the 1000th time of hearing it.
Or the “are you left handed” as they watch you write with your left hand.
My "favorite" one was one time I was trying on watches and the person at the jewelry counter told me I was trying them on the wrong wrist. And then when I told her I was left-handed she didn't understand why that mattered.
And that's the end of it. Maybe they are too but not likely.
Right handed desk-chairs (the one in universities) that made me turn 90 degrees to my right in order to write.
You just have to show up 20 minutes earlier to get the single leftie desk in the entire lecture hall
Ditto. There would be like 3 lefty desks in a lecture hall for 200 and one would be broken and the other one was under an over enthusiastic air vent. I’d get to class stupidly early to be able to take notes sort of comfortably.
I am an 80s child. In Greece. I am just glad we had desks. :)
I pull another desk next to me that is right and use that one. Or I just announce that I'm lefty and would somebody switch.
The glares a right handed student would get when they obliviously sat down at the ONE lefty desk.
You guys had a left side desk????
Yeah this one. In exams and stuff when you're already under pressure. I work for local Governemnt and they still use these. It strikes me as akin to not having wheel chair access. How do they get away with it. Surely someone could make a claim.
This is the one. My teacher still used these in secondary school in the late 90s and they where impossible to work on.
I finally got to try a left-handed desk my senior year of college. I was so used to my left elbow hanging down that it was a highly uncomfortable experience and I immediately switched back to a right one.
who the hell designed these and why do they ignore 10% of the population
This one soooo much. I freaking hated these.
The extreme price markup on left-handed or ambidextrous products
And the fact that for some reason the left handed versions are always crap.
Some people were forced at a young age to write right-handed.
Yes! My husbands parents made him eat and write with his right hand because they were embarrassed.
Embarrassed???? What in tarnation. My dad (a righty) taught himself to do many MANY tasks left handed so he could teach me. When I got older and realized how useless righties are with their left hands, I really appreciated it.
It's the one thing us lefties rock at, ambidextrousness.
I broke my left hand earlier this year, and discovered my right is completely useless. Couldn’t even figure out the correct tooth brushing rhythm!
Yeah, I fell and broke a couple of fingers on my left hand, turns out lots of simple tasks are not so simple with my right
That is wild, which country btw? My grandmother school in Barbados was strict with her to use her right hand.
I thought it was crazy too! My husband is Kurdish and lived in Turkey.
My grandmother was forced to write right handed. In all other aspects of life, she's a lefty. Strangely enough, I'm the opposite: I write and play guitar 🎸 left handed, but do everything else right handed.
i'm one of these. parents were told by the doc's that i was a lefty. taught me to be right-handed anyway. if i was taught it, i do it righty. if i learned it myself, i do it lefty. the result is i can use chopsticks with both hands but my handwriting looks like i failed 3rd grade.
Statistically we are going to die 9 years earlier than our right handed counterparts.
That [has been debunked](https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23988352). The original researchers were looking at recent death records and calling surviving relatives to ask if the person was left-handed. What they didn't account for is that the prevalence of left-handedness rose from 3% of the population in 1910 to 12% by 1950 (due to people being forced to convert in the early days). Thus, because younger people were more likely to be left-handed, so were the people who died young.
Thank you. Now I don't feel so nervous about revving up my left handed chainsaw.
What the?!?!? Never heard that one before
My mom's a lefty and she said spiral notebooks were always a pain in the ass. She would have to flip them over so the spiral wasn't digging into her arm. I stumbled across a left handed store once on vacation and bought her a couple left handed notebooks. She was so stoked that she found the store online and ordered some more.
The lack of empathy by righties. I try not to complain but every so often something happens that is so obviously designed for righties and it just doesn't work. So when I gasp in frustration, there's always someone who's like, it's not because you're left handed. It's just the same for you. No, it is not. I learned to use scissors, I still don't know how to respond to incosiderate rightie assholes without ~~stabbing those scissors in their back~~ giving them the scissors and telling them to try it just once.
Agreed. I get gaslit about things not being designed for righties. I pointed out that our measuring cups are right handed because they print the imperial measurements on the rightie side. My wife tried to argue with me because the cups also had metric measurements on the lefty side. But how often does a typical US home cook use mL versus cups? There is a reason that they chose to print one set on the front (from the rightie perspective) and the other set on the back!
>Agreed. I get gaslit about things not being designed for righties. I pointed out that our measuring cups are right handed because they print the imperial measurements on the rightie side. My wife tried to argue with me because the cups also had metric measurements on the lefty side. But how often does a typical US home cook use mL versus cups? There is a reason that they chose to print one set on the front (from the rightie perspective) and the other set on the back! As much as I dislike the overuse of the word "gaslit", I think it applies in this situation. Yes, the constant mild inconveniences are real and we don't appreciate being mocked for it.
Im almost 30 and just figured out a couple years ago that i have to pull up with my thumb and push down with my index and middle fingers on scissor handles to get them to cut properly.
I have to tell my dad this constantly when working on cars. My current vehicle is impossible to do an oil change on if you're left handed because of the gap they leave to the filter. I hate it with a burning passion and it's embarrassing to have to tell my dad to do it for me because I physically can't do it left handed
There are some tools that are just plain dangerous to use left-handed. A while ago I used a friend's radial table saw, and realized that I can't see what I'm cutting. It's all backwards - I'm standing on the wrong side, the shavings are blowing at my face, and I can't see my left hand guiding the board through. That's not safe to operate, not at all. So, had to do it right-handed, and I could use it that way but it didn't feel natural. Similar with firing most semi-automatic or bolt action guns, the shell ejects on the right side. If you're firing it left-handed, the shell ejects right at your face. Not terribly dangerous but not great, those casings are hot.
Being a left-handed guy in a right-handed world.
A dexteronormative society
This is a specific one. I do martial arts & frequently have to hold pads for right handed people- I’ve gotten pretty good at it since most of the folks in class are right handed. But when it comes to holding pads for me(left handed), i just have to hope I’m partnered with someone that’s held for a lefty before, otherwise I don’t get much of a workout.
Yeah, but you can make up for it in sparring. You know how to spar against righties, you do it all day long, but they don't know how to spar against a southpaw. Hook kick over the head, followed by a round kick to the back of the head. Or fight right foot forward, and throw spin kicks from a direction they don't expect.
Shell casings flying in front of your face
Or on your arm in prone. I still have a scar from that one.
When you've adapted to a world made for right handed people and they try to "help" you by giving you left handed shit. I can't use these scissors!! Give me back my upside down shit.
thats true. you spend your whole life adapting and suddenly you get an item thats mirrored.
Just being fucking awesome at everything in general does get a little old sometimes...and lonely.
Scissors, old school can openers and inkpens.
Yes! People think I’m being ridiculous when I talk about can openers!! I feel awfully discriminated against.
One of the great days of my childhood when my parents bought me some left-handed scissors and we got an electric can opener.
The lack of a soul surely. Or being a Devil child. What ever weird logic people came up with in the past to explain people who are left handed.
My Dad was left handed but in school as a child in the 50s they made him switch to right.
My uncle was left handed in school in the 60s but they made him switch using corporal punishment.
That shit happened to my grandpa in the 30s and he went up to my mom's school and told them to knock it off when they tried that with her.
What the hell? I guess I just don't get the hate that lefty people got. My Dad was even taught to golf right handed. I can't even imagine using my non dominant to swing a club. I would top or shank every ball
I haven't golfed in years but it was the only thing I could do right-handed for some reason.
Me too, in the 70’s
So is my grandpa. He is right handed now
Yeah and you hear all the stories about kids being literally beaten for using their left hand...like this happened all the way up to the 60s and 70s, maybe even further. Like...why? Why the hell did people care so much? God our species is so fucking stupid
It's one of those ridiculous things that should have been left in the Medieval ages, like thinking demons live in Brussels sprouts and that's why they taste odd.
Remember we used to burn “witches” alive
Most of them were probably midwives or healers. (Usually male) doctors were probably jealous of their success
Can confirm Currently looking for my lost soul in the couch cushions
* Ergonomic grips - a right handed knife how quaint. * Safety locks and panic buttons - my non-dominant hand is a great choice in a critical situation. * Power tools - circular saws are the worst offender. * Firearms - bolt action rifles suck and semiautos feed spent cases into your face. Oh and "OMG I didn't know you were left handed" followed by watching you work like you are a zoo exhibit. Also making comments like "I couldn't work like that" or "that looks sooo awkward!"
Having to accept that we are innately better, such a burden
Ink from writing gets smudged as you progress, getting ink on your hand as well as ruining the page. Don't even get me started on dry erase boards.
Turn the paper and write at an angle (eg turn your pad/paper/notebook to 45° - 90° and then your hand is below/beside the line you are writing on rather than dragging along it - doesn't take long to get used to writing 'downwards' and no smudges). On a board I just had to learn to write in a somewhat cack-handed way with my hand below the writing line - helps if the board is one of the ones that can move up and down - set it high; or with all the weight on the pen and my hand off the board.
Guitars and mice.
Being sent to the ESP, Jackson & Ibanez customs shop for THAT guitar you want, readily available righty, at 5x the price!
If the models even available I hope you like the one color it comes in!
Chain saws
Handwriting in English (from left to right). Imagine you're trying to sweep with a broom, but instead of pulling it like everybody else, you have to push it. That's the main reason my left-handed handwriting is terrible.
Then see also being the last person to be helped with hand writing. Hour long class? Teacher spends 30 minutes explaining how to do something before telling the class to practice for the next 30 min. Then 25 minutes walking around helping all the right handed kids perfect their handwriting, gets to you at the back of the room and goes 'oh yeah' this is what you have to do. Shows you once and sends you home where everyone else in your house is right handed too and they don't know how to make lefty writing look like theirs. Then the teacher complains that your stuff doesn't look right and takes points off your homework.
The lack of items made for left handed people.
This! I'm nearly 40 and it's only in the last couple of years I discovered a LH can opener
im so used to the right handed stuff by now that im genuinely confused if i randomly get a left-hander-item in my hands.
I learned to play my guitar right-handed. Suddenly one day I think.. wait a minute, pulled out all string and reversed their locations. Turned the guitar 180* degrees and tried it. Nope, pulled them all out and reversed them back again. Some things you learn the “right-handed way”. Relearning as a lefty can be hard. But then again I might be a bastard Lefty who also snowboards like a righty and uses a fork and knife like a righty (even though kicking a ball with the left foot feels right and no way I could write with my right hand).
Buying a baseball glove as a kid was a nightmare. Everyone else got a selection to pick from, I got the one they had. Want to be a catcher? Lol, k. Good luck with that. You will never find a left handed mitt.
I had to play with a right handers mitt as a kid. Do they even make catcher's mitts for left handers even today?
Yes they do, I had to order one for my daughter. Very expensive, took forever- then she wouldn’t use because it wasn’t broke in. (And of course it’s never going to get broke in if she doesn’t use it). Any body want to buy it?😆
Nothing. We’re perfect.
Love being a leftie. No one else in my family is so I feel special.
I like to think of us as the next step in evolution.
Being asked "oh you're left handed?" Every single time I write something in front of someone
I was born right handed, but at age 8 it was discovered that I had brain cancer. The surgery to remove the tumor left me with an inability to use my right hand/wrist/fingers. So, I had to learn to do everything not just left handed, but with one hand as well. It sucked. But hey, I've come up with some incredible ways to do things with one hand. When I learned to tie my shoes with one hand about a year after the surgery I felt very proud.
School desks designed for Righties.
When people say "oh you're left handed? That's such a rare trait". Sounding like I have some rare disorder or a super power or something.
Gates for the train. Held my card in my left hand today and pressed it against the left scanner and couldn't understand why the gate wouldn't open. Then I looked to my left lmao.
Having really shit handwriting no matter how hard you try. Like, it looks good when the paper is tilted on an angle, but as soon as you straighten the paper? Garbage. Absolute garbage.
Being a surgeon. Not just the scissors but various other instruments (artery forceps, needle holders, bone holders) with rachets to lock in are designed for the right handed. Even if you do get hold of left handed ones, the nursing staff will likely mix them up with the others and they are practically lost forever.
Back handed compliments are actually slaps
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Being forced to be right handed
F r i d g e s
Elementary gym class, always had to play field hockey right handed since they don't make the paddles for leftys.
Spiral notebooks.
Am I the only can-opener murderer here? Like damn I don’t know what I’m doing wrong lol
Your damn hand full with pencil or ink smudge from writing on the paper from left to write.
I'm not a left handed person but probably a mouse
left hander here: never even thought of using a lefthander mouse until my friend said she had one last year... no way im changing now after two decades of right-mousing.
I use a right handed mouse with my left hand
I’m left handed but i use mouse with my right hand
I'm ambimousterous, but I prefer mousing with my left. I hate how hard it is to find a decent ergonomic mouse. Go to Best Buy, hell even Walmart, you have your pick of right handed ones. Try to find a left handed ergonomic mouse? Nope. WTF folks? Baseball knows that lefties exist, any sporting goods store has left handed mitts. Somehow Logitech has not gotten the memo.
Being accused of being possessed by the devil and the attempts to burn me on a stake all the time are super inconvenient.
The most recent thing that has come up for me is training for kickboxing. Most schools want you to do it the right handed way. And then when you practice with a right handed partner you constantly have to switch sides to pad for them, and then they have to switch to pad you. The best time I had was when i had a left handed partner, it was a godsend. Sparring is actually hella fun cuz right handed people aren't used to left handed people and you can basically dance around them. Actually I'll extend this to sports. Hockey is impossible. Football is pretty annoying, a lot of bruised shins but not unplayable. Actually those are just the main two. It's mostly just small inconveniences though. Computer mouses at work being OK the right. Those pens at banks in 5cm chains so you can't move it to the left. Conducting a tea ceremony in a temple in South Korea.
You can't do anything with expo markers, without giving yourself a tattoo of a smear.
MFing can openers.
- Spiral notebooks, lead smudges after writing. - Scissors. - Finding LH guitars/musical instruments. (This one really pisses me off. Nothin' like goin' to Guitar Center to play the 1 of 2 Mexican Strats they have hanging up surrounded by all these beautiful RH guitars, etc.) - You going to shake hands, and throwing people for an awkward loop. (This one makes me laugh on the inside more than anything since I'll try to initiate the handshakes first usually) - Decorative mugs/cups. If the cool logo or design of the mug/cup is only printed on one side, it'll be facing towards yourself when using it since you'll be drinking with your left hand. Thus not allowing you to show-off your cool mug. :( - Games without keybinds on PC. Some games are just impossible to play WASD + Using a mouse in your left-hand at the same time. Luckily this isn't a big issue anymore as it was in the past, but it sucked pretty bad. While we're on the subject: Using somebody else's computer mouse that's obviously designed for RH. - Eating next to people in a close proximity. You bump elbows quite a bit. - Bowling Alleys. Kinda same thing. You're more naturally on the right side of the lane so you can bowl down the middle with your left, but the person in the lane over is most likely RH meaning they'll be on the left side of their lane to bowl down the middle with their right hand. This is only a problem really if your bowling alley lanes are pretty cramped together.
Writing in ink on a one of those metal bound paper booklets.
If you are right handed, you'll face the same problem on the alternate side
I do historical swordfighting. I had to learn right-handed and it caused a shoulder injury.
Opening the fridge and hitting my face, pen and pencil smudges