Left Handed People

i imagine a lot of geniuses and serial killers are right-handed, too.

I'm left-handed, but I also do alot of things with my right hand. An example, I write with my left, I hold eating utensils with my left, I bowl with my right, I play tennis or badminton with my left, but my right arm is stronger than my left, if I were to shoot a water gun, I use my right to aim......I must be totally confused!! lol

Faeryland

Another non-serialkiller, relatively normal leftie here.

I'm also interested to hear why (marg, I think it was?) "encouraged" her son to be more right-handed.

Any reasoning behind the decision?

FWIW, of four kids, there are two of us who are lefties. One parent is a lefty. My exhusband is a lefty (two lefties married?! how rare is that?!), and quite honestly the biggest disadvantage I've found has been trying to find scissors (and other fun assorted sharp thingies) that are comfortable to use. When I think back to school (ahem. I graduated in 1990...I feel old), ALL of the desks - from grade school upwards - were straight, oldfashioned wooden "flip top" desks, and not the newer "right-handed" style common in the States.

(might help to add that I was schooled in England)

I can't speak for my ex, but I can promise that I'm not a serial (or cereal, though I do prefer Cheerios to Cap'n Crunch) killer.

Kidding aside though, it's been my experience that lefties tend to be base their decisions more on emotional factors rather than logic.

I'm sure there's no scientific basis for this - just my experience speaking up. Anyone noted anything similar? Completely different?

Originally posted by Tinkleflower
Another non-serialkiller, relatively normal leftie here.

I'm also interested to hear why (marg, I think it was?) "encouraged" her son to be more right-handed.

Any reasoning behind the decision?

FWIW, of four kids, there are two of us who are lefties. One parent is a lefty. My exhusband is a lefty (two lefties married?! how rare is that?!), and quite honestly the biggest disadvantage I've found has been trying to find scissors (and other fun assorted sharp thingies) that are comfortable to use. When I think back to school (ahem. I graduated in 1990...I feel old), ALL of the desks - from grade school upwards - were straight, oldfashioned wooden "flip top" desks, and not the newer "right-handed" style common in the States.

(might help to add that I was schooled in England)

I can't speak for my ex, but I can promise that I'm not a serial (or cereal, though I do prefer Cheerios to Cap'n Crunch) killer.

Kidding aside though, it's been my experience that lefties tend to be base their decisions more on emotional factors rather than logic.

I'm sure there's no scientific basis for this - just my experience speaking up. Anyone noted anything similar? Completely different?

Nope the few lefties I know, including myself, they are just like right handed people, which really varies.

I am more logical than my left handed friend who is more emotional than me.

Good bye

A little bit about converting lefties, to right-handed people:
I don't recommend it.
I was born a right-handed kid, but I learned to write left-handed because my nanny was a leftie. The resulting effect is that I write with my left hand, but I now have no idea which hand to use for anything else.
For sports, or if I'm being taught a new thing, I am never sure which hand to use. My Physical Education teacher always asks 'Who's left-handed?' so he can tell us the left-handed way of using a bat or whatever, but I tend to feel that my right hand is stronger.
This could possibly be the reason why I'm failing P.E.
I'm not saying that every right-to-left convert will end up a little confusedly (is that a word?), but it's just not a great idea.
I suppose you could say I'm ambidextrous (I have been told I'm quite an artist with my right hand, with the exception of drawing lines ), but I'm just a poor, confused little girl.

Random questions:
Was Jack-the-Ripper really left-handed?
What 'brain' would you think I use? The left or the right, juding from the above paragraph?

My dad made me bat and throw left handed when I was young. I found out why while playing baseball in high school. My coaches always talked about the lack of left handed pitching they had(I was the only one). I didnt realize that it was important in baseball up until that point, didnt think it mattered. My dad always told me left handed pitching was a premium in baseball, and they were always on the look out for them. Thing is, I write with my right hand, so I would have eventually figured it out anyhow.

I dont know if this has been said already, as it is really late, well early, in the morning, so I apologize now if it has, but heres an interesting fact I had learned through a teacher.

Left handed people, in the times long before modern science, were considered evil. Why? Because it was the left hand that crucified Jesus. If you were found to be left handed you were more often than not looked upon with much more suspicion - and in the worst cases - blamed for things you could hardly/weren't linked to at all.

Some interesting findings:

In many European languages, "right" stands for authority and justice: (German, "recht", French, "droit" (from Latin 'directus'[4]). Being right-handed has also historically been thought of as being skillful: the Latin word for right-handed is "dexter," as in dexterity; the Spanish "derecha" (also from Latin 'directus'[5]) also means right.

