As an aside to L'escargot's handwriting thread. Most people, well, most that I'm aware of anyway seem to be naturally either right or left handed. A very few would also appear to be truly ambidextrous.
For myself, I naturally write with my right hand but can manage albeit much less efficiently with my left. For example if I'm holding a phone in my right hand, I'll scribble notes with my left.
For almost any other task I'll switch randomly between the two. I can play raquet sports with either hand or paint a steady line with either too.
If I kick a ball though, I'll almost certainly favour my left foot and when skiing or cycling I'll always lead off on the left foot.
I had occasion to have my reaction times and relative side speeds and strengths tested years ago and it would seem that my left and right arms are of pretty much equal strength / power but my left arm and hand are a bit faster than my right as is my left leg.
I can sight and shoot a gun either side but I'm better / more accurate right handed. My left eye is stronger than my right though.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm actually left handed but no one noticed when I was young.
Anyone else relate to that?
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Stepson can effortlessly swap hands when he's playing tennis. He's the one who's a drummer in a rock band - the 2 might be related.
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How very odd! Not ten minutes ago, I posted on my Facepack status that I've just realised that even tbough I am right handed, I always and exclusively use my left hand to make calls and text on my phone.
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Now, y'see I'd use my right hand to text but if you chucked a tennis ball towards me I'd catch it in either hand but would probably favour my left.
And another thing, ok, I've been doing it for years so it's probably just practice but switching from LHD cars to RHD and back or switching sides of the road to drive on when abroad has never ever bothered me. Both "feel" perfectly normal and natural. Don't conciously think about it.
However, from my very distant memories of attempting to kick a conversion I'd always kick with my left foot.
Must be some wiring loose.
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Mon 16 Apr 12 at 22:56
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I'm not sure the driving/switching sides of the road thing has much to do with being ambidextrous. I drive quite a lot in Europe and never have any trouble adapting but am strongly right handed/footed/eyed. Being right handed doesn't give you any particular advantage or disadvantage on driving on one particular side of the road.
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Sometimes see on t'internet Americans claiming they can't drive `stick shift` (manual gear box) because they are left handed. So how do the majority of Brits and Aussies manage then?
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Mrs Nut is left handed but can write very well with her right hand too, she uses a computer mouse in her left hand but will use it in her right hand no problem when she uses other computers.
I however can not write with my left hand at all and using a mouse with my left hand takes a great deal of effort, left a bit right a bit click missed try again.
Oddly when cooking I can use a knife with my left hand as good as my right and saws, screwdrivers and spanners etc. I can use well with either hand, but if I try and use a hammer in my left hand it could hit anything except what I am aiming for.
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I am heavily Dextra, sinisters are aptly named.
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I am heavily Dextra, sinisters are aptly named.
So are Dextras
You mean dexter. Dextra is a girl's name
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Mon 16 Apr 12 at 23:55
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Dexter is from the latin - Dextra.
I meant Dextra.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 17 Apr 12 at 00:01
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I`d give my right arm to be ambidextrous!!
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I'm definitely one-sided; left arm/leg there for cosmetic reasons only.
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LH in everything I do. Learnt o live in a RH world now
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I have a random mix of preferred hands.
I am defined as RH, but can write LH a bit, but not comfortably.
I can paint equally well with either hand (useful up a ladder) but prefer delicate bits with my LH.
I cut bread with my LH.
I keep my change in my LH pocket, and reach to take change with my LH
I hold the phone in my LH
I am hopeless catching with either hand.
But I have a party-piece:
I can make a circular movement with one hand, and then start a movement with the other hand. Without pausing I can reverse the direction of either hand, so that they may rotate in the same, or opposite directions. I can also alter the speeds - they can go at different speeds, different directions.
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That's interesting Cliff. How do you stand on the Imaginary Windmill experiment? Most people I've asked this of have trouble, so I wonder if you can do it with ease?
Simply imagine a windmill with the blades rotating - get a really good clear image, see it as clearly as you can. Get the blades going, but speed doesn't seem to matter.
Now instantly stop them and make them go the other way. Easy, or not? Most people seem to say they can't get them to go the other way, or they go through a kind of slowing down first - it's a real effort to flip the direction. Some even report a physical discomfort.
Incidentally if any other guinea pigs want to offer their results that would interest me.
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>> How do you stand on the Imaginary Windmill experiment?
>> Incidentally if any other guinea pigs want to offer their results that would interest me.
I can get them to change direction easily. If it's of any significance, I'm right handed and the windmill initially goes clockwise.
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>> Now instantly stop them and make them go the other way. Easy, or not? .
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I can't make them rotate in either direction. My mind doesn't seem to picture movement.
I can KNOW they are moving, but I only SEE it in a series of clunky still pictures like an old film.
But the image I instantly get is from that classic Hitchcock film with the Dutch windmill. The sails suddenly started turning when there was no wind, giving the clue to the gang's location, I can't remember how or why.
Has anyone else ever noticed tractor wheels as seen in a rear view mirror appearing to turn backwards like stagecoach wheels in films? My theory is the imperceptible vibrations of a car mirror happen to coincide with the frequency of the cleats on the big wheels.
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Oh, now that's a different take on it. Thanks both.
Not noticed the rear view mirror phenomenon but do often notice on first glancing at a clock that the second hand is going backwards, then starts the right way again. Weird that one.
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'Er indoors writes with her right hand, but uses her left hand (or foot when using a spade) for most other things. She's weird!
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Left hand for pretty much everything but I've trained myself to use a mouse with my right to save having to jigger about when moving between workstations.
Can't hit a ball with bat or foot to save my life but on the bike I put right foot on road and push off with left. It has been pointed out that this carries risk of getting foot run over. Like those risks mitigated by a helmet I regard this as remote enough not to bother changing habits of a lifetime.
How many of you who are otherwise left oriented but write with the right were forced that way at school? Most of my generation (I'm 52) were allowed to develop naturally One primary feeding the grammer school I entered at 11 did however still force right handedness. The victim who shared my A level history course with wrote awkwardly and illegibly with his right hand.
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I'm right handed, but everyone tells me when eating, I use cutlery left handed.
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If I get an invite to your parties I will be in the kitchen getting drunk and chatting up the birds.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 17 Apr 12 at 10:33
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I write with my left hand (despite the nuns at my first school in Ireland trying to beat it out of me) and use it for all delicate tasks that need accuracy, like soldering. But throwing, catching, hammering or playing snooker or golf I can only use my right.
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>> despite the nuns at my first school in Ireland trying to beat it out of me
Such a bad habit.
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Im left handed , everything i do is left handed apart from holding a cricket bat and using a knife and fork, always wondered how leftys get on in the army when firing rifles...do they get a facefull of ejected cartridge cases ? or are they forced to fire right handed? my grand father was a lefty but those edwardians didnt approve so he was forced to write right handed i think he was ambidextrous because of it
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Iam righthanded our middle son can write with both hands.No other left handers in our family.
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Right handed, but right eye damaged aged 10 so had to learn to shoot left handed and that didn't come easy, stronger hearing in the left ear too.
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>> our middle son can write with both hands.
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I have heard of people who could do that, even writing different text with each hand.
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>> Im left handed , everything i do is left handed apart from holding a cricket
>> bat and using a knife and fork, always wondered how leftys get on in the
>> army when firing rifles...do they get a facefull of ejected cartridge cases ? or are
>> they forced to fire right handed?
Ditto, although I bat left-handed, and always transfer the ball to my left hand to throw as it would otherwise go for four overthrows no matter how carefully I aimed; I use a knife and fork conventionally but always use a spoon with my left hand.
In my Army days, the SLR could be fired left or right handed, but the SMG and the current SA80 are strictly right-only for the reason you mention.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Tue 17 Apr 12 at 19:39
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it always puzzles me why the cocking lever is on the right side of the SA80, looks very awkward when you see one being cocked
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I write with my left hand, and play any sport involving a bat or cue left handed. Pretty much everything else, including using scissors, a computer mouse, even a knife and fork, I do "right handed".
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I was born right-handed but stuck it in the fire when I was two and have managed left-handed ever since. But I (used to) bowl left-arm and bat right-hand.
The legendary Brian Close (Yorkshire, Somerset and England) could bat and bowl right or left hand with equal success.
Years ago a fellow reporter asked him how he decided which hand to use in a match. 'Easy', he said. 'When I wake up in the morning I look at my wife. If she's lying on her left side I bat left and if she's lying on her right side I bat right.'
My friend said 'what if she's lying on her back?'
'Then I phone the County Ground and tell them I'll be in an hour late...'
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Left, right or both? - Focusless