On the other hand, the English word "sinister" comes from Latin and it originally meant "left" but took on meanings of 'evil, unlucky' by the Classical Latin era. The modern-Italian "sinistra" has both meanings of sinister and left. The Spanish "siniestra" has both, too, although the 'left' meaning is less common and is usually expressed by 'izquierda'[6], a Basque word. A left-hander was supposed to be not only unlucky, but also awkward and clumsy, as shown in the French "gauche" and the German "links" and "linkisch." As these are all very old words, they support theories indicating that the predominance of right-handedness is an extremely old phenomenon.

Left-handedness was often interpreted as a sign of Satanic influence, and thus prohibited. The Eskimos also believed that every left-handed person was a sorcerer. -Wikipedia

Look out, them Lefties are out to getcha!

[edit on 3/1/06 by Conquistadork]

Well, I am annoyed about the left handed people are evil.

Makes me more likely to kill people, who should I start with hmmmm....

I find it really unfair about left handed people, I didn't make the baseball team because there were no left handed mitts

I am left handed and,be it by coincidence or use of the right side of my brain, I am one of five sophomres in my high school in AP (Advanced placement, theyre college courses) classes. A possible reason for this is an irregular past, incredibly different from the average american child to go through. If we were smarter using the right side of our brains, wouldnt the government demand teaching children to write with the left hand as opposed to having choice?

Originally posted by Tinkleflower
Another non-serialkiller, relatively normal leftie here.

I'm also interested to hear why (marg, I think it was?) "encouraged" her son to be more right-handed.

Any reasoning behind the decision?

I can understand why a parent would teach their kid to be right handed. My boyfriend is left handed and a guitar player, bass player, and drummer. Instruments such as those for left handed people are harder to find and more expensive by almost twice as much. He also says that there are certain types of pens and pencils that he cant use because his left handedness makes it harder for him to write.

So everytime he sees my kids leaning towards their left hand he will steer them towards the right.

I have always used my left hand for everything. Writing, pointing, eating, shooting, etc. I havent killed anyone yet, though some would disagree.
For those of you that know me, its probably fair obvious I'm not normal, but I doubt which hand I use has any effect on that.

Interesting about the "hook" writing style. I suppose I used a right handed style of writing, but I also know I changed it so I could write more without cramps. It just might of been a hooked style, and I can write well that way.

i dont know, but i do know that i think it was 2400 lefties die each year using right handed supplies.

Originally posted by Conquistadork

Left-handedness was often interpreted as a sign of Satanic influence, and thus prohibited. -Wikipedia

[edit on 3/1/06 by Conquistadork]

i rememeber reading something like this about the english. it was something about the knights being right handed because of the satanic influences in lefties. also i think it also said that all spiral stairs in the castles all spiralled anti-clock wise because that way they would have the advantage coming down the stairs (bigger swing). while the enemy(knights) wouldnt be able to do a good swing.

I am left handed and I have the IQ of 95 - Soo I am pretty much a genius.

reply to post by dirtyrat5000


I do think many lefties are quite intelligent. I for one, have always taken advanced courses from gifted and talented courses in school...to AP and IB subjects in High school and now I'm in medical school and I have one other friend who is very similar to me.

reply to post by satchbfoot


That's funny, I learned that left handed people are more right brained, but left brained people are usually the ones that excel at math and are more logical.

I have have crazy thoughts about killing people I don't like or for money lol, and I am left handed. Although I have not ever done something like that. But I don't think all left handed people are like that? Are they?

McCain and Obama are both lefties...So was Bill Clinton and Bush Sr...
Bush Jr. is a righty

I write left-handed but I do almost everything else with my right hand (eating, cutting ect.) I can also write pretty much just as well with my right hand as my left, which always prompts people to ask me why I dont just write with my right...
I noticed before someone said they had trouble in P.E. when the teacher would ask if you were left or right handed, and would intruct you to bat and face a certain way because of this, this always confused me to..
Also, when I first picked up a guitar I was told if I couldnt hold it that way because the guitar was 'backwards' (because I picked it up with the left handers way as oppsosed the correct, right handed way.)
Its funny watching some left-handers writing the 'hook' way, and turning their paper at an angle. I write the other 'imitating the right hander' way.
I dont really agree with purposely changing your childs writing hand..it seems a bit old fashioned and unnecessary (but thats just my opinion.)
I dont really think the above average intelligence attributed to left handers is correct either...probably because I dont believe in 'statistics' (for example polling 1000 people out of 6 billion to come to a conclusion statistic-wise doesnt give us a very good idea of whos smart or who isnt.)

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